Hummus is a Levantine dip or spread made from cooked, mashed chickpeas or other beans, blended with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic. Hummus is popular throughout the Middle East and in Middle Eastern cuisine around the globe. Nowadays it is available in most grocery stores almost everywhere.

Here in the UAE, Hummus at the restaurants are generally served with freshly baked khaboos. Khaboos is the Arabic traditional bread. I enjoy my Hummus mostly in wraps made using khaboos, grilled chicken/meat/kebabs and fresh vegetables.

Hummus is a great diet food as it is a complex carbohydrate that provides time released energy that won’t lead to a spike in blood sugar levels. Hummus are high in fiber and protein, it’s also packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, It is mainly made using chickpeas (garbanzo beans), which is a good vegetable-based source of iron. Chickpeas also contain isoflavones, which are antioxidants known to lower cholesterol.

You get many varieties of Hummus. I enjoy Hummus in the original flavor but at time I like to jazz it up by adding different ingredients. This recipe contains beetroot and I love the pop of color that the beetroot imparts to this hummus. It’s a great addition to your variety of dips or spread. You really can’t get much of the beetroot flavor but definitely you would get all the nutrients from it.

It’s super easy and flavorful and most importantly it’s really easy to make it. Do give it a try and let me know what you think about it!

Ingredients:

1 x 400g/14oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed.

1 medium sized cooked/roasted beetroot.

1/2 tsp salt.

Juice of 1 lime or ½ lemon.

2-3 garlic cloves.

2 tbsp tahini (sesame seed paste)

80ml to about 100ml extra virgin olive oil

Finely chopped parsley/coriander leaves to garnish

 Method:

Process all the ingredients except the parsley/coriander leaves until smooth.

Tip: In case you are using boiled beetroot use  2 tbsp of the water the beet was cooked in.

Transfer to a serving dish then using a spoon make a crater in the middle

Drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil in the crater, and garnish with chopped parsley or coriander leaves and serve.

You can eat this at room temperature or chilled! Serve with Pita bread or khaboos on the side for dipping or enjoy it as a base for your wrap.