Some couples read love poems to each other; my husband and I read restaurant menus.
One of our favorite parts of planning a vacation is figuring out where we are going to eat. I like to ask my facebook followers for recommendations while my husband likes to use Google. We come up with a big list and then look at online menus to narrow down our options.
So when, during the planning stage of our upcoming trip to Colorado, my husband called out from his computer, “Red Lentil Hummus with Berberé Spice,” I knew he wasn’t experiencing some kind of mental breakdown but had found something interesting in one of the Denver menus he was reading. My first thought was, “Sounds good,” and my second was, “I can make that without a recipe.”
So I did. And it was absolutely incredible, if I do say so. I was all out of the berberé that I usually make, so I made up some more, a modified version that is lighter on the cloves and heavier on the cayenne than my old mix. But you can use either recipe or even buy a packaged berberé, and the results should still be divine because it’s pretty hard to mess up red lentils and Ethiopian spices–they just go together. If you like Ethiopian food and you like hummus, I’m betting that you’ll love this recipe.
Berbere-Spiced Red Lentil Hummus
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup red lentils (picked over and rinsed)
- 3 cups water
- 2 large cloves garlic , peeled
- 1 tablespoon tahini (optional, but good)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 1/2 teaspoons berberé seasoning (below), or to taste
- salt to taste (optional)
Instructions
- Put the lentils and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until the lentils are soft, about 20-30 minutes. Check often and add water if it seems dry.
- Drain all water from the lentils. Put them and all remaining ingredients into the food processor and blend until smooth. Check seasonings and add more lemon juice, berberé, and salt. Transfer to a covered bowl, sprinkle with chopped chili peppers, if desired, and serve chilled or at room temperature.
Nutritional info is approximate.
Berbere Spice Mixture
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons paprika
- 1 tablespoon ground cardamom
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon ground fenugreek
- 1 tablespoon ground allspice
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon turmeric
- 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon ground sea salt (optional)
- 2 teaspoons cayenne (use more to taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients well. Store in a cool, dark place.
Nutritional info is approximate.
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Leah
October 28, 2012 at 9:49 amWow, this is great! My friend sent me berbere from Ethiopia and this is perfect with it!
veryfunny
December 22, 2012 at 8:45 amothefoodie, there is no such thing as an Ethiopian language, and the word berbere certainly isn’t ”African”. It’s a semetic language, Amharic.
KimM
March 4, 2013 at 7:39 pmI made this and 3 others dips for a party. I ended up quadrupling the berbere spice. This wasn’t my favorite but my friends liked it.
J Sumption
August 29, 2013 at 2:24 pmFinally had a chance to make this today and it is DELICIOUS! I had to push the bowl away because I just kept eating it! LOL My husband’s comment: “That’s REALLY good!” THANK YOU for sharing this recipe! It will now be a “go to” for me!
Kathy Cultice
January 13, 2014 at 9:31 amThis sounds sooo good! We’ve given up on the yummy but full of oil hummus we’ve been getting from Costco. I will be making this tonight! Thanks!!
Steven Little
August 1, 2014 at 3:01 pmCan you imagine how wonderful a north African open air market would smell? Yum. One other way to check for Vegan options is to go to Yelp and do a search on the word “Vegan”. That can help you to find places that are not necessarily vegan but have vegan options. Or you will find the occasional BBQ place where somebody commented “not for vegans!” ha ha… Some places (like most of central California) are not vegan friendly at all. They go so far as to have “vegetarian” options meaning they dump cheese all over everything.
I am loving your site and your recipes!
theveganjunction
March 5, 2015 at 7:48 pmA lentil hummus recipe, I’ve been looking for a low fat one of these. 😉
Pongodhall
March 10, 2015 at 9:15 amMmmmm! Lovely. Good dip, spread, mix in with potatoes, and oh , yes the salad dressing as I hate the dry foods. Oh yes, this one goes in THE BOOK!
Nancy
July 30, 2015 at 1:57 pmI have to share this with my daughter, when we go to our favorite Ethiopian restaurant the waitress looks at my daughter and says, “red lentils”,because that is what she always orders.
Rhonda
April 28, 2017 at 5:22 pmI have literally made dozens of your recipes and loved every single one.
Any time I saw a new one posted by you it was what was going to be for dinner that night.
Unfortunately this one was a exception. While the favour itself wasn’t bad ,no matter how much I tried to adjust it, it had the consistent of pea soup. (Yes I did drain the lentils after they cooked). Definitely not useable for hummus.
This is more like a “lentil sauce’.
Looking forward to trying more of your recipes – some of them are now family favourites.
Susan Voisin
April 28, 2017 at 6:22 pmI’m so sorry about that! I’m not sure why that happened, maybe differences in lentils, but I hope it can be salvaged as pea soup.