I remember the day I learned about hummus. Senior year of college, 11:30 class. The girl who sat beside me brought her lunch to class, which consisted of homemade hummus and vegetables for dipping. I was curious, she offered me some, and I decided this was a truly great thing, this mashed up chickpea mess which she assured me was extremely simple to make.
So a year ago I decided to make my own. Being me, I couldn’t pick a basic recipe. I went instead for a version involving lots of red bell pepper, and I’m going to be completely honest: It was nasty. After going out and buying tahini (a paste made from sesame seeds) I hated to see even a little of it go to waste, but I just couldn’t handle the flavor. The hummus sat in the fridge pretty much untouched for a LONG time until I finally had to grimace and throw it all out. (I HATE throwing away food.)
That might be why, until this week, I’ve been wary of making a second attempt. However, I saw this recipe and thought it looked promising enough to try again. Sweet potatoes have got to beat red pepper here. And guess what? They do. I like this hummus. Maybe not love– but a solid “like,” yes. Justin says it reminds him a bit of peanut butter (probably the tahini) and I tend to agree with him. It’s a sweet potato flavored peanut buttery spread. And that’s good, but as I don’t just LOVE peanut butter, next time I’d like to try a recipe without tahini and see if I like that even better.
We both really enjoyed the cumin chips and if you get tired of having this as a dip, I found that I REALLY like it on my little raw veggie sandwiches!
Sweet Potato Hummus & Cumin Chips
Yield: 2 cups
Ingredients:
For the hummus:
- 1 medium sweet potato
- 1 cup chickpeas, drained of any liquid
- 3 tablespoons tahini
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 ½ teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- dash nutmeg
- salt and pepper to taste
- olive oil for drizzling
For the cumin chips:
- 2 flour tortillas
- 2 tablespoons olive oil for brushing
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
For the hummus:
Peel, chop and boil the sweet potato until it is easily pierced with a fork.
Place ingredients for hummus into a food processor and blend until smooth. Adjust seasonings as needed.
Top with a small drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of cumin. Serve with baked cumin chips.
For the cumin chips:
Preheat oven to 350 °F.
Slice tortillas into 1-inch triangles. Place them onto a baking sheet and brush with oil. Sprinkle with cumin and salt and pepper. Bake for 15 minutes until lightly browned and crisp.
Adapted from spoonforkbacon.com
