Red pepper Hummus

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Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

This is a Mediterranean-based hummus made with red pepper and hazelnuts. It can remind one of Romesco sauce. Creamy, smooth and with a touch of sweetness.

Course Breakfast, Brunch, Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine Lebanese, Mediterranean, vegan
Tags chickpeas, garlic, hazelnuts, hummus, mediterranean, red pepper, vegan
Prep time 15 minutes
Cook time 40 minutes
Servings 700 ml jar
Author Silvia Cooks

Ingredients

  • 350 gr cooked chickpeas
  • 50 gr extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 lemon juice (or even 1 whole lemon! Taste and adjust where needed)
  • 30 gr tahini
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1 small red pepper (optional)
  • 10-15 hazelnuts (optional)

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 230ºC. Place the whole red pepper on a baking tray, previously lined with baking paper or a silicone mat.

  2. OPTIONAL – Bake the red pepper for a total of 40 mins (or until dark brown bubbles appear on the surface). Add the hazelnuts during the last 10 mins of baking. Take the baked ingredients out of the oven, let them cool down. Once the red pepper has cooled down a little, remove the skin, stem and seeds. Add the red pepper, garlic and hazelnuts to the other ingredients.

  3. Place all the ingredients in your food processor or in a tall container (if using a hand blender). Blend until you get a creamy, smooth consistency. If needed, add a little water and blend again. Taste, adjust with salt, lemon juice or any other spice or herb.

Notes

Store in the fridge for 3-4 days.

For some reason, it has taken me +3 years to share a hummus recipe here, when it’s something I make quite regularly and have come to love and enjoy so much.

Hummus originally comes from the Middle East. Countries like Lebanon, Israel, Iran… are said to be the first to make and consume this beautiful mash or spread. The Arabic word ḥummuṣ actually means “chickpeas”. As a funny personal anecdote, I must say that, when I was 5 or 6 years old, well before I knew that hummus was a thing, I used to mash my chickpeas with a fork, drizzle some olive oil and add a pinch of salt and pepper, whenever we ate them at home. My parents used to look at me strangely and asked me many times why I did that. My only answer was: they taste so much better when mashed! When I discovered hummus, for some reason it all made a little more sense.

Classical hummus is mostly chickpeas and tahini (sesame paste). Olive oil, lemon juice and garlic are a must. Salt, pepper, cumin and paprika are nice to have. “Classical” stops here. Anything else added to it is an extra, and although unnecessary, it can be an interesting way of using any leftover vegetable, legume, spice or even fruit.

You can follow the full recipe (including the roasted red pepper and hazelnuts) or make it the classical way. I happened to have a small red pepper in the fridge and thought it could be a tasty combination. If you had a beetroot, sweet potato, pumpkin or carrot, you could roast it and add it in instead. As most of my favourite recipes, you can go freestyle and do it your way. The amounts of ingredients are an orientation, so feel free to adjust them to your taste e.g. if you (and the people you live with) are a garlic lover like me, do add more garlic cloves. I like to make it extra lemony, so I would use 1 whole lemon instead of half. I did try to make this recipe as neutral and balanced as possible though. Being able to taste and adjust the ingredients or the amounts is part of what makes cooking so much fun. That can mean bending and adapting the rules to your own preferences, the moment and people around you.

If you try this recipe, let me know in the comment section or in the contact me page. Any suggestions, feedback or comments are, as always, very welcome!

Bon profit,

Silvia