Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

All these years I used to always get store bought hummus and for some reason never thought of making it myself until recently when I realized that its not really that hard to make. And the ingredients that you need are pretty easy to find too – almost all of the ingredients are always in my pantry. And all you need is a good food processor or blender and bingo, you can have a beautiful home made hummus dip that you can proudly serve with pita chips as an appetizer for your next party.!  Adding roasted red pepper really gives it the extra punch of flavor.  I perused many hummus recipes on the internet and finally just ended up using all the required ingredients in proportions that suited my taste buds. I also add red chilli powder for the additional ‘desi’ kick.  Some folks recommend that taking the skin of the chick peas off ends up giving a really smoother texture. I do agree that it gives a much smoother puree but I am not sure that the time  it takes to de-skin each chick pea is really worth the effort.  So I am not going to recommend it but if you feel like you have plenty of time in your hands and de-skinning the chick peas would be a worthwhile thing to do, please go for it! 🙂 I have also tried making this hummus using both canned chick peas as well as dried chick peas(soaked overnight and then cooked) for this and the end product come out equally good in both cases. Using canned chick peas is obviously much more convenient and takes less planning than using the dried ones.

This hummus is indeed delicious and so if you make it for a party, I guarantee you that not much of it will remain.! However, you can freeze any left over hummus and then use it for your sandwiches etc.

Ingredients:
1 small red pepper
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 cup canned chick peas (garbanzo beans)that has been rinsed thoroughly and drained, or cooked chick peas (soaked overnight and cooked)
1/4 tsp red chilli
1/4 tsp red paprika(optional)
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 clove garlic
1 tsp lime juice
1/2 tsp sesame oil

Method:

Put oven on broil and place the red pepper on Aluminum foil by brushing it with some olive oil. Cook on broil for about 5-6 minutes or until the red pepper is soft and smoked. Take out of the oven and cover the pepper with the foil and let it rest. (Alternately, you could also just roast the red pepper over a gas stove)

Now take a small pan and toast the sesame seeds on medium heat for about 3- 4 minutes until they get golden and you get a nice roasted aroma.  Keep aside.

Now add all the other ingredients except the sesame oil  to the blender or food processor along with the toasted sesame seeds and the roasted red pepper and blend well (Do not add any water while grinding)

Transfer to a bowl and drizzle the sesame oil on top and mix just before serving.