Valentine, where’ve you bean all my life?
We’ve been posting our love for garbanzo beans (how to soak, sprout and cook your own for optimal health). What to do with these? Make hummus, or take it a shade pinker with this beet hummus. We cut back on the lemons and substitute pomegranate molasses for a deep and mysterious sour flavor.
Up the exotic and have fun decorating this beet hummus to make it special. We use chopped pistachio, rose petals and mint leaves. We gave our heart radicchio wings and sang “On the Wings of Love” for the photo shoot. (Sorry about that, Lissa. I can’t carry a tune.)
You make my heart skip a beet!
You’ve got lots of options on which type of beet to add to the hummus. They must be cooked beets (unless you prefer using beet powder or raw beet juice, but that’s a whole other conversation). Peel and roast your own beets, or make life easy and buy pre-cooked. (Lots of grocery stores and good ol’ TJs sell pre-cooked beets, usually boiled.) We chose jarred pickled beets, because yum. That briny flavor was a bonus. Plus, I usually keep those in the fridge.
Heart-Healthy Hipcooks
We serve this up with whole-wheat toasted middle eastern flatbread, but can’t resist adding lots of fresh veggies, too. We use radishes, peas, radicchio, kohlrabi. You know olive oil is good for the heart, but did you know adding a sprinkle of spice is, too? Eating spicy can lower the incidence of heart attack and stroke. Potential reasons: Chili peppers can reduce the damaging effects of LDL (bad cholesterol) and capsaicin may fight inflammation. Here, we top our beet hummus with our favorite cayenne and paprika. It looks pretty, too!
Treat your heartthrob to a Hipcooks class
Our gift certificates make the cutest little Valentine’s Day cards. And you know, Cassanova, it’s the gift that keeps on giving.
Ingredients
2 cups cooked garbanzo beans — soak, sprout and cook your own, or use canned
1 jar (about 15.5 ounces) pickled beets, drained. You can substitute your own pre-cooked beets
2 cloves garlic, peeled
a hearty swirl (about 3 tablespoons) pomegranate molasses
juice of a lemon (start with half and increase if necessary)
a swirl of olive oil
garnish: mint leaves, chopped pistachios, rose petals, cayenne, paprika, and black pepper. Plus, a little superfluous olive oil!Instructions
Add the garbanzos, beets, and garlic to a food processor and whiz away. Add the pomegranate molasses and taste, adding some salt and pepper as you do. A little bit of lemon will amplify the sour and freshness, give it a try! If the hummus is too thick, add a little olive oil to loosen it.
Using a spatula, spread the hummus onto a serving plate and decorate as you see fit.
