VegBox Recipes

Beetroot Hummus

Beetroot is one of those vegetables that seems to quickly build into gluts.

There's only so much you can pickle or bake, before you start to get bored.

So here's a quick and nutritious recipe to use up cooked beetroot and add a new twist to a traditional dish.

Hummus is a staple of Middle Eastern cookery. Its blend of chick peas and sesame seeds are a valuable source of calcium, protein, vegetable fats, iron and B vitamins. The addition of beetroot increases the vitamin C content and adds magnesium. All of which combines to make this pretty much a super-food.

The pretty pink colour makes it fun for kids, so you might even be able to persuade little ones to eat this on toast or with fresh veg sticks!

You can either make this from scratch, with dried chick peas and fresh beetroot or you can whiz it up in 5 minutes using pre-cooked beetroot and a can of chick peas / frozen chick peas.

Ingredients

Serves 4 as a side dish or starter

4 small beetroot, cooked (NOT pickled beetroot)
200g chickpeas (1 can or equivalent dried chickpeas, cooked)
3 tbsp tahini (sesame seed paste)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic (optional, but tastes great)
Juice of ½ lemon (optional)

Method

Put all the ingredients together in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
You may need to add a little water, if the paste is too thick.

The easiest way to do it is to process in this order:
- lemon, olive oil, garlic, tahini
- then add beetroot
- then add chickpeas (and water, if needed)
Serve with toast, fresh vegetable sticks or as a side salad.

Time From Cupboard-To-Table

If using pre-cooked beetroot and canned chickpeas = 5 minutes

If using dried chickpeas, you'll need to soak them overnight and cook them in boiling water for about 50 minutes, until softened, before using.
It's worth doing a large batch and freezing them in 200g portions.

See the beetroot page for information on how to cook fresh beetroot.

Notes & Variations on Beetroot Hummus

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	Pickled Beetroot Personally, I like shop-bought pickled beetroot. But this recipe for home pickling is much tastier and it's fun to experiment with the ingredients.
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