Whipped Beanless Hummus with Chunky Mediterranean Salad
This silky smooth hummus leaves out the legumes but brings all the flavor, brightened with crunchy, fresh Mediterranean salad for the perfect summery meal or produce-forward appetizer.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4 - 6 1x
- Category: appetizer, snack
- Method: no cook
- Cuisine: paleo, gluten free
Ingredients
For the Beanless Hummus:
- 1 cup / 5 oz / 140 g raw unsalted cashews, I like these
- 3 cloves garlic, unpeeled
- 1/4 cup / 60 ml fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
- 1/3 cup / 80 ml high quality tahini, I like this one
- 1/4 cup / 60 ml very cold water
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin
For the Chunky Mediterranean Salad:
- 4 oz / 115 g baby tomatoes, halved
- 4 oz / 115 g chopped cucumber or sliced Persian cucumbers
- 1/4 small red onion, sliced thinly
- handful of olives, halved
- 1 tsp / 5 ml fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp / 5 ml red wine vinegar
- salt and pepper, to taste
To garnish:
- zaatar spice mix, to taste, optional
- drizzle extra virgin olive oil
- chopped parsley, mint and / or chives
Instructions
SOAK: Put the raw cashews into a bowl and pour over enough just-boiled water to cover the cashews by about 1 inch / 2.5 cm. Cover and soak for 8 hours, or overnight, see notes. Drain now cloudy liquid from the soaked cashews and rinse them in a strainer until the water runs clear. Let drain again so no excess liquid remains.
CHOP: Pop the unpeeled garlic cloves into the bowl of a food processor, along with the lemon juice and salt. Pulse until the garlic is roughly chopped, scrape down the sides so the garlic sits in the lemon juice and leave to mellow the flavors out for 10 minutes or so.
TOSS: While the garlic is marinating, combine all of the ingredients for the Mediterranean salad in a mixing bowl. Toss together so that the dressing is distributed evenly, adjust the seasonings to taste and let the salad marinate until it’s time to assemble the platter later.
STRAIN: Place a small strainer over a bowl and scrape the garlic & lemon mixture from the food processor bowl into the strainer. Press down with the back of the spoon to squeeze out as much liquid from the garlic as possible, then discard the dry garlic pulp. Add the strained liquid back to the food processor bowl.
WHIP: Add the tahini to the food processor and pulse a few times. Using the feeder tube, slowly add the cold water to the tahini mixture with the food processor running, until all the water has been added and the tahini is whipped into a soft, lighter and completely smooth mixture.
BLEND: Sprinkle the cumin into the bowl and add the soaked, drained cashews. Process for a couple minutes, until you have a smooth, creamy & light hummus texture. Taste and adjust lemon, salt and cumin, as needed. If you like, you can thin with additional water, too, although I didn’t here.
ASSEMBLE: Spoon the hummus onto a platter or large plate, swooshing it smooth with the back of a spoon. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with zaatar spice if using. Use a slotted spoon to pile the chunky Mediterranean salad on top of the hummus and sprinkle with the fresh herbs. Serve immediately! Pictured here are the AIP Pita Wedges from p.222 of The Paleo Healing Cookbook.
Notes
- Black pepper & cumin are Stage 1 AIP reintroductions.
- Tahini is a Stage 2 AIP reintroduction.
- Cashews are a Stage 3 AIP reintroduction.
- Tomatoes are a Stage 4 AIP reintroduction.
- For a speedier result, cover the cashews with just-boiled water right in the blender, then cover with the lid. Let the cashews soak for 30 minutes, then drain as per the recipe and continue. If you have a high speed blender, the cashews will blend nicely; if you do not, you will find you need to soak for the longer time period indicated in the recipe.