Monday, December 21, 2009

Hummus with Sweet Potatoes and Roasted Red Pepper



I make a lot of variations of hummus and I prefer to make it with little or no added fat to keep it as anti-inflammatory as possible. Some months ago I realized that I could add a baked and peeled sweet potato to the hummus and it would bump up the nutrition and result in a nice creamy texture without adding fat. Since then I have been adding sweet potato to our hummus.

Yesterday I decided to add roasted red peppers to increase the nutrition further. The resulting hummus was still creamy and flavorful and had even more nutrition and still no added fat. This is definitely another experiment that worked out well. I like to use hummus with raw veggies dippers or on a green salad. When I use hummus in place of salad dressing I also like to add a little sriracha on top of the hummus. Here is the hummus I made for our salads this week.

Hummus with Sweet Potatoes and Roasted Red Pepper
Makes 5 cups – or 10 ½ cup servings

Ingredients:

4 cups very tender cooked garbanzo beans (2/3 of a pound), warm would be best
1 medium sweet potato (approximately 8 - 10 ounces), baked and peeled
¾ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
½ teaspoon sweet paprika
3 roasted red peppers, stems and seeds removed
½ lemon, zested and juiced
2 large cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
1 tablespoon hot crushed peppers (wet hots)
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
cooking liquid from beans (I used 1 ½ cups)

Directions:

Place everything but the bean cooking liquid in your food processor and process until combined. Now add the bean cooking liquid a ladle at a time until the hummus is the texture you desire. Remember that the hummus will get considerably firmer as it chills.

The hubby and I have very different ideas regarding the perfect texture of hummus. I like mine thinner, and he likes his very thick. The hummus pictured on our salad above is the middle ground between what the two of us like. You may need more or less liquid than I used depending on your preference.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 152.86
Calories From Fat (7%) - 11.03

Total Fat - 1.31g
Saturated Fat - 0.14g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 479.24mg
Potassium - 358.06mg
Total Carbohydrates - 30.19g
Fiber - 6.05g
Sugar - 3.02g
Protein - 5.7g

Comments:

This hummus has a mild but interesting flavor. You can taste the red pepper, cumin and lemon but none of them are dominant. Interestingly the sweet potato is more a texture than a flavor. Even knowing the sweet potato was in the hummus I couldn’t taste it.

Each ½ cup serving of this hummus contains approximately 5,050IU of vitamin A, 60mg of vitamin C, 45mg of calcium, 90mcg of folate, 110mg of phosphorus, and 40mg of magnesium. Not bad for something that I using on my salad in place of salad dressing.

I specifically use warm chickpeas because I think the hummus gets creamier when the chickpeas are warm, or even hot. If you are using canned garbanzo beans you can rinse and drain them and then add water and put them in the microwave to warm them up before processing.

Unrelated note:

I got really behind posting recipes this weekend with the snow. It may take me a few days to get caught up since the hubby and I are going shopping tomorrow.

My schedule is fairly packed today. I have to exercise, clean a little, check on my parents, finish researching juicers so we can get that ordered today, and then I will be back with another recipe or two.

I hope you all have a wonderful day and stay warm.

23 comments:

  1. I love your healthy hummus! I'm sure that I would really like the additional creaminess lent by the sweet potato. Can you elaborate on the wet hots? Not sure what that is :)

    Glad you're able to get out of the house now!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good Morning Sarah,

    Wet hots are the minced pickled peppers they sell around here to go on sandwiches. They have many different names which is why I never know what to call them on the blog. I buy them in jars that they carry at our grocery store near the pickles. The peppers themselves are diced very finely and are a medium heat level. If you need to me take a pic and post that to help you find them let me know. I would say you could use tabasco or harissa in place of these. I use them a lot because they add both heat and acidity.

    talk to you soon,
    Alicia

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ah, gotcha! I know exactly what you mean :) thanks!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sarah,

    What name do you know them by? I would like to know so I can add that to future recipes when I use them.

    thanks,
    Alicia

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  5. This looks AWESOME! I'm definitely making this over the holidays. -Matt

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  6. Matt,

    Yay! Thanks for letting me know you like the sound of it. I hope you like it too. It is definitely the most healthy version of hummus I have made yet.

    When I first eliminated the tahini and olive oil I missed it, but now the commercial versions tasty too fatty to me.

    Alicia

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  7. What I'm thinking of is called giardiniera. Most famously put to use on italian beef sandwiches here in Chicago. Sound right?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sarah,

    No that isn't it. Giardiniera is a southern Italian pickled vegetable relish. I will look for the product on line and post a link soon.

    Alicia

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  9. Sarah,

    The link to the brand of hot crushed peppers I buy is below. This brand contains: peppers, water, vinegar and salt (and a couple of preservatives).

    http://www.florafoods.com/proddetail.php?prod=660123

    I hope that helps you to find something similar.

    Alicia

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh yummmmmm!!! I love hummus. I started making it a lot this summer with garbanzo and cannellini beans (for the creamy texture). I never even thought about sweet potato. Delish!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Heather,

    I don't remember why I decided to add sweet potato to hummus. However, it gave the hummus such a lovely texture and so much more nutrition I just kept using it. I hope you like it as much as we do.

    Alicia

    ReplyDelete
  12. This is such a cool idea and it sounds delicious...I'm going to have to make this asap.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Rose,

    I am so glad you like the sound of it. It has a lot of flavor without the unnecessary fat.

    Alicia

    ReplyDelete
  14. Ah very interesting! I don't believe I've ever seen peppers like that, but I'm going to be on the lookout now.

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  15. Let us know what juicer you buy. We bought an Omega over 10 years ago. Still cranks out the carrot juice with no problems.

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  16. Shenandoah,

    I am leaning toward an Omega, I believe the model is 8006. Sorry I am not at home now to check my notes. When I finally decide I will let you know. I am still researching but Omega continues to stay at the top of the list in terms of cost and effectiveness.

    Alicia

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  17. Sarah,

    I hope you have success finding the peppers. I don't think they are a regional product.

    Happy Holidays,
    Alicia

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  18. I have to give props to the Omega. We used to order carrot juice at Sunflower Vegetarian Restaurant and asked what juicer they used. We went online and bought the exact same one. Very powerful.

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  19. Shenandoah,

    We did order the Omega 8006. I can't wait for it arrive. There are going to be many fresh juices at our house soon.

    Alicia

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  20. I found those peppers last night in the Italian section of my international-friendly grocery store. Hooray! Can't wait to try them in this and more.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Sarah,

    Yay! I use those peppers all the time, most days in fact. They work in almost everything. I stir them into soup and casseroles, include them in salad dressings, always add them to dips. I can't wait to see what you use them for.

    Alicia

    ReplyDelete

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