Hummus has got to be one of my favourite snack foods. I love everything about it – the flavours, the ingredients, and above all, the fact that it tastes SO DAMN GOOD while being really healthy! There’s so many ways to enjoy hummus too. I usually eat it with raw chopped veggies like carrots, celery, peppers or broccoli, or sometimes I’ll add a spoonful to a salad or buddha bowl. I’ve also been known to eat it straight from the tub – I know I can’t be the only one who’s done that!

Recently I tried a gorgeous Kale Hummus recipe by one of my favourite food/fitness bloggers, Hazel Wallace a.k.a The Food Medic. Check her out if you haven’t already, she has a fantastic blog, Instagram and Youtube site! The kale hummus was SO good, and it got me thinking about trying to come up with a recipe of my own. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, 2017 is my year for making meals and snacks from scratch as much as possible, and hummus is a classic example! My favourite flavour of hummus has to be Spicy Roasted Red Pepper. So I figured, why not try and make a version of it myself?

It was a serious success, and now I can’t wait to see what you guys think of it! This recipe is really simple – no crazy ingredients or major time consuming fiddly steps. All you need are some easily sourced wholefood ingredients and a good blender, and you’re all set!

Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 3 tbsp of tahini
• 1/4 tsp harissa seasoning
• 1/4 tsp sweet paprika
• 1 400g tin of chickpeas
• 1 red bell peppper, chopped into long slices
• Required: Nutibullet or equivalent power blender, or food processor

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C fan oven, and roast the red pepper slices for approximately 20-25 minutes – take them out when the edges start to brown just a little.
2. While the peppers are roasting, assemble the rest of your ingredients so you have it all ready to go!
3. When the peppers are done,  chop them down further into 1 inch pieces.
4. Place the chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice, tahini, spices and pepper chunks into your Nutribullet cup.
5. Blend on high power until you get a sort of rough-ish smooth texture (if that even makes sense! What you’re aiming for is a rougher texture than the smooth store-bought varieties). You will need to give the hummus a stir (or shake if in a Nutri-bullet cup) a couple of times during blending if its sticking at the sides a little!
6. And that’s it! Get a spoon and some carrot sticks out, and tuck in!

Tag me if you try this hummus recipe guys, I love seeing your photos – @theirishbalance on Instagram! I hope you love this as much as I do 🙂

Ciara 🙂 x