I think the Autumnal time of year is a great opportunity to cosy up with friends and family and share food which is a little bit more comforting than we might do in Spring or Summer – foods like mackerel, chicken casserole, spinach, kale, beetroot, pumpkin and other root vegetables (oven-roasted).

Don’t get me wrong; I love the Autumn for what it is, especially the vibrant orange colours of the leaves on  the trees against the dusk skies – see below – and the briskness, crispness and freshness that we experience most mornings in the UK. 

I recently posted a blog on how to make homemade falafel and I posted another blog on making your own dips for entertaining a crowd.

The purpose of this blog is to delve, once more, into Middle Eastern cuisine, with a recipe for creamy hummus – something I’ve always found to be a good accompaniment to vegetable or meat dishes.

Homemade courgette (zucchini) hummus with spices

I was fumbling around in the vegetable box receently thinking what might make a decent hummus recipe. Courgette’s (Zucchini) are one of my favourite vegetables and are pretty versatile – so I settled with that.

Grilled, fried or roasted, the courgette is blitzed in a food processor with chickpeas (garbanzo beans), aduki beans, fresh garlic, tahini (sesame paste), lemon juice, herbs, spices and extra-virgin olive oil.

It can be eaten hot or cold.

You can use it as a dip for pitta bread, spread it on a wrap or pair it with roasted vegetables and any meat dish.

It’s gluten-free, low-carb and vegan friendly. Nutritionally, it also has a decent amount of protein and fibre.

Ingredients

• 1 courgette (Zucchini) – grilled, fried or roasted
• 400g can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
• 400g can aduki beans, drained
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 4 tbsp tahini (sesame paste)
• ½ tsp salt, more to taste
• ½ tsp cracked pepper
  

  Ingredients for hummus (clockwise from top – chickpeas and aduki beans, courgette, spices, lemon, garlic and coriander leaf)

• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 4 tbsp coriander or more fresh herbs
• 1 tbsp olive oil

 Directions

• Cut courgette into ½ inch thick strips, brush with a little olive oil and grill on medium heat until charred and tender.
• (Alternately courgette may be roasted in the oven until tender. If you have very large zucchini with thick skin, you can half it lengthwise, roast in the oven and then scoop out the flesh, leaving the skin out, if necessary)
• Place the grilled courgette along with the rest of the ingredients (except the oil, coriander herb and 2 tbsp of the chickpeas and aduki beans) in a food processor, and puree until relatively smooth.
• Serve it in a bowl, making a little circular “well” using a spoon, and drizzle a little olive oil in the well.
• Garnish with the 2 tbsp chickpeas and aduki beans and mix in the coriander herb.
• Serve either warm or chilled.