Smoky Eggplant Hummous

 What? Another hummous recipe? Yep! This one is just a little different with the addition of smoked paprika and some eggplant. It’s kind of like a combo of hummous and baba ganoush, but barbeque flavour! I found the inspiration for this recipe from Clean Wellness when Grilled Eggplant Hummus was featured on Oh My Veggies potluck. (I changed the recipe a bit – cut down on the lemon zest, omitted the mint, only used 2/3’s of an eggplant). I love the smoky flavour from the smoked paprika and also love that it still tastes like hummous!

1 eggplant

2 cloves garlic, minced

zest of 1/2 a lemon

1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas

2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

2 tbsp. tahini

2 tsp smoked paprika

2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp sea salt

Cut the eggplant lengthwise into 3 pieces. Grill on a barbeque if you have one. If you don’t have a barbeque, do as I did and put the eggplant slices on a baking pan and broil on low for 5 minutes, flip and broil for another 5 minutes, flip and 5 minutes more, flip and 5 minutes more.

I peeled the skin off 2 of the three slices (but you don’t have to if your blender/food processor can handle the bulk), then chopped them up and put them into my mini food processor. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth. If you are using a blender or a mini food processor like me, you will probably have to add water. I blended for about 4 minutes, then scraped down the sides and added about 3 or 4 tbsps. of water and blended again.

Serve with crackers and raw vegetables.