It doesn’t matter what time of year it is, or what the occasion might be, but, in my opinion, there is always room for hummus. I rarely host a dinner party without a big plate of it ready to serve my guests with, and it is one of the many given dishes on any reputable meze table too. This recipe adds a lovely kick of sweet smokiness to a classic hummus recipe, and is perfect for when you are entertaining; other than chopping up a nice selection of crudités and slicing up some bread, it really is a simple case of roasting a couple of peppers and some garlic, then whizzing all of the ingredients together in a blender. This recipe makes A LOT of hummus, so if you aren’t making it for a crowd, feel free to halve the quantities.
Ingredients
1 whole garlic bulb
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3/4 tsp sea salt flakes
2 red bell peppers
400g cooked chickpeas (around 250g dried chickpeas soaked overnight and boiled / 1 x 660g jar or 2 x 400g cans of good quality chickpeas
150g tahini
1tsp sweet smoked paprika
1 1/2 tsp pul biber flakes
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp Turkish sweet red pepper paste
60ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
100-200ml ice water
To garnish:
Pul biber
Sweet smoked paprika
Toasted pine nuts
Toasted sesame seeds
Fresh parsley leaves, finely chopped
Method
Preheat oven to 210c (fan) / 230c.
Cut the top off the garlic bulb to expose the tops of the raw cloves. Place the garlic bulb on a piece of foil (large enough to fully wrap the garlic in), drizzle the garlic with a little of the olive oil and a good pinch of the sea salt then wrap it up in the foil and place on a tray lined with baking paper along with the two red peppers. Place the tray in the oven on the middle shelf and roast for around 30-40 minutes until the peppers have softened and blackened slightly in places. Pop the peppers onto a clean plate to cool and keep the garlic wrapped up tightly in the foil.
Once the peppers have cooled, ensure to retain any juices that they have released to use later, then take the cores out of the peppers, peel off the skins (which should slide off easily), and remove the seeds. Unwrap the garlic bulb and squeeze out all the squishy roasted garlic cloves.
Add all of the remaining ingredients, including the roasted peppers and squishy garlic to a blender (starting off with only 100ml of the ice cold water to begin with) and blend together. If the texture is too thick, add a little more water. Blend again, taste, and feel free to add a little more salt/lemon if desired.
Garnish with a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, a good pinch each of pul biber and smoked paprika, toasted pine nuts and sesame seeds, and finely chopped fresh parsley leaves.
