Salad dressings & dips
Carrot hummus
Carrots give traditional hummus a sweet lift in a dip that goes very well with raw veg crudités such as fennel and celery. This is based on a Moroccan recipe and can be made more spicy with the addition of harissa. You could also roast rather than boil the carrots for a more intense, smoky flavour.
Ingredients
- 5-6 large carrots, cleaned and cut into 2cm chunks
- 4-5 tbsp tahini (sesame paste)
- 1 tin chickpeas, drained, or about 100g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and cooked until tender
- 1-2 garlic cloves, crushed
- juice of 1-2 lemons, to taste
- 3 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp to garnish
- 1-2 tsp ground cumin, to taste (optional)
- paprika or black olives, to garnish (optional)
- salt and pepper
Method
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Step 1
Cook the carrots in boiling salted water until soft. Drain and allow to cool. Place in a food processor or blender with the tahini, chickpeas, half the garlic, half the lemon juice and the 3 tablespoons olive oil.
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Step 2
Blend to a paste. Check consistency; you will probably need to add a few tablespoons of water to loosen the hummus to a dipping texture
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Step 3
Blend again. Now taste and keep adding more garlic, lemon juice, cumin and salt and pepper, blending and tasting until it is as you like it.
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Step 4
Serve on a plate garnished with a sprinkle of paprika and/or black olives, and a trickle of olive oil.