Roasted Red Pepper & Harissa Hummus

Being back in my home town of Exeter for the summer has positives and negatives. I’m currently searching for a holiday job to fill the gaps between my work experience placements but I’m not having much luck, which means I have a lot of free time to fill (and I get very bored, very easily.) However it’s all swings and round-abouts as this means I have plenty of time to experiment in the kitchen, what’s more being home means I get full use of my mum’s never ending and expansive ingredient stores (I get waaaay too excited about this prospect when I come home from university.)

There was a big batch of cooked chickpeas left over from dinner last night, so for lunch I decided to whizz up some hummus with a bit of a twist. I love hummus, but after a while start to find it a little boring (sorry to all the hummus worshippers out there, I know there are a lot of you) so I decided to add a few extra flavours to my dip, and rustled up a tangy Roasted Red Pepper & Harrissa Hummus. Also making flavoured hummus is so much cheaper than buying the different varieties in the supermarket, which are normally double the price of original hummus. Here’s the recipe, it's really tasty just as a dip but is also great as a spread base in wraps and would go really well as a topping in a veggie burger.

Ingredients:

•          1 red pepper
•          1 big clove of garlic
•         200g cooked chickpeas
•         1 teaspoon of harissa (if you like a bit of a kick, add a little extra)
•         1 teaspoon of oil
•         2 large splashes of lemon juice

Method:

Deseed your pepper and cut into rough squares (no need to be neat hear, it’s heading for the blender later) and pop the pepper on to a baking tray along with the garlic and grill for about 10-15 minutes until the pepper starts to brown and soften.

Once cooked place the pepper and garlic into a large blender, along with the cooked chickpeas, harissa, oil, lemon juice and a healthy sprinkle of salt and pepper. Pulse the ingredients in the blender for several minutes until you get a smooth paste.

Pour your hummus into a container and refrigerate for about an hour, just so the mixture becomes slightly firmer and then you’re ready to serve, easy as that!