Tandoori Cauliflower Hummus with Crispy Quinoa

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Recipe for tandoori cauliflower hummus with delicious toppings like crispy quinoa and fresh herbs – this goes straight into your unusual hummus recipes folder 🙂

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There’s the plain Jane hummus that we all love for its familiar flavour and smooth creamy texture. I couldn’t have enough of it in Jordan in my trip there exactly two years ago. Even though I joked that I wouldn’t have hummus for a few months, given how we were served hummus for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Then there is this tandoori cauliflower hummus recipe – a totally glammed up avatar of hummus. The inspiration for the flavours came from a collection of spice mixes that my friend Lakshmi got me from the spice souks of Muscat. It had some 12 different spice powders in a range of colours from yellow to red – some familiar such as turmeric, hot paprika, cumin and some not so familiar. One of the spice powders was a tandoori spice.

I haven’t used tandoori masala in my cooking much even though it is quite easily available even in India. Whenever I do an oven baked tandoori cauliflower or potato (I even do tandoori broccoli), I often use my own mix of readily available spices at home, as in this recipe.

However, the tandoori spice powder needed to be used. So I marinated the cauliflower florets in a few drops of oil and this spice powder. I pan fried the cauliflower for a bit until it browned and then covered it and steam cooked it so that it could blend well with the cooked chickpeas for the tandoori cauliflower hummus.

Check out more of these unique hummus recipes

White Bean and Carrot Hummus

Raw Mango Turmeric Hummus

Pumpkin Hummus

To add a  layer of fun texture to the hummus, I added a spoonful of black quinoa to hot oil (just like the tadka in Indian cuisine). The quinoa pops and turns real crisp. [Use this as a garnish on any dip for that bomb texture element.] That plus oil in which the quinoa was popped and herbs, and a final sprinkling of the tandoori masala made it an unforgettably good hummus.

I served with freshly baked lavash crackers. My sister and her husband really loved it and between all of us, we pretty much wiped the bowl clean.

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Shopping for this Tandoori Cauliflower Hummus recipe

Tandoori Masala powders are easily available online and for those of you living outside India, find it in any Indian store. Even though the box will usually say Tandoori Chicken Masala, the spice powder by itself is vegetarian / vegan, so you can use it with any other vegetables or paneer etc.

Black quinoa can be substituted for regular quinoa, but the black colour gives the dish a stunning colour contrast.

You can buy these here–

• Tandoori Masala Powder
• Black Quinoa

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Tandoori Cauliflower Hummus with Crispy Quinoa

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Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 5 mins

Total Time 20 mins

Course Appetizer, Snack

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  

• 8-10 cauliflower florets
• 1 tsp tandoori masala
• 1 1/2 tsp sunflower oil divided
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup cooked chickpeas cooked with salt

Garnishing

• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp black quinoa
• 1 cauliflower floret sliced very thin
• 1 tbsp fresh herbs (sage mint or oregano)
• 1/4 tsp tandoori masala

Instructions

 

• To prepare the tandoori cauliflower hummus, start by prepping the cauliflower. Marinate the florets in a small bowl in a mix of 1 tsp tandoori masala, 1/2 tsp oil, 1/2 tsp salt. Toss to coat well. Keep covered for 15 minutes.
• Heat remaining 1 tsp oil in a non stick pan and toss the marinated florets on high heat for 1 minute until slightly browned outside. Reduce flame to minimum, sprinkle some water, cover and steam cook for 5-6 minutes until the florets are just soft but not mushy.
• In a mixer jar or food processor, combine the cooked chickpeas and prepared cauliflower to a smooth puree. Remove this into a serving bowl.
• In a tempering ladle or small pan, heat the 1 tbsp olive oil. Once oil is hot, add the quinoa to it and wait until it crackles. Pour the crisped up quinoa along with the oil over the hummus.
• Garnish with fresh herbs, sprinkle of tandoori masala and very thinly sliced cauliflower floret. Serve immediately or cover with cling wrap and refrigerate until serving.

Notes

If you don't have quinoa, use millet or amaranth or any other small grain / pseudograin. Black sesame seeds can also be used similarly for a nutty flavour and crunch.

*I have used olive oil and not extra virgin olive oil because the latter is best used in raw form.

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