Sweet potato hummus with roasted garlic and tarragon

Hummus, my favourite dip/spread/sauce/filling - or what ever you might call it! Except for the lovely texture and delicious flavour I really like hummus because of it's nutrition - it's a great way to add some extra protein (and fibers and vitamins and minerals!) to your plant based meal! Spread it on seed cracker, add to your wrap or have it with a hearty salad. Traditionally a hummus is made of chickpeas, but sometimes I use white beans instead - I really like the variation (food hack #1 in this post - look for easy made variations and cooking will be much more fun and simple!)!

Another way to vary your hummus is to add different veggies (like beetroot, roasted carrot, green peas, grilled bell pepper etc) and herbs - also a perfect way to match the hummus with what ever you're serving it with - or what you're craving at the moment!

In my book The new green salad I share three of my favourite hummus recipes - and one of them you find here below! It happen to be my favourite hummus in the world - irresistibly creamy, sweet and nutty at the same time - with a herby touch! 

Photo by Fanny Hansson for The new green salad (Published by Bonnier Fakta)

 

Sweet potato hummus with roasted garlic and tarragon

Yield about 5 dl

Ingredients

240 grams (about 4 dl) cooked chickpeas *

1 small sweet potato, about 250 grams

1 garlic bulb **

2 tbsp tahini (preferably the light one, made of natural sesame seeds)

1/2 dl water

12 fresh tarragon leafs, or 1 tsp dried tarragon

2 tbsp cold pressed olive oil + extra to drizzle as garnish

Himalayan salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. 

Garnish

Sesame seeds

Chili flakes 

How to

Pre heat the oven to 200 degres Celsius. Peel the potato and cut in to chunks, put on a baking sheet and mix with 1/2 tbsp olive oil. Remove the outer skin from the garlic bulb, enough for you to see the garlic cloves (skin on) separately with but yet you want the whole bulb to stick together. Brush with 1/2 tbsp olive oil. Put next to the sweet potatoes and roast in the oven for 30 minutes until potatoes and garlic are soft. Let cool.  

Mix water and tahini until creamy using an immersion blender or food processor. Add the rest of the ingredients (squeeze out the garlic), except for the olive oil and tarragon, mix until creamy. Add 1 tbsp olive oil and tarragon and mix to combine. Salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds and chili flakes before serving. 

Tip! Make a big batch and store in a air tight container in your fridge! Then you'll be ready for snackning, brunching, dining or having guest at any time. Food hack #2 in this post. A staple in my home! Lasts up to about a week. 

* Either use canned ones, or by dried and soak/cook yourself! If so, make sure to cook a big batch and put the ones you're not using for the recipe in different sized portions in your freezer! Takes about 2 seconds to take out when ever you want to use chickpeas the next time! Food hack #3 in this post) 

* * YES, a whole (!) garlic bulb! After half an hour roasting in the oven it will be all soft and sweet with an almost caramelised kind of flavour. It's lovely! 

Crispy kale with nori and sesame

Kale. I like (love) kale in every possible way you can have it. Therefore I was beyond happy yesterday when I visited the amazing Ugglarps Grönt, a renown farm shop in the southern part of Sweden where I was wandering around the unbelievable brassicas fields. There they grow not only kale but every type of brassica that you could think of. Got a lot of inspiration for the upcoming season ot say the least.

Thinking of,  and writing about, kale I wanted to share with you one of my favourite ways to have it - baked until perfectly crisp! To get the kale really crisp you need to have a little trick down your sleeve. Scroll down to read more! 

Crispy kale with nori and sesame

Serves 1-6, all depending on how and when you serve it (as a Friday snack when hanging out with yourself, topping on a salad etc)

Ingredients

250 grams kale

2 tbsp cold pressed coconut oil

2 tbsp sesame seeds, preferably a mix of white and black ones

1 tbsp nori flakes 

1 tsp flakey salt 

How to

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius. 

 Wash the kale and remove the stalk. Tear the leafs in smaller pieces and put on a oven tray. Dry the kale carefully (!) with a clean kitchen towel. This is the secret part, by drying the kale completely before you massage it with the oil the kale will bake and not steam, which will happen if you have wet kale. Baked kale = really crisp. Steamed kale = impossible to get crispy. 

Blend sesame seeds, nori and salt. If you can't find nori flakes you can finely chop a nori sheet, or even better mix in a food processor. Massage the dry kale with coconut oil until every part is covered. Sprinkle with the sesame and nori mixture. Give it a toss.  

Bake in the middle of the oven for 10-15 minutes, until the kale is crisp. Make sure to stay close as the kale can easily burn if in the oven for to long. Toss it around every now and then to get evenly crisp kale. Let cool.