Saturday, November 7, 2009

Hot and not quite hummus

This is a fairly easy creation I came up with a while ago, shortly after making homemade hummus for the first time. enjoy



1 can garbanzo beans
1 red onion, sliced
1 cup carrots, sliced
1 cauliflower, chopped
1 yellow squash, sliced
1 bell pepper, chopped--I used the equivalent of approximately one bell pepper, but actually used some from yellow, red, and green peppers to add color and a wider variety in flavor subtleties.
1 tomato, chopped
1/4 cup Tahini
juice of a lemon
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped Basil
olive oil
1 tbsp paprika
1/2 tbsp cayenne pepper (optional)
salt to taste
pepper to taste

Whole wheat pitas, rice, couscous, quinoa or any other grain you see fit

In a large pan set to medium heat, combine olive oil, garlic, and onions. Simmer until onions start to become soft, about 2 minutes. In a separate pan add the cauliflower.

Cauliflower takes longer to cook fully than most other vegetables, so it must be precooked prior to adding the other ingredients. This can be done in a variety of way. One is to cover it, and add a little bit of water and lemon juice (so that it covers the bottom of pan but is 1/8-1/4 inch deep) to essentially steam it for a few minutes. Leave covered, adding oil to pan when water evaporates because steaming it fully could eventually lead to an entirely too soggy dish. You can also cook cauliflower in the oven for about 20 minutes. This method is easier, but takes a little long, so you must plan when you will start the onions and garlic.

Once the cauliflower is close to tender, combine it with olive oil, onions, and garlic. Add the carrots, squash, and bell pepper along with paprika, cayenne pepper, half of the lemon's juice, and pepper. Cover and cook on medium-low heat until everything is tender, about 5 to 10 minutes. Turn heat down to low. Now add other half of the lemon's juice, garbanzo beans, tomato, basil and tahini sauce. Before adding these ingredients, especially the tahini, make sure everything in the pan doesn’t appear to be dry, because attempting to spread the tahini throughout a bunch of dry vegetables will be very difficult. Cook long enough for beans to become warm, stirring to ensure tahini evenly coats the mixture.

This can be served on a bed of couscous, quinoa, rice, or any other grain you’d like. I’ve stuffed pita pockets with it, too. I’ve held off on adding the tomatoes until after cooking this, and just used them as a cold topping, this worked well, also.

This recipe will serve 2-4 people, depending on how much grain you eat it with.

And, like the name suggests, this recipe is a derivative of hummus. And, like hummus, you can add/change this however you’d like to get a variety of flavors. Just off the top of my head, I can think of roasted red pepper hummus, chipotle hummus, sun-dried tomato hummus, spicy cilantro with jalapeno hummus, horseradish hummus, and edamame hummus. Use your imagination.

enjoy!

peace, and love

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