Heavenly Hommus

Today (Sunday 23rd Feb) is the last day of Healthy Weight Week, an initiative by the Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA) to raise awareness of the importance of achieving and maintaining a healthy weight and a healthy lifestyle.

DAA members (of which I am one) were encouraged to get involved and hold an event during this week.  At the Nutrition and Wellbeing Clinic (NWBC) in Castle Hill (where I work), we decided to do quick lunch time cooking demonstrations, with a different theme for each day of the week.

Wednesday was my turn and I made a healthy platter to take to a party.  My colourful platter was centred around a ‘Trio of Dips’ – hommus, beetroot and guacamole.  I demonstrated how quick and easy these dips are to make and accompanied them with delicious, healthy vegetable ‘dippers’ – gorgeous bright red seasonal cherry tomatoes, crunchy green snow peas, blanched green beans, broccoli and cauliflower and of course, carrots!

We had a great turn-out and everyone loved my dips 🙂

Here is my hommus recipe I demonstrated on the day with many different variations listed below…

Heavenly Hommus

Makes approx. 10 serves

• 1 x 400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (or 1 1/3 cups cooked chickpeas)
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce
• 1-2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons of tahini
• ¼ cup water, approx
• ½ cup continental parsley or fresh coriander, optional
• cumin, to taste, optional
• olive oil to serve, optional
• sweet or smoked paprika to serve, optional

Directions:

1. Place chickpeas, garlic, soy sauce, lemon juice and tahini in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth.
2. Add water gradually to get the consistency you like (I like to make my hommus quite soft as it usually firms up as it sits!)
3. Add optional extras (parsley, coriander or cumin) as desired
4. Transfer to serving dish and drizzle with a little olive oil and a sprinkle of paprika
5. Serve with LOTS of vegetables to dip in…

Per Serve: 295kJ or 70 calories; P 4g Fat 3g SFat 0.4g CHO 6g Fibre 3g

There are endless variations to your hommus recipe.  Here are just some of my ideas…

Fourteen Heavenly Hommus Variations:

1. Basil/pesto hommus – add 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, roughly torn – puree with dip or keep chunky, depending on your taste
2. Tomato and basil hommus – add 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, roughly torn and1/2 chopped fresh tomato, heirloom tomatoes or cherry tomatoes cut into quarters
3. Semi-dried tomato hommus – add 1/2 cup chopped semi-dried tomatoes + 1 tablespoon fresh basil leaves, roughly torn (again keep chunky or puree with dip)
4. Carrot hommus – add 2-3 cooked carrots and puree to combine
5. Beetroot hommus – add 1/2 -1 cup tinned beetroot, or roasted beetroot
6. Coriander, lime and chilli – add 1/2 cup roughly chopped coriander leaves, replace lemon with lime juice and add chilli paste or one freshly chopped large red chilli (seeds removed)
7. Roasted garlic hommus – roast 4-6 garlic cloves and add in place of fresh garlic (garlic becomes more mellow when roasted, thus the increased number of cloves)
8. Spinach hommus – add a large handful of baby spinach leaves, or blanched spinach leaves
9. Roasted pumpkin hommus – add 1-2 cup roasted pumpkin and puree to combine
10. Roasted capsicum hommus – add 1-2 roasted capsicums and puree to combine
11. Roasted capsicum and basil hommus – add 1-2 roasted capsicums + 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, roughly torn; puree capsicum and basil or keep basil chunky
12. Artichoke hommus – add 1 jar of drained artichoke hearts, chopped roughly – again puree or keep chunky, depending on your taste
13. Moroccan hommus – add 1 1/2-4 teaspoons of Moroccan seasoning – garnish with fresh parsley or coriander
14. Spice-it-up-hommus – add chilli, harissa (a garlic and chilli paste), za’atar, or any other of your favourite spice blends + some fresh herbs of your choice for an interesting spicy hommus blend – endless possibilities here alone!!