Today for Light and Tasty we prepare recipes with carrots. I say it often but it’s true, I’m really happy to participate every week in this culinary column because it encourages me to cook and write recipes I would never have thought of cooking, or recipes that have been swirling in my head for years but I never decide to try unless… by instigation! 😄 And this chickpea and carrot hummus is exactly one of those recipes. Yes, if from today this blog is enriched with a carrot hummus it’s all thanks to Light and Tasty, which ‘forced’ me to cook carrots on a day when I had no intention of cooking carrots! 😃

But this hummus, my friends, is fabulous, I had to hold back because I was about to eat it all by myself! 🤩

As you surely know better than I do, hummus can be colored (and flavored) with the most varied vegetables, from beetroot to zucchini, from spinach to pumpkin to peppers, not to mention the variations with spices and aromatic herbs. And I want to try them all! So this is my first colored hummus and is certainly the first of a very long series! (Yes, today I want to be optimistic about my organizational skills! 😄).

Before moving on to the recipe, I leave you with a small clarification about tahini, an essential ingredient of hummus, of any type.

Tahini can be purchased ready-made or homemade (an option I recommend because the packaged one is – in a low-sodium perspective – too flavorful). For making this chickpea and carrot hummus I used neither but did it my way (and someone here says it’s not news 🤭) using a simplified procedure: I used toasted sesame seeds directly and added a little oil during blending. And the result was excellent. This chickpea and carrot hummus turned out really very, very, and again very good! I recommend it! Try it!

〰〰〰

Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Cheap
Rest time: 30 Minutes
Preparation time: 15 Minutes
Portions: 4
Cooking methods: Microwave, Stovetop
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All seasons

Ingredients

1 cup cooked, boiled chickpeas (or canned)
2 cups carrots, cooked in the microwave (weighed after cooking)
Half lemon (juice and grated zest)
Half teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
4 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
Half clove garlic (optional)
chili pepper (optional)

Tools

Brush for cleaning fruits and vegetables
Casserole for microwave cooking
Microwave Oven
Pan
Immersion Blender

Steps

Clean the carrots using a brush (or peel them).
Cut them into pieces, place them in a microwave-safe container, and pre-cook them in the microwave for 5 minutes at maximum power.
While the carrots cook in the microwave, toss the chickpeas in a pan with a teaspoon of oil, a pinch of cumin seeds (or you can use caraway, also known as meadow cumin) and chili pepper, if desired.
Once the carrots are cooked, add them to the chickpeas and let everything flavor in the pan for a few minutes.
In a separate small pan, toast the sesame seeds. It’s a very simple operation, it only takes a few minutes.
☝ The only precaution: remove them from the heat as soon as they change color and immediately transfer them to a plate to cool, otherwise they risk over-toasting from the heat of the pan.
At this point, just blend everything with the immersion blender. Proceed as follows:
Pour into a narrow, tall container (use the one that comes with the immersion blender) the toasted sesame seeds, carrots, chickpeas, juice of half a lemon, grated zest, two teaspoons of oil, and half a clove of garlic (if desired).
Blend until you get a cream.
Cool the hummus in the fridge for at least half an hour.
Serve the chickpea and carrot hummus with a drizzle of raw oil and decorated with toasted sesame, cumin seeds, and a sprinkle of lemon zest.
It’s great spread on bread, crostini, crackers, or toasted slices, and also used as a dip for vegetable crudités. Delicious! 😋
🔹️ Garlic and chili pepper can be omitted. It results in a milder cream, also suitable for children, those who can’t digest garlic, or those who don’t like spicy food. I’ve tried all the versions (without garlic with chili, with garlic without chili, without both) and I find them all excellent. Hummus is always a delight in all versions. 😋
🔸️ When using canned chickpeas, always remember to rinse them thoroughly with cold water after draining.
🔹️ If you plan to cook chickpeas, you’ll need to organize yourself the day before, due to the time needed for soaking dry chickpeas and long cooking. So when you decide to make a soup or a pasta with chickpeas I recommend keeping aside a handful of cooked chickpeas to use later for hummus. 😉
🔸️ Remember that there are also unsalted canned legumes available on the market. Unfortunately, they are not always easy to find in supermarkets; usually, I buy them online, even if they are available at alternate periods (generally, if the chickpeas are not available, there are beans or the mixed legumes, or vice versa). Ahhh, it’s the hard life of us low-sodium people! 🤷‍♀️😃

Salt-free Tips

The flavorings in this recipe are plenty: toasted sesame seeds, fresh garlic, chili pepper. Moreover, I renew my invitation to favor cooking dry chickpeas, or alternatively to buy, when available for sale, unsalted canned chickpeas.

☝ Canned chickpeas – like all canned legumes, whether in glass or tin – contain an amount of salt that is around 0.7-0.8 g per 100 g of product. The brine is rich in sodium and provides most of the salt present in the product. To reduce the salt content, rinse the drained legumes thoroughly under running water, thus removing the surface salt and the brine left on the product.

If you are interested in reducing or eliminating salt, always remember to:
▫ Gradually decrease the salt, the palate needs to get used to it gradually and should not notice the progressive reduction.
▫ Use spices. Chili pepper, pepper, curry, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, cumin…
▫ Use aromatic herbs. Basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, mint…
▫ Use seeds. Sesame, pine nuts, almonds, walnuts…
▫ Use spicy vegetables or fruit. Garlic, onion, lemon, orange…
▫ Use my salt-free vegetable granules and gomasio.
▫ Prefer fresh foods.
▫ Avoid cooking in water, prefer cooking methods that do not disperse flavors (grill, foil, steam, microwave)
▫ Avoid bringing the salt shaker to the table!
▫ Occasionally indulge in breaking the rule. It is good for mood and helps to persevere.
If you don’t want or can’t give up salt:
▫ You can still try my recipes by salting according to your habits.