Beetroot is amazing this time of year and you can d so many more things that just grating into a salad. You can pickle it, steam it or one of my favourites is roasting it. I bought a bunch from our local farm shop eggs to apples. I didn’t want to waste electricity so I roasted the whole bunch which meant I manages to get 2 lunches from this humble root vegetable. This was the first lunch, hummus and dukkah. The beetroot gives the hummus the most wonderful earthy and sweet flavour, it also colours the hummus beautifully. If you use the purple beetroot it goes a vibrant purple I wanted to use the more subtle golden variety. To elevate the dish as I was only serving flat breads I decided to add some texture so I made some dukkah. I first tried dukkah on a holiday we had in Sydney and absolutely fell in love with it. I don’t think there is a right or wrong recipe I think it comes down to what nuts you have or your preferred tastes of nuts and spices. I put my let over dukkah in an air tight container you can sprinkle it over salads or use it as a crust for meat, fish or chicken.

Ingredients (serves 4)

For the hummus

• 3 medium beetroot
• 2 plump garlic cloves
• 1 tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp tahini
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• sea salt and fresh pepper to taste

For the peanut dukkah

• 1 cup of unsalted peanuts (no skins)
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• 2 tbsp white sesame seeds
• 2 tbsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp of sea salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

Directions

For the hummus

1. Pre heat oven to 200 degrees (fan).
2. Place the beetroot and garlic cloves in some foil, season and drizzle over some olive oil and a splash of water. Seal up the foil and bake in the oven for 45mins to an hour until soft when pricked with a fork (I roasted a whole bunch and used them in another salad).
3. Once they have cooled enough to handle. Peel the beetroot and garlic cloves and place in a food processor.
4. When rinsing the chickpeas try and remove as many of the skins you can and add to the beetroot and garlic. Next add the tahini, lemon juice and olive oil. Blitz until smooth. Taste and season. If consistency is too thick add a tbsp of water at a time until you get your required consistency.

For the dukkah

1. Add all of the ingredients apart from the salt and pepper to a dry frying pan. Place over a medium and toast for a few minutes until fragrant. Place into a grinder or food processor, add the salt and pepper. Grind or blitz until you have combined the ingredients but you still have some texture and crunch.

Serve the hummus with a sprinkling of dukkah and flat bread. Enjoy.