Rainbow Vegetable Hummus - Six Ways

Hummus is a delicious spread and dip, perfect for any occasion and great with most snacks, but it can get boring after a while. Why not try these six, all natural, vegetable variations for some new flavours and colours.

All you need are chickpeas, tahini paste, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and your choice of vegetables.

Yellow hummus consists of carrots and tumeric, orange is just roasted peppers, red hummus is beetroot. Purple comes from sweet purple potatoes, blue from red cabbage and green from avocado and spinach.

Most of the vegetables will have to be roasted and cooled down beforehand. Potatoes, beetroots, red peppers,carrots and red cabbage can all go into the oven together for 40-50 min at 200°C. They could technically be boiled instead of roasted, but roasting retains the colours and flavours better.

This step is optional, but highly encouraged. To make hummus extra smooth, you have to get rid of the outer membrane from each and every bean. Sounds like a lot of work, but it can actually be accomplished in less than 5min per can.

1. Tip the contents of the can into a bowl and add one teaspoon of bicarb of soda into the water. Stir and let the beans sit in the water for about 30-60 min. Bicarb of soda loosens the skin around the bean.
2. Grab a handful of chickpeas at the time and rub them between your palms. You will see the outer membranes coming off straight away. Once one handful is rubbed, transfer it to another bowl. Continue with remaining beans.
3. To separate chickpeas from membranes, fill the bowl with water all the way to the top and gently pour the water out. Membranes rise to the top, while chickpeas stay at the bottom of the bowl. Refill the bowl with water and repeat that process 2-3 times until all visible membranes are gone.

If you are on the clock and can't be bothered, you can just use your chickpeas straight from the can and your hummus will still be good, just not as smooth.

Once my roasted veggies were cooled, I peeled them (carrots), scraped all seeds (peppers) and scooped the flesh out (potato).

Also, I was making 6 different flavours at the same time and didn't want to spend a whole evening in the kitchen measuring each batch, so I made a big batch of basic hummus and then divided it into six portions before I added vegetables.

• 1 can chickpeas
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 small garlic clove
• 1-2 tbs lemon juice
• 400g carrots (roasted)
• 1/8 tsp tumeric
• salt, cumin, smoked paprika

Start by blending main ingredients first, then taste before adding seasoning and salt. If your hummus is too thick, add a teaspoon or two of water.

• 1 can chickpeas
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 small garlic clove
• 1-2 tbs lemon juice
• 4 red peppers (roasted)
• salt, smoked paprika

Start by blending main ingredients first, then taste before adding seasoning and salt. If your hummus is too thick, add a teaspoon or two of water.

• 1 can chickpeas
  
• 1/4 cup tahini
  
• 2 tbs olive oil
  
• 1small garlic clove
  
• 1-2 tbs lemon juice
• 4 small beets or 2 large ones (roasted or boiled)
• salt, cumin, coriander

Start by blending main ingredients first, then taste before adding seasoning and salt. If your hummus is too thick, add a teaspoon or two of water.

• 1 can chickpeas
  
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 small garlic clove
• 1 tbs lemon juice
  
• 1/2 - 1 cup sweet potato (roasted) ------> start by adding half a cup and check if you want to add more, the more you add, the more stodgy it will become
• 1-4 tbs water (hummus will be quite thick, thin it with water)
• salt, cumin

Start by blending main ingredients first, then taste before adding seasoning and salt. If your hummus is too thick, add a teaspoon or two of water.

• 1 can chickpeas
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 small garlic clove
• no lemon juice in this one!
• 1 cup roasted red cabbage and 1/2 cup raw cabbage
• pinch of bicarb of soda
• salt

Start by blending main ingredients first, then taste before adding salt. Once everything is blended, keep the food processor running, add a pinch of bicarb and wait for the colour to change. Initially it will be grey-ish, but adding a small amount of alkali will turn the hummus light blue. That tiny amount of bicarb of soda won't alter the taste.

• 1 can chickpeas
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 small garlic clove
• 1-2 tbs lemon juice
• 1 big avocado
• 100-150 g fresh baby spinach ( about 2 large handfuls)
• salt

Start by blending main ingredients first, then taste before adding salt.

Homemade hummus can stay in the fridge for 4-7 days. It can also be frozen for up to 3 months.