Beetroot hummus

Beetroot Hummus
by Rhys

Substitutions: Not really a substitution but I decided to use peanut butter instead of tahini (Whole Earth, natch). The recipe gives you the choice to do that though so it is FINE.

Rating: 8

This did not come out looking like it does in the book! In the book it's all rich looking, and quite coarse. Mine looks like blueberry mousse. I was going to put a filter on it but... that would be wrong. I am riddled with photographic self-doubt.

Anyway, on to the food. This was easy to make, and I happen to love dry frying and crushing spices, so that bit was no hardship. But I did burn the walnuts on the first go round, which is either because Hugh's cooking times were a bit long or because I am not very good at measuring time. Either way, the second batch was fine and I had something to nibble on while I made the rest of it.

I added about half as much more beetroot and it sill came out pinker than I'd imagined, but tasted lovely. It's very sweet, as you'd imagine given all the beetroot, and there is a slight bit of  nut-related cloy (I may have put in too much peanut butter here, and obviously this wouldn't happen with tahini), but the cumin and garlic tang is lovely. It's pretty rich, so you won't eat loads of it, so good for waist watchers!

Or maybe I just filled up on burnt walnuts...

Anyway, in summary, it was good and I may make it again.

One thing though Hugh: Can you call something that has almost none of the same ingredients as hummus, hummus? I would rebrand this as Beetroot Nut Dip to avoid unfair comparison.