Saturday, October 10, 2009

Sweet Potato Hummus


(pictured: Sweet potato hummus on spicy greens topped with shelled hempseeds)

Every vegan has at least 20 recipes for hummus, or at least I do. So you may wonder why you need another hummus recipe. I am always looking for ways to change hummus to make it more interesting or to increase the nutrition. Today’s variation tastes great and is more nutritious.

By adding sweet potato I have increased the vitamin A in the hummus to over 2,000 IU’s per serving. Who wouldn’t want to eat a variation that is packed with healthy antioxidants? I love it when things that taste good are also good for me.

Sweet Potato Hummus
Serves 10 – ½ cup servings

Ingredients:

1 cup garbanzo beans, picked through and rinsed and presoaked
6 cups of water to cook garbanzo beans
1 bay leaf
1 organic sweet potato, scrubbed
2 tablespoons tahini
3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 teaspoons cumin seeds, toasted
1 teaspoon coriander seed, toasted
1 ½ teaspoons sweet paprika
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Cook the beans in the water with the bay leaf until very soft.

When the beans are almost cooked microwave the potato until very soft. Cut off the ends and cut the potato into quarters lengthwise and then into ¼ inch slices. You are trying to cut the skin into small enough pieces that you don’t end up with any big pieces in the final hummus.

Place the sweet potato and hot cooked garbanzo beans into your food processor. Add the tahini, garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest, cumin, coriander, paprika and salt. Process the mixture. Add as much bean cooking liquid, as you need to get the consistency you like. Remember that the hummus will get firmer as it cools so make it a little looser than you want it to be when you eat it.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 110.13
Calories From Fat (23%) - 25.1

Total Fat - 3g
Saturated Fat - 0.36g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 251.29mg
Potassium - 275.01mg
Total Carbohydrates - 17.24g
Fiber - 4.57g
Sugar - 2.92g
Protein - 4.97g

Comments:

The texture on this hummus is exactly like the type that is full of fat. But at 3 grams of fat per serving this recipe is definitely a winner.

Much to my surprise I could not detect the taste of the sweet potato in the final hummus. The flavor disappeared into the background. However, each serving is packed with vitamin A, a powerful antioxidant. This worked so well sweet potato may go into all my variations of hummus from now on.

As you can see in the picture above we had a salad this morning for breakfast with hummus in place of dressing and a little shelled hempseeds for garnish and omega 3 fatty acids.

5 comments:

  1. Salad for breakfast is awesome! The color of the hummus is beautiful. What a great idea.

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  2. Rose,

    We eat salad for breakfast a lot. Most people think it is odd, but I knew you would get it.

    I liked the color too. The paprika has a lot to do with that. I think I add more paprika than most people because I know it is high in vitamin C.

    When Dan had the hummus this morning it thought it was "less beany" and would be good to serve to those people that don't love hummus. Can't imagine why anyone wouldn't love hummus.

    Alicia

    ReplyDelete
  3. About vitamins in spices...it's so easy to overlook the healthful qualities in herbs and spices, because unless they are in seed or leaf form, they seem to be such an abstraction. Thanks for the nutritional info.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Rose,

    I agree herbs and spices usually seem like flavor and nothing more. Cinnamon has an extremely high ORAC value. Maybe I just post something on the health benefits of herbs and spices. What do you think, good idea?

    Alicia

    ReplyDelete
  5. I would have never thought to use sweet potatoes for hummus! yummy.

    ReplyDelete