Roasted Carrot + Toasted Pumpkin Seed Red Lentil Hummus

Hummus. So its that lame stuff you eat with carrots or pita chips, right? Wrong!

Hummus can be made with so many different ingredients, but generally, it is tahini, oil, garlic, spices, legumes (black beans, chickpeas, red beans, lentils, edamame), citrus, and typically salt. It can be so much more than that too. Hummus is a really healthy snack and treat that is good for you, heart healthy, low calorie, and can be very delicious. Don't knock hummus until you try some varying recipes. 

Today, we are going to combine roasted carrots and toasted pumpkin seeds with cooked red lentils for a very healthy but delicious hummus. Red lentils are a great hummus base because they have such a lighter taste and can take on a lot of the other ingredients that are in a dish. I love the flavor of roasted carrots and toasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas), so this hummus tends to have a really nice earthy, strong flavor! 

Hummus is actually quite simple to make. You'll need a food processor or a blender, but you'll want to blend together all your ingredients into a smooth mixture ... and enjoy. I like to try wacky ingredients in mine, but you can make a simple one in five minutes with just beans, garlic, tahini, oil, and some lemon juice. 

For this recipe, we roasted carrots in spices (on their own their delicious). We cooked red lentils, easy to boil and toasted up some pepitas. I also like some parsley in this to add a fresh element as well as plenty of garlic. 

Not much more to say, let's get to the recipe!

Roasted Carrot + Toasted Pumpkin Seed French Red Lentil Hummus

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Servings: 8

Ingredients:

Roasted Carrots

- 3 large carrots, washed
- 1 tbl of olive oil
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- pink sea salt + pepper, to taste

Red Lentils + More

- 1/2 cup red lentils
- 2 cups of water
- 1/4 cup of pumpkin seeds
- 1/4 cup of parley, roughly chopped, packed
- 3 tbl of tahini
- 1 tbl of lemon juice
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 tsp coriander
- 1 tsp of sea salt
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 3 tbl of olive oil

Other:

- Crudite for serving (carrot chips, tortilla chips, pepper slices, broccoli, cauliflower, etc)

Cooking Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Chop the top of your carrot greens off, wash carrots, and place in a rish with shallow bottom. Mix carrots with oil and spices to get a nice coating. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet (I used a silpat). Cook for 25 minutes or until soft.

2. While carrots are cooking, put lentils in the water and boil. After boiling starts, turn down to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes until water is absorbed and soft. While lentils are simmering, put pumpkin seeds on a dry pan over medium heat and toast pumpkin seeds for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

3. Place lentils, pumpkin seeds, carrots, and the rest of ingredients into a food processor. Blend for 30 seconds, scrape down sides, blend again. If too thick add a tablespoon of water or more tahini, oil or lemon juice depending on flavor.

4. Serve with cruide and enjoy badasses.

Lastly and most importantly, enjoy the hell out of it! Great work chef!