Beet Hummus with Rainbow Crudites
Somewhere over the rainbow…there is Beet Hummus with Rainbow Crudite! 
Sorry if I got that song in your head. One more recipe from our Jewchella Shabbat! Full Shabbat recap coming soon, I swear. It wouldn’t be a festival vibe without lots of drugs and flower crowns rainbows, right? If you’ve been here before, you know I love rainbow food. Like rainbow challah, or rainbow latkes. And you know I love naturally pink beet recipes. Beet Reuben, beet salad and even beet rugelach! Put them together, what a fine looking Jew appetizer! Not much prettier than beet hummus with a rainbow of veggies.
I used watermelon radish, purple cauliflower, cucumbers, rainbow carrots, and bell peppers to create my rainbow. What would you add? No wrong answer! (Definitely some better answers though, who knocks on cucumbers, you know?)
You could totally serve this at Rosh Hashanah too, since beets are a symbolic food of the new year. Just an idea!
Photo above by Russie Denay with New Revolution Media.
Beet Hummus with Rainbow Crudite
Ingredients
- 1 medium beet cleaned well
- ½ cup dried chickpeas pickled through and washed well (makes 1½ cups cooked)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda divided
- 1 lemon juiced (about 3 tablespoons)
- ¼ cup good quality tahini
- 2 garlic cloves smashed
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin plus more for garnish, or to taste
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil plus more for garnish
- 3 tablespoons or more reserved cooking liquid
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Edible flowers and rainbow crudite for serving!
Instructions
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The night before hummus time, put ½ cup chickpeas with ½ teaspoon baking soda in a large bowl and cover with cold water at least twice their volume. Cover and soak at room temperature overnight. The chickpeas will double in volume.
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The next day, drain and rinse the chickpeas and put them in a large pot with ½ teaspoon baking soda and cook for three minutes, constantly stirring. Add cold water to cover the chickpeas by at least 3 inches and bring to a boil. Skim off foam and cook for 1 hour until chickpeas are very tender and falling apart.
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Meanwhile, roast your beet. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Drizzle beet in a little olive oil and wrap in aluminum foil. Roast at 375 degrees F for about 60 minutes until fork tender and the peel rubs off easily. Cool, rub skin off and dice.
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When the chickpeas are ready, drain the chickpeas (reserve the cooking liquid, cool and add ice to it to make it very cold, this helps make smooth hummus) and place them with the beets in a food processor and puree. Then add lemon juice, tahini, and garlic and puree. Then add cumin, olive oil and 3 tablespoons cold cooking liquid and puree until very smooth. Add more liquid if needed to get desired texture. Season with salt and pepper to taste and more lemon juice if needed.
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Serve in a bowl with a drizzle of olive oil and edible flowers with pita and/or sliced rainbow veggies!
