If you’ve tried my butternut squash hummus, you’ll love this version with red peppers. I’ve kept the recipe a lot closer to the traditional one, but opted for lighter tahini for a lighter dish. The red pepper gives it a wonderful sweet element, almost fruity.

Ingredients

300g dried chickpeas
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp cumim
350g light tahini paste
5 lemon juice
2 garlic cloves crushed
1 red pepper
1tsp salt
cold water

Soak the chickpeas overnight if you don’t have a pressure pan. Rinse the chickpeas well and place them in a deep pot, adding enough water to cover them. Alternatively you can use a pressure cooker. Add the bicarbonate of soda and the cumin and cook for about 50 minutes, making sure they’re well-cooked which depends on the type of chickpeas you are using. If using the presuure cooker it will take only 20 minutes from when the pressure steam starts..

Place the red pepper in a baking tray with olive oil and salt and bake for about 15 minutes or until soft. Remove from the oven and leave it to cool a bit before removing the skin.

Once cooked, place the chickpeas in a food processor and blend for 20 seconds before adding the red pepper, tahine, lemon juice, garlic and salt while the machine is running. Add some cold water to get that smooth creamy texture. Taste for seasoning.