Recipe: Lime, cilantro and chilis flavor this easy dip
Serve this hummus among Thanksgiving appetizers or at any holiday party. Kathy Morrison
Lime is not thought of as a Thanksgiving flavor. Yet my little lime tree is loaded with fruit this year, and it all seems to be ripening at once.
I wanted a savory recipe using limes, and lucked into a cache of hummus recipes that I adapted for my limes and my family's fairly high tolerance of spiciness.
The recipe is easy, vegan, can be done ahead of time, and as an appetizer won't spoil anyone's hunger for sage or cinnamon or cranberries. It also won't supplant a family favorite while the cook tries something new.
Serve it with crackers or raw vegetables, and dig in while the rest of the meal is still cooking.
Lime-chili hummus with cilantro
Makes about 2 cups
Ingredients:
One 15.5-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons Chinese-style chili paste (or less, to taste)
1 tablespoon tahini (sesame paste)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro leaves, plus more for garnish
1 teaspoon ground coriander
Zest of 1 lime
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, or more as needed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions:
Place the drained chickpeas, garlic and olive oil in a food processor or blender. Whir until the chickpeas are broken up and starting to become paste. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend to desired texture.
Taste the hummus and adjust the seasonings. Add a bit more lime juice if the texture is too thick.
Serve immediately with crackers or raw vegetables, or cover tightly and refrigerate until ready to serve. Again, add a touch of lime juice if it has thickened up too much.
Comments
0 comments have been posted.Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.
Local News
Thanks to our sponsor!
Sites We Like
Garden Checklist for week of May 12
Get your gardening chores and irrigation done early in the day before temperatures rise.
* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.
* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.
* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions. This heat will cause leafy greens and onions to flower; pick them before they bolt.
* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters.
* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.
* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.
* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.
* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.
* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.
* Got fruit trees? If you haven't already done so, thin orchard fruit such as apples, peaches, pears, pluots and plums before they grow too heavy, breaking branches or even splitting the tree. Leave the largest fruit on the branch, culling the smaller ones, and allow for 5 to 6 inches (or a hand's worth) between each fruit.
* Thin grape bunches, again leaving about 6 inches between them. For the remaining bunches, prune off the "tail" end, about the bottom third of the bunch, so that the plant's energy is concentrated in the fruit closest to the branch.
* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.
* Add mulch to the garden to help keep that precious water from evaporating. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch to 1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.
Powered by California Local
