Karl’s Roasted Carrot and Red Pepper Hummus

I am making the Dean’s Lunch and one of the dinners is a Vegan. Jan and I finally settled on a salad with crackers and a selection of schmears.  To meet the needs of the one, the many must eat Vegan—to paraphrase.

Hummus is a standard Middle Eastern spread, but it can get just a bit boring. I could add a lot of spices, but I decided that what I really wanted to add was roasted vegetables. I made a carrot and lentil soup recently, and I thought they would go with garbanzo beans just as well. I then thought that a bit of red bell pepper might brighten what would be a dull orange color.

Karl’s Roasted Carrot and Red Pepper Hummus

Ingredients

2 cups chickpeas

1 carrot
1 red bell pepper

1 clove garlic, mashed o a paste
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup olive oil
2 Tbs. tahini
¼ tsp. black pepper
¼ tsp. Kosher salt

1 Tbs. olive oil (as garnish)

Directions

1. Soak the garbanzo beans overnight and in the morning put them in a medium pan with three cups of water.

Tip: You may add a pinch of salt, if you wish.

Note: If you wish to skip these steps, use canned garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed. Reserve the can liquid.

2. Bring the pot to a boil, reduce the heat, and cover. Simmer for one hour.

3. Drain and cool the beans.

Tip: Reserve at least one half cup of the bean liquid. You may need it to thin out the schmear.

4. Remove the hulls from the garbanzo beans.

Tip: While removing the chickpea hulls may seem like a pain, you will get a much smooth hummus if you do not skip this step.

5. Cut the carrot and red pepper in half length ways.

Tip: This will reduce the roasting time.

6. Place the vegetables on a pan and broil them for 10-15 minutes.

Tip: You want them soft, and while a bit of dark spotting is OK, you do not want them burnt.

7. Peel the skin off of the pepper and chop the vegetables coarsely.

8. Put the carrot, bell pepper, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, tahini, black pepper, and salt into a standing blender and process it to a paste.

9. Add half of the garbanzo beans and continue processing.

10. Add the rest of the beans and, if necessary, some of the reserved liquid to thin the paste.

Note: If you are going to east the hummus in a few hours you want it to be fairly thick. However, if you plan to let it rest overnight—always better—add more of the liquid than may seem necessary. The starch from the beans will continue to hydrate and thicken the hummus.

11. Transfer the hummus to a serving bowl and create a shallow “well” in the surface. Fill the well with olive oil as a garnish.