Creamy Roasted Garlic and Lemon Hummus

I will never forget the first time I tried hummus. It was quite a few years ago and a friend brought it as side dish with some vegetables to a girls night we were having. Personally I was not a fan of what she was trying to get me to eat but I went along and surprised myself by absolutely loving it. What’s even more surprising is that I really don’t like chick pea at all but the creamy, flavorful dip was so delicious. It’s a great and healthy option.

You will need:

1-2 heads of garlic — (oil, salt and foil for roasting)
30 oz canned chickpeas, peeled if possible, liquid reserved
1/ 3 cup sunflower table butter
1/ 4 cup lemon juice
1/ 3 cup oil
1/ 2 tsp salt — (or more to taste)
1/ 2 tsp black pepper
1/ 4 tsp ground cumin
1/ 8 tsp cayenne pepper — optional
For topping:
Chopped dill
Sesame seeds
Method:
Preheat oven to 400F. Cut the top off your garlic so you can reveal the cloves. The head of garlic should stay intact. Place on a piece of aluminium foil, drizzle with oil and season with salt.

Wrap garlic well in aluminium foil. Place in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, until fragrant.

Let it cool for 5 minutes. Open up foil, release garlic from the head. For this hummus you need 4-5 cloves (use more if you like a lot of garlic). In the bowl of a food processor or blender place chickpeas, 2-3 tbsp of the liquid (you might need more), butter, lemon juice, garlic, oil, salt, pepper, cumin and cayenne pepper. Pulse until smooth. Add more liquid or oil to thin hummus, if necessary. Add salt, if needed. Transfer hummus to a bowl, drizzle with oil, sprinkle sesame seeds, walnuts, red pepper flakes and dill if you wish. Serve with fresh vegetables or crackers.

Feel free to cut recipe down to half for smaller portions.