Beet and Sumac Hummus

It looks like raspberry sorbet, but it's actually hummus.  Beets experienced a huge surge in popularity in the week leading up to Valentine's Day.  I think this recipe from one arab vegan was part of that trend.

Sumac and I have never really had a great relationship.  I guess I don't trust it not to take control of a dish as it once did.  Still, I was intrigued by this hummus recipe and decided to give sumac a chance, starting with a very small amount and working up to that specified by the recipe.  As it turned out, you can barely taste it.  It adds a bit of pungency and sourness, but it's not overpowering.  Garlic and lemon help keep it in line.  To the original recipe, I added more tahini and cumin as well as aleppo pepper flakes.  I think the texture could be richer from still more tahini--the chickpeas and the beets have almost no oil in them.

Also: Here's a page with a bunch of hummus variants I have made.

Beet and Sumac Hummus

(adapted from one arab vegan)

Instructions

1 1/2 c chickpeas

3/4 c cooked beet, roughly chopped

1/4 c tahini

1 TB aleppo

1 tsp cumin

1-1.5 TB sumac

1 tsp cumin powder

sea salt to taste

juice of 1 lemon

1 small clove of garlic, crushed

1 tsp olive oil

reserved water from beets or chickpeas as needed

Instructions

Add all ingredients to a food processor and blend, scraping down the sides frequently. Note that the beets will release some moisture – so be wary of adding too much reserve water to thin. Serves 6.

*

Asparagus is coming back in season!  Following the Bittman bible, I roasted these at 450* for about 15 minutes.  Olive oil, salt, and one crushed clove garlic.

I had these with the old standby wheatberry salad.  Because there's so much vinegar in the salad, it balanced out the asparagus really nicely; there was no need for lemon on the asparagus.  Later I ended up cutting the asparagus into bite-sized pieces and just throwing them into the salad.