Lebanese pumpkin hummus
Lebanese pumpkin hummus
As the recipe title suggests, the idea for this vibrant pumpkin hummus hails from Lebanon. In fact, the Lebanese (along with the Egyptians and Palestinians) argue that classic hummus, which we have come to associate with Israel is also their invention and they are outraged that Israel markets hummus as their national dish.
To be honest, I’m not surprised that everyone seems to want a slice of the pie. Whoever has come up with the idea to transform humble chickpeas into a bowl of dreamy creamy awesomeness deserves a medal.
Although today’s pumpkin hummus does not contain chickpeas, it does have all other classic hummus ingredients: tahini, lemon and garlic so I’ve taken the liberty of callingย it a hummus too.
This pumpkin hummus is actually way less fussy to make than theย classic one as there is absolutely no soaking, peeling or coaxing your blender involved. Despite much less effort, this beautiful dip is absolutely to die for. It’s creamy and extremely addictive.
As far as I can tell, it typically does not feature chilli, but as I’m a chilli fiend, I’ve added a little kick to mine. I think that it complements ย the pumpkin’s the sweetness and the tahini’s nuttiness so well. Now excuse me, while I dive my toasted sourdough into my creamy creation.
HUMMUS
- 1 small firm* pumpkin (700 g of peeled and cored), I used butternut pumpkin / squash
- 2-4 tbsp / 1/8-ยผ cup lemon juice (depending on the sweetness of your pumpkin)
- 1 garlic clove, pressed
- 5 tbsp / ยผ cup + 1 tbsp tahini, hulled
- ยฝ tsp salt, more to taste
- ยผ tsp hot chilli powder (optional)
- olive oil, for roasting
- fresh parsley or coriander, to garnish
- black and white sesame seeds, to garnish
- 2 tsp chilli oilย or extra virgin olive oil, to garnish
- Heat up the oven to 220ยฐ C / 425ยฐ F and line a baking tray with a piece of baking paper. Cut your pumpkin into evenly sized pieces and coat in a little olive oil. Bake for about 30 minutes – until soft and lightly caramelised. Alternatively, you can steam your pumpkin instead.
- Transfer pumpkin to a food processor (as opposed to the traditional hummus, a food processor works much better here than an upright blender). Add tahini, pressed garlic, salt, chilli, and lemon juice to taste. Whiz until smooth. If the paste is too thick, trickle in 1-2 tbsp of water to thin it out.
- Transfer the hummus onto a plate, smooth it with the back of a spoon. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil or chilli oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds and fresh herbs. Serve with toasted pita or sourdough bread and a selection of mezze dishes.
Oooooh cannot wait to try this! (I have tried so many awesome sweet recipes from your blog - this will be my first savoury woop woop)
Also - I just wanted to share with you that I am Israeli and although we have absolutely adopted hummus as our national dish, here is Israel EVERYONE knows that good hummus, the real stuff, comes from the Arabic nations around us, and even within Israel, the best places to have hummus are the Arabic villages. In fact, a pretty popular concept for a day trip will revolve around planning to get to a hummus place in such a village, where the rest of the day trip is basically planned planned around that. We are such a nation off fatties hahaha
If you ever visit Israel - be sure to go to these! They are wonderful!!!
That's really refreshing of you to say that, usually recipes like hummus trigger a lot of senseless nationalism. Every time I post a Greek recipe, I get Turkish people telling me that I am wrong as the recipe is theirs ignoring the fact that 400 year long Turkish occupation of Greece means that there is a lot of overlap. I love your tip and if it's ever safe to travel again, I would certainly to be tempted to visit that part of the world and eat myself silly (it will be hard not to). x Ania
It definitely can be frozen, but whether the texture will be exactly the same after defrosting, I'm not sure as we always eat it fresh. I suspect so. Ania
Thanks for pointing it out - looks like I missed it in the instructions. It goes into the blender at the same time as tahini, chilli and lemon. Hope it will hit the spot! Ania
Hope that helps,
Ania
So pleased to hear that you like the recipe, hope you'll try it out! The amount of tahini that's needed is 5 tbsp, but since many people ask me to specify in cups whenever possible I converted it into cups for these people, which is 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp (5 tbsp in total). Tahini comes in hulled (when the outer husk of a sesame seed has been removed) and unhulled variety. I used hulled variety as that's the only one I can find here. Unhulled tahini, although more nutritious, is also more bitter so it may affect the final result.
Hope that helps,
Ania
Warm greetings,
Ania