21 May 2015


It's time for this month's Improv Challenge.  The premise of the Improv Challenge is easy: each month there are two assigned ingredients.  The participants must make a recipe using both ingredients and blog about it. 

This month's ingredients were cilantro and lime.  A little late for Cinco de Mayo, but a great combo anytime of year.  I love cilantro, and lime is a perfect partner for it.  Cilantro and lime are both common ingredients in both Mexican and Thai food.  I love both of those cuisines, but this time I decided to do a little "fusion" cooking.  

Do you ever make your own hummus?  It is really convenient to buy it premade at the grocery store, and I do that sometimes when I am feeling lazy, but I also think it's really fun to make my own hummus.  It's super easy using canned beans, and while it is really difficult (if not impossible) to get it as smooth as store-bought, the pay-off is that you can play around with ingredients and come up with some really fun variations.  Last fall I made a Roasted Butternut Squash Hummus that was amazing.  I also make Pizza Hummus, which is my kids' favorite.  So when I happened to stumble across the idea for adding cilantro and lime to hummus, I couldn't wait to try it.  My version is adapted from Vegan Family Recipes.


Cilantro Lime Hummus

Ingredients:
1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
¼ cup tahini
3 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp ground cumin
3 tbsp lime juice
⅓ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1-3 tbsp water (optional)

Directions:
Place chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, cumin, lime juice, and cilantro in a food processor.  Process until smooth, scraping down the sides if necessary.  If desired, add water until desired consistency has been reached.

Pour into a bowl and serve with tortilla chips.

Makes about 2½ cups.

I made this as an afternoon snack for my daughters (ages 7 and almost 5), and they loved it.  I really think this would be a good alternative to guacamole for people who can't eat avocados.  I served it with tortilla chips, but you can dip anything you want in there, of course.

I'm happy to include this into my homemade hummus rotation!

Be sure to check out all the other great cilantro and lime recipes below and come back next month to see what I make with fish and avocado.  Oh wow!



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2 comments:

  1. Oh yummy, Lesa! I loves me a good hummus. This one looks delish!

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