Being a vegetarian in China…isn’t always easy.
Since moving to Beijing, I’ve had to tweak my diet, including ordering more meat dishes eatting out. Although I when I cook for myself, I’m sticking to my vegetarian fare. Below is my tried and true recipe for Red Roasted Pepper Hummus.
Red Roasted Pepper Hummus: Serve with veggies and a slice of avocado.
Asked for by coworkers, gifted to friends, this is truly delicious and pretty darn good for you, too.
Red Roasted Pepper Humus
- 1 Can chickpeas
- 1 Lemon
- 1/4 C Tahini (Optional, but really tasty)
- 2 T Olive oil
- 1/4 C Water
- 2 t Cumin
- 1-2 Garlic cloves
- Salt/pepper
It’s easiest to use a food processor, although in our Beijing kitchen, all we had was our soy bean milk extraction machine. Which, as luck would have it, makes a great mini-processor. Win! If you don’t have a processor, or a sweet Media like the one below, just use something like a potato masher. It’s better if it’s processed, but you get a unique flavor and consistency with a smashed hummus recipe (Smashed of course being a euphemism for “not enough resources to yet obtain a food processor.”
Media Soy Bean Mlik Processor: Makes a great mini-food processor!
- Roast the pepper. Heat the oven to 400 degrees F (about 200 degrees Celsius). Wash, core, and quarter the pepper, placing the quarters in an oven-safe container. Drizzle the pepper with olive oil. Roast for 20-30 minutes or until the skin starts to brown and wrinkle. They key is to roast it so the skin is easy to come off, but not charcoaled. While pepper is roasting, prepare the hummus base.
- Drain and rinse chickpeas well.
- In no particular order, add the other ingredients to the processor. I’ve never really consistently had the same ratio of everything, although this is the one that I use most frequently. Add spices, including salt, pepper, cumin, and parsley if you’d like. Add about 1/4 cup of water to make the final mixture creamy. If available, add the tahini.
- I love garlic. If you’re not too wild about it, put in one small chopped clove. I use two big cloves, but prepare them into a paste before adding into the mixture to bring out the flavor. Dice the cloves, but then add salt over top. Using the side of your knife massage the salt into the cloves, mashing it into a paste.
- Add the juice of one lemon. To release the juice from inside the lemon, I roll the fruit against the counter. Then, slice it in half, and juice it into the processor.
- Once the pepper is done roasting, let it cool off for about five minutes before processing it. To make the skins come off like magic, try to pop it into a paper bag for about five minutes. The heat will help release the skin from the pepper, doing all the hard work for you.
- Add the red pepper, and blitz the mixture until creamy.
- Top with extra tahini, or some extra cumin and pepper.
- Serve on toasts, sandwiches, with veggies. My favorite is red roasted pepper hummus with freshly sliced avocado, which surprisingly, I can find for eight kuai at my local market.
Enjoy 