Roasted Red Bell Pepper Hummus

January for most of us seems to be the month of sore thighs and bums. Throbbing feet from God knows how many miles ran, and wobbly arms from kettlebell swings. We stuffed our faces in December, tried to drink the ‘covid thoughts’ away for the few moments that the alcohol lasted in our bloodstreams, and now….Now January is the month of reckoning. When we pay for our gluttonous sins.

But here is a spicy roasted red bell pepper hummus spread that you can squeeze into your meal plan. Perhaps use it to whet the appetite? Maybe as a spread on that veggie wrap that you know you should have. Or like in my case, make some fluffy garlic naan bread and rip through it as you scoop or swipe the hummus bowl clean.

Oops, it all doesn’t sound very ‘hip friendly’ with that soft naan bread that makes you do a double-take once the dough hits the piping hot cast iron pan and the scent of brown butter fills the house. But oh well…

But back to the roasted red bell pepper hummus that I will not judge should you decide to lighten it further and drizzle onto other unknown deliciousness. Which I hope you tell me about, should you venture that way?

Not preparing my hips for summer, these curves are just fine.

Angela

How to Make Roasted Red Bell Pepper Hummus

Soak the chickpeas overnight with some baking soda, a tip I learned from Sami Tamimi and Yotam Ottolenghi’s book Jerusalem. This not only reduces the cost of having the gas on for longer than you need to while cooking the chickpeas. But it helps to soften the chickpeas, resulting in a much smoother hummus.

After the overnight soak, my chickpeas had doubled in volume to 400g, I added 1.2 liters of water to it. Boil the chickpeas while you roast the red bell pepper and garlic at the same time.

Remember to boil them in a large pot. Why? because once it starts to boil a froth is formed at the top and if your pot is not deep enough, you will be in for some unfortunate hob deep cleaning. Of course, you can keep skimming it off but do you really want to stand over the stove watching the chickpeas boil away?

Hahaha I was so close to breaking into a song after that last line, Do any 80’s readers remember the song ‘lately’ by Divine?

So back to the chickpeas, they should be soft after 30 minutes. In my case, the chickpeas soaked up all the water and were quite mushy so there was no leftover water to reserve.

However, the hardness and size of the chickpeas will vary, which means that the amount of water and time it takes to soften them will also vary. So should you have quite a bit of leftover water, reserve it and store it in the freezer to quickly cool (if you will be blending the chickpeas right away). Otherwise, you can store the water in the fridge.

Process/blend the chickpeas and bell pepper until smooth and thick, then add the tahini, garlic, lemon juice, and salt. If the mixture is too thick, pour a slow stream of the leftover water over it as it blends and just stops when it reaches your preferred consistency.

If you loved scooping through the whole bowl of roasted red bell pepper hummus, please share and give it a thumbs up below.

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If they didn’t see you make it, they might not even know it has broccoli. The pesto is made with walnuts, broccoli, and cheese. So delicious it will ease your guilt of eating pasta.

Print Recipe

Roasted red bell pepper hummus

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Spread – Middle Eastern

By Angela – Serves: 4/5

Prep Time: 10 minutes – Cooking Time: 30 minutes – Total Time: 40 minutes

Straightforward hummus recipe made with roasted red bell pepper and garlic.

Ingredients

• 200g dried chickpeas
• 2 teaspoons baking soda (divided)
• 200g red bell pepper
• 75g (4 heaped tablespoons) tahini
• 2 cloves roasted garlic
• 20g (3 1/2 tablespoons) lemon juice
• 3 X 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Olive oil

Instructions

PREPARING THE CHICKPEAS

1

Soak the chickpeas overnight in cold water and 1 tsp baking soda

2

The next day, pour out any leftover water and rinse the chickpeas once. Transfer them to a large pot and add double the amount of liquid plus 1 teaspoon of baking soda. It should take roughly 30-35 minutes to boil uncovered on high heat.

ROASTING THE BELL PEPPER

3

Preheat the oven to 210°C

4

Cut the red bell pepper through the middle, take out the seeds, and lay the peppers curved side up on a lightly greased baking tray. Spray some oil over the bell pepper.

5

Cut off 1/4 inch of the garlic head. Place the garlic on aluminum foil and drizzle about 2 tablespoons worth of olive oil into the exposed garlic cloves. Wrap the garlic in the foil and roast with the red bell pepper for 30-35 minutes. After 25 minutes, check every so often to make sure if the garlic is soft and the pepper isn't burning.

6

Take out the red bell pepper when ready and put it inside a ziplock bag or airtight container and leave to cool and loosen for 5 minutes. Peel off the bell pepper skin and trim off any burnt edges.

BLEND

7

Drain any excess water from the chickpeas(reserve and put it in the freezer to quickly cool), though in my case the chickpeas soaked it all up. Tip the chickpeas and bell pepper into a food processor or blender and process/blend to a thick paste.

8

Next, add in the tahini, garlic, lemon juice, and salt. Process/blend until smooth. At this point, you can add a little of the leftover water (in the freezer) from the boiled chickpeas IF the hummus is too thick.

9

Pour in a small stream until the hummus is at the perfect preferred consistency.

10

Serve

11

Store the leftover hummus in an airtight container in the fridge, take it out at least 30-45 minutes before serving.