Ingredients
- 1 pound sweet potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 4 garlic cloves
- ¼ cup olive oil, plus more for serving
- 1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Juice of ½ lemon
- Smoked paprika for serving
Instructions
Makes 4 Cups
Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Add the sweet potatoes and boil until very soft, about 10 minutes. Drain, reserving about ½ cup of the water, and let cool. Add the remaining ingredients (except the smoked paprika) to a food processor and pulse continuously until smooth. If you’re sensitive to spice, I suggest starting with only ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper and adding more to taste. As your mixture transforms into creamy hummus, you can add some of the reserved sweet potato water (1 tablespoon at a time) if you prefer a looser consistency. Serve with a generous swirl of oil on top and a dusting of smoked paprika.
Cook’s Note
I use orange-fleshed sweet potatoes as they tend to be softer and smoother than the white-fleshed variety when cooked, and they blend beautifully with creamy chickpeas. If you have the time and inclination, soaking and cooking your own chickpeas will take this hummus to another level. You’ll need about 2 cups of cooked chickpeas (from about 2/3 cup dried chickpeas) for this recipe. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with using the canned chickpeas recommended here. They’re readily available and store easily in the pantry for those spur-of-the-moment hummus cravings.
Excerpted from The CSA Cookbook by Linda Ly. Voyageur Press, 2015.
