Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Trinity's Kitchen

Hummus is a delicious plant-based dip that first emerged from the Middle East. With growing awareness of health and wellness it has rapidly gained popularity in other parts of the world too. In addition to regular hummus ingredients, my variation of the traditional version, brings in the tantalising sweetness of roasted sweet pepper.

There's more where this came from!

Ingredients

2 large sweet red bell peppers
2 large cloves of garlic
2 heaped tablespoons of tahini
1 tin (240g/8½oz drained or 1½ cups) tinned chickpeas
2 lemons
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon sea salt

Method

De-seed, de-stalk and slice your peppers in half or quarters.
Next: roast the sweet pepper and garlic in a hot oven… To do this, keep the garlic in its skin and place on an oven tray along with the pepper and place in a pre-heated oven (gas mark 7/425°C/220°F should work fine). Roast garlic for up to 10 minutes and the pepper for about 15-20 minutes (or until the pepper is easy to pierce). No need to let the pepper char. Note: I find it easier to roast this ahead of time – get on with something else – and then set them out to cool for a little while before adding to the rest of the ingredients.
It’s best to wait until the garlic cools down a little before you pop it out of it’s skin. Gently chop off the top; then squeeze out the fleshy garlic and place in a jug ready to blend with everything else.
Rinse and drain chickpeas.
Juice lemon and discard the skin.
Add all ingredients to a jug and blend until you reached your desired consistency.
Chill in the fridge before serving.

This serves well with: salad in a sandwich on crackers as a veggie dip with baked potatoes or coconut-sweet-potatoes It’s pretty versatile and should keep in the fridge for over a week. I like to make a batch of pates and dips to enjoy throughout the week. Gotta make plenty in my house though as they vanish pretty quickly!