Roasted Beetroot Hummus

Toss some beets in your salad and watch your salad come alive with the vibrant red! The color of beets is easily transferable and cooking them will impart the red to the rest of your dish. If you are making a vegetable stew, skipping the beet would be better unless you want to end up with red stew, which in my opinion wouldn't be so bad!

This root vegetable is packed with folates, vitamin C, potassium, and iron along with natural sugars. "Drink beetroot juice to increase your iron levels" is common advice most of us have heard. But let me add a small tip here. The next time you have your beet juice, squeeze some lime juice to increase the iron absorption in your body and the taste turns out amazing as well.

Beetroot gets its red color from a compound called betanin. Simply cutting up beets can leave you with red fingers. As a kid, while my mother cut beets I always sneaked a piece or two and used it as a lip tint and blush and I should say, it was good! Always better than the cosmetic option right?

While we are on the betanin topic, you should also know about Beeturia. Many of us might have experienced it and even gotten overwhelmed because it is not a usual occurrence! Beeturia occurs when your body is unable to digest betanin and this compound travels to your kidney and your urine turns pink or red in color. This isn't something you need to be worried about though!

Beetroots are consumed in two ways - cooked or raw. They have an earthy flavor which is stronger when eaten raw but cooked beets also have a mild earthy flavor. If you are adding beets to your salad, make sure to wash the skin thoroughly and peel the skin. If there are dents on the surface, ensure to cut the part off, as they act as pockets for dirt and organisms to settle in. In your salad, add the beets as cubes, julienne cut or grated.

You can cook beets in different ways - roasting, sautéing, baking, air frying to name a few. The cooking methods and recipes you can make with it will be a whole another blog which will come up soon! So let's dive right into the beetroot hummus recipe that is absolutely delicious, packed with protein, and adds a pop of color to your plate.

Servings: 1 serving (1/4 cup)

Time to Prep: 6-7 hours

Time to Cook: 10 minutes

Ingredients

1 small Beetroot (30-40 g)

50 g Cooked Chickpea (cooked)

2 tsp Water

1/2 tsp Lemon juice

2 tsp White Sesame seeds

1/2 tsp Olive Oil

1 small pod Garlic

Salt as per taste

Let's get Cooking!

• Slice beetroot into thin sticks. On a pan, add oil and sauté the beets until cooked.

• Add all ingredients to a food processor and blend until smooth. If you’d like the consistency to be creamier, add more sesame seeds and 1/2 tsp oil. If you prefer a zesty flavor, add more lemon juice.

• Sprinkle black sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds if you prefer.

• Serve cold or at room temperature.

Note:

• Soak white chickpea overnight

• Replace sesame with in case of allergy with, pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds.