For those of you living a #lifewithoutmeat, don’t you find people often ask you the same old questions – but where do you get you’re protein from? Do you get enough? Isn’t it hard not eating meat? and so on… One common myth about a vegetarian diet is that it’s thought to be nearly impossible to meet the recommended amount of protein after ditching meat. However, there is a huge variety of foods which can give us the same amount, if not more, protein than meat. With the added bonus of plant-based nutrients and a fraction of the saturated fats. Did you know that one cup of iron-rich lentils packs 18g of protein – almost as much as three ounces of steak; and one cup of chickpeas, black or kidney beans has 15g! Beans, lentils and pulses are all great sources of protein for a vegetarian diet so why not blitz them into some wonderful homemade Hummus recipes. Hummus is a well-known Levantine and Egyptian food dip or spread made from cooked, mashed chickpeas or other beans. It’s traditionally blended with tahini, Olive Oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic – it’s the best. Anyway, enough talking, here’s 5 delicious recipes to inspire you…
1. White Bean Buffalo Hummus:
All you need to do is, using a food processor, blitz together:
- 1 15-oz can (400g) Northern or cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- ¼ cup (85g) tahnini
- 3 Tablespoon buffalo sauce (this is a type of hot sauce)
- ½ teaspoon real maple syrup
- 3 Tablespoon lemon juice
- Dash of Sea salt
Serve in a bowl and sprinkle with your desired toppings. Some ideas would be: sesame seeds, olive oil, more buffalo sauce, or microgreens
2. Borlotti Bean & Beetroot Hummus sprinkled with red currants and sunflower seeds:
We were unable to track down the recipe for this one, but you could follow a traditional hummus recipe, substituting chickpeas for Borolotti beans and using a couple of medium beetroots (washed, peeled and pre-cooked). Blitz up these main ingredients with some tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic as traditionally seen. Then this one is topped with some thinly sliced radish, toasted sunflower seeds and red currants.
3. Carrot, Walnut, and Red Lentil Hummus:
This one is also quite straightforward. Begin by roasting the following for 40 mins:
- 4 medium carrots (washed, ends trimmed, and cut into 2-inch pieces) covered in 1 tablespoon of olive oil and seasoned with 1 teaspoon of curry powder.
Meanwhile, cook your lentils in water for 15 mins, following packet instructions and draining after:
- 1/2 cup uncooked red lentils, thoroughly rinsed
- 2 cups filtered water
Also, toast the walnuts for 5-7 mins, then blitz/chop these into very fine pieces:
- 1/4 cup walnut pieces
Then once the above is done, blitz it all (except the walnuts) with the following ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Once smooth, incorporate your chopped walnuts for the nutty crunchy texture:
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, tough stems removed, plus more for garnishing if desired
- 2 tablespoons tahini
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic, smashed and peeled
- 3/4 teaspoon ground coriander
- 3/4 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt, plus more for seasoning the carrots
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper or more to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
Garnish with:
- Chopped parsley (optional)
- Pepitas (optional)
4. Roasted Beet Hummus
For this pink treat, all you need to do is blitz, in a food processor, the following ingredients:
- 1 clove of garlic, roughly chopped or crushed
- 3 tablespoons tahini
- the juice of one lemon
- salt
- black pepper
- 1 roasted beetroot, roughly chopped
- 2 cups (400g) cooked chickpeas
- extra virgin olive oil
5. Sundried Tomato Hummus:
This recipe was hard to track down. However, considering all hummus recipes more or less follow the same basic method with the traditional ingredients we mentioned earlier, we think it would look a little like this:
- ¼ (85g) cup tahini
- ¼ (85g) cup fresh lemon juice (about 1 large lemon, juiced)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for serving
- 1 large garlic clove, roughly chopped
- ½ teaspoon salt, more to taste
- 1 x 400g tin of chickpeas
- ¾ (255g) cup drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes (drained)
- ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 to 3 tablespoons water, optional
Who knew Hummus could look so pretty – delicious!
The post 5 Delicious Hummus Recipes appeared first on Life Without Meat.
