Parsley, Pumpkin and Beetroot Hummus: a superb trio of flavours and colours

 My kitchen has been humming this week, I've been making lots of hummus, using up excess parsley in our garden, and the rest of that large pumpkin I bought a couple of weeks ago. Remember those pumpkin scones I made just recently, well what with  pumpkin being such a versatile vegetable, it has now been mashed again and whizzed up and transformed into some very tasty and healthy hummus.

I nearly didn't manage to make any hummus at all, as my food processor stopped whizzing, actually it never started. The clicking attachment on the lid which secures it to the bowl broke, and I was sure that this time it had really bitten the dust. It had been repaired once before already. Mr. HRK walked in just as I was about to toss it out quite ceremoniously, and prepare for a shopping excursion to buy a new one, and then he confidently announced he could fix it. I really thought he had buckleys of repairing it again. Oh, ye of little faith. So my 30 year old food processor, perhaps I'm exaggerating but it is quite ancient, and was still working perfectly before it broke, was whizzed off to the man's shed. 2 hours later after much drilling, and toing and froing to the kitchen for testing purposes, the lid was fixed. There is now  a new metal piece inserted in the lid which clicks beautifully into the bowl and my workhorse of a food processor is now working even better than before. So it's had a complete clicking mechanism replacement. Good to go while the motor can keep running.

This photo is from a previous post I wrote, but the story is new.

I've been happily giving away lots of flat leaf parsley over the last few weeks, as we have been fortunate to have four large plants which are thriving. The secret to our success we think, is the  cow manure which Mr. HRK shovelled from the driveway of a friend's cattle property, liquefied it, and dug it into our garden in preparation for Winter planting. So I've also made a couple of batches of this parsley hummus and it is delicious, with a fresh vibrant green hue, the colour of life.

PARSLEY HUMMUS

Ingredients:

2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 cups well cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 tblsp. good quality extra virgin olive oil
3 tblsp. reserved chickpea liquid or water
1 1/2 cup parsley leaves, packed down, not the stalks
1/2 tblsp. cumin powder
1 tblsp. tahini
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Salt to taste

Method:

Place garlic in the food processor and process until chopped.
Add the chickpeas and grind them up before adding other ingredients.
Add the liquid ingredients and process until well mixed together.
Add the parsley and the remainder of the ingredients.

Add extra equal quantities of olive oil and water very slowly through the chute until the a nice spreadable consistency is achieved. It will start to flow around the bowl when it is the right consistency. Chickpeas that I have cooked myself often require additional liquid to be added. Taste it and add extra seasoning, lemon juice, or spice if you think it needs it.

Pumpkin and Parsley hummus were delicious on our cheese platter

PUMPKIN HUMMUS

Makes approximately 440 g or 2 cups

250 g (1 cup/9 oz) cooked and mashed pumpkin

400 g cooked chickpeas, or 1 tin of purchased chickpeas

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

3 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons hulled tahini

1 tablespoon chickpea cooking liquid or water

1 1/2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 1/2 teaspoons smoky paprika

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Method:

Place the chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice, water, and Olive oil in the food processor bowl, and process until smooth.

Add the remaining ingredients and process until smooth. Add more water or chickpea cooking liquid for a thinner consistency, and taste the mixture to see if more lemon juice is needed. 

I always taste the hummus after the final mix and sometimes add a little bit extra of a few ingredients to achieve the taste I like, but the quantities in this recipe are how we like it. 

Cooks notes:

• Canned chickpeas purchased from the shop can be used, but for best results you will need to measure out 400 g of actual chickpeas, not just the contents of one 400 g can. Reserve the liquid from the tin to thin out the hummus if necessary.
• To cook your chickpeas, cook 200 g (7 oz) dried chickpeas in lots of water with 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda for 30-40 minutes, or until tender, drain off the liquid for using later, and use.
• I used mashed Kent pumpkin (Jap) for my hummus.
• This pumpkin is using the last of my whole pumpkin which I bought from the farmer to make Pumpkin Scones during International Scone Week

BEETROOT HUMMUS

This hummus  has a sensational flavour and so much colour. I promise you it will bring pizzazz to your plate. I have revived my previous recipe for this post.

Ingredients:

450g freshly cooked, cooled, peeled and chopped beetroot, or tinned or bottled chopped beetroot
400g freshly cooked chickpeas, or  tinned chickpeas
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon tahini
1 tablespoon lemon juice (or 2 for more of a tang)
2-3 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Method:

Place the cooled and chopped beetroot, chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice and garlic in the food processor bowl and whizz up until thoroughly mixed to a paste.

Keep the motor running and slowly add the olive oil though the chute of the bowl. The mixture will thicken up and become smooth and start to develop some shape from the blades. Add a little more oil and lemon juice if it is still too thick.

Season with salt and pepper to your taste, mix again and spoon into your serving bowl.

Serve with warm sliced Turkish bread or Sourdough bread.

 I like to garnish mine with black and white sesame seeds and chopped parsley.

Add some pickled zucchini, in the background,  to the platter for extra oomph.

I'm posting this quickly before I start packing. Not my favourite activity, packing that is, but it's a means to an end and the thought of a road trip North has us excited. It's the perfect time of year to head to Far Northern Queensland, it's still much too cold further south for us tender Queenslanders. We'll leave that until later in the year.

Thanks for stopping by,

Warm wishes

Pauline