Roasted Cauliflower and Garlic Hummus
Easy, homemade hummus
I love hummus, all different flavors of hummus. It is a staple in Middle Eastern cuisine and is usually made with pureed chickpeas (garbanzo beans), tahini (sesame seed paste) and extra virgin olive oil. I have been trying cut back on my legume intake recently, though, and was lamenting about missing hummus in my diet. One of my cousins suggested that I try to make hummus out of cauliflower myself at home instead of not having it at all. I found this to be an interesting challenge. I have never had hummus made with cauliflower, or even heard of it before, so I did some investigating online and thought I could make it.
I absolutely love roasted cauliflower, so I thought I would roast mine before making the hummus. As an added bonus, I was able to have a side dish of roasted cauliflower, one of my favorite vegetable dishes. Another way to you could prepare the cauliflower before turning it into hummus would be to steam it. I prefer the nutty flavor you get when you roast cauliflower, however, so that is how I prepared mine. I also prefer my hummus on the spicy side, so I added more red pepper to my own personal serving. I hope you enjoy my hummus!
Cook Time
Ingredients
- 1 head of cauliflower, roughly chopped
- 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic, diced
- 4-5 green onions, diced
- 2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper, more if you like it spicy
- 1 tsp chili powder, I use Penzey's Chili 3000
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 lemon, juice of one lemon
- Pinch salt and pepper, to taste
Directions
- Preheat oven to 425°. Spray cookie sheet lightly with non-stick cooking spray.
- Wash and dry cauliflower. Break the cauliflower head apart and remove the core. Roughly chop the head into florets or smaller pieces, this will allow the cauliflower to roast a little more quickly.
- Arrange the cauliflower in a single layer on the cookie sheet. Chop or dice the green onions and add them to the cauliflower. Dice the cloves or garlic and add to the cookie sheet so all the veggies are mixed and roast together.
- Drizzle olive oil over the cauliflower, onions and garlic and toss lightly so the veggies are fairly evenly coated. Sprinkle the spices onto the veggies and gently toss so that the spices cover everything.
- Roast the cauliflower in the oven for 25-30 minutes. I check my cauliflower every 10 minutes and turn it so that it cooks evenly and does not burn. You will notice a heavenly scent coming from your oven as it is roasting - it is wonderful!
- Once the cauliflower is roasted and tender, let it cool a few minutes and then place in a food processor. Puree everything together until is is evenly blended and a smooth texture. You will need to add a little more olive oil to the batches as you are pureeing. This is also when you add the lemon juice of one whole lemon. I pureed the cauliflower in small batches since I do not have a great food processor at the moment. I am getting a new one as a gift at the holidays this year. That is a "for sure" gift as I will be making hummus many more times. I hope you enjoy my version of cauliflower hummus!
