Red capsicum hummus
Hola people. If you live in Dubai, have you tasted the red capsicum hummus from Spinneys? Or in general, have you guys tasted red capsicum hummus? I love hummus.. I do not mean just the taste.. I mean it’s just so convenient. Make it over the weekend and you have a nice, healthy, protein rich dip/ spread ready to use through the week and man, this comes so handy when you are crunched for time. I have been meaning to try out this red capsicum hummus cos if there is one thing better than hummus, than it is red capsicum hummus :). The recipe literally just tweaks the regular hummus recipe by adding 1 charred capsicum. That simple but the flavour profile gets super elevated. D called me the day he first tasted this hummus saying I do not need to wash the box in which I had packed the hummus since he had licked it that clean :D. D doesn’t give such compliments easily and so just go and make this off :).
- 1/4 cup dried chickpea/ channa
- 2 tbsp tahini paste
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 cup water reserve water from cooking channa is perfect
- 1 medium pod garlic
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper powder
- 1 small red capsicum
- 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
-
Soak the 1/2c channa/ dried chickpea in water overnight.
-
The next day, drain the water. Fill the soaked chickpea with fresh water, some salt.
-
Pressure cook the chickpea for 5-6 whistles and let the pressure release naturally.
-
Let the chickpea cool down. Set it aside.
-
Place the capsicum directly on the burner of a gas stove turned to high heat. The capsicum will start to blister and blacken.
-
When one side of the pepper is charred completely (1-2 minutes), turn it with tongs and start charring another side.
-
Repeat until the entire capsicum is blackened and charred.
-
Remove the charred/ blackened capsicum from the fire, place it on a plate and cover with a bowl. This captures steam, which helps loosen the charred skins which will become easy to remove.
-
When the pepper is cool (5-10 minutes), remove it from the plate and gently rub the charred skin off.
-
You should be able to get it all out. If there is still some remaining, just run it under tap water removing the remainder of the charred skin and dab the capsicum with a kitchen towel.
-
Now chop the capsicum, remove the seeds (and any water that might have steeped in), and chop the capsicum flesh into roughly pieces. Set it aside.
-
In a mixie jar, place the cooked chickpea, 2T tahini paste, 2T olive oil, 1 pod garlic, 1t freshly ground black pepper powder, the charred capsicum flesh, 1/2T lemon juice, 1/4c water (reserve water from cooking the chickpea preferrably).
-
Grind everything together till smooth.
-
Transfer to an airtight container. Use as a dip/ spread and store it in the refrigerator for upto 1 week.
- You can use canned chickpea instead of the dried chickpea (just follow the instructions as per what’s on the can to cook the chickpeas).
- If you do not have tahini paste, you can toast 2.5T sesame seeds and grind that first and then add the rest of the ingredients and grind it all together.Â
- I use this as a dip.. perfect for an evening snack along with some cucumber/ carrot sticks. I use this as a spread.. on a slice of bread/ chapathi/ pita pockets. I use this as a salad dressing.. just thin it down with some water/ curd.Â
