Taking on the Challenge of Making Red Lentil Hummus

Ah, this is kind of exciting. It is basically my first ever blog post with meaningful content. I guess that is up to you to decide whether it is meaningful or not..

The Finished Red Lentil Hummus

Usually hummus is made out of chickpeas but they often come from cans and those contain preservatives and preservatives often have gluten in them so I am not allowed to eat them. I really am a big fan of hummus so I started looking for alternative ways of making it. Apparently, making hummus from red lentils tastes very similar to chickpea hummus and there are no preservatives in a bag of lentils! I just realized that I could have also bought dried chickpeas (the natural form). Oh well, this brings excitement to the unknown of how it will taste. This recipe was inspired by a blogger called "Oh She Glows." It turned out to be very easy to make and not many ingredients are needed at all!

Soo.. here we go.

Red Lentil Hummus

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup uncooked red lentils
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
• 5 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon tahini
• 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Paprika powder for seasoning (optional)

The Ingredients

1. Wash the lentils until the water runs clear. Also check for pebbles because they are often found in between the lentils. In a medium sized pot, at the lentils to 1 1/4 cup of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and continue to cook lentils for 10-15 minutes (until lentils are soft and water is absorbed). Stir the lentils often because they may stick to the pot. 

Cooking the Lentils

2. Put the minced garlic, cooked lentils, tahini, olive oil and lemon juice into a food processor and let it run until all the ingredients are smoothly blended.

Blending it all

3. Add in salt and paprika to season

The Veggies to Go With It!

The Finished Product

I am extremely happy how it turned out! It tastes great -- almost the same as chickpea hummus except for the texture varies a little. I was a bit concerned while cooking the lentils (because of the color and moisture) that I was doing something horribly wrong but you just need to cook the lentils long enough that most of the water content is gone and it will turn out great!

This will be my snack at work tomorrow! First recipe was a success. I am happy. The cooking and trying out new things really makes the gluten / dairy free diet a lot easier!

P.S. Taking pictures of food is way harder than I thought.