Recipe: Roasted Garlic Hummus

I have been on a chicpea kick recently.  After making my bbq chicpeas  last week,  I have been trying all sorts of different ideas.  Using dry chicpeas and cooking them myself has been a great experience.  I really appreciate having as much control over my foods and what I put in my body as I can.

Needing to make some food for the jobby job hours, I decided hummus would be perfect.  I generally reserve hummus for the summer months but I thought I would mix it up a bit.  It is perfect to pack into sandwiches and take them to work.  This time I thought it might be interesting if I roasted the chicpeas before making them into hummus.


Roasted Garlic Hummus

6 cloves of garlic
2 cups of cooked chicpeas
3 tablespoons of water
2 tablespoons of oil
1 tablespoon of jalapenos (chopped)
1 tablespoon of lemon juice

1 tablespoon of tahini
1/2 tablespoon of cilantro
2 teaspoons of cumin seeds
2 teaspoons of paprika
1 teaspoon of coriander

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Add the chicpeas, cumin seeds, 1 tablespoon of oil, coriander, and paprika to a baking dish.  Mix the ingredients around so that the chicpeas are covered and look moist and bake for 10 minutes.  Then stir in the 3 cloves of garlic (chopped) and the jalapenos to the roasting chicpeas and bake for another 15 minutes.  Adding the jalapenos and garlic later prevents them from burning.

After 25 minutes in the oven, the chicpeas should be almost a golden color and be very aromatic.  In a blender, add the remaining 3 cloves of garlic, tahini, lemon juice, water, and oil and puree until the garlic is chopped.  Add the chicpeas mixture and cilantro and puree until smooth.

Dust with more paprika and serve as a dip or use as a sandwich spread.