The Best Raw Zucchini Hummus

The thing that I love about this recipe is that you don’t have to go out and buy expensive tahini! Most every zucchini hummus recipe that I’ve seen requires just a few tablespoons, but the jar from which you get the couple tablespoons costs more than 10 bucks. Cost is a major deterrent when most everything else is on hand and ready to go.

This hummus is full flavored and creamy. The lemon shines through and, if you add a pinch (literally just a pinch) of cayenne pepper, the heat will carry the smoky paprika so as to make this one something that you can really eat a lot of.

It’s also not stiff like what you’d find using garbanzo beans and, if you don’t get carried away with the liquid, it will not be runny. There is a delicate balance that must be observed – that can be corrected with more sesame seeds! You want the end product to be able to stand up slightly.

So let’s take a look.

Recipe:

• 1 cup+ sprouted sesame seeds
• Juice of 1 (or 1 ½) lemons
• 4 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon (or less) cumin
• ½ teaspoon (or less) paprika (I like the smoked version)
• 1 clove garlic (I don’t like to much garlic)
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 2 garden fresh zucchini squash (peeled and diced)
• Pinch cayenne pepper (optional)

You’ll want to start the day before by soaking the sesame seeds for about 8 hours, draining and letting the germination process happen. They should be ready at about 24 hours. (In other words, soak overnight, drain (and rinse) and then let them grow all day so that it can be prepared later in the evening).

Peel and slice the zucchini and chop the garlic.

It’s just faster in the blender when the zucchini has been chopped smaller.

Now, in your high powered blender, add at least a cup sprouted sesame seeds, chopped garlic, the oil and the lemon juice and blend. You might have to work this in a bit in order to get all the seeds broken down. The mixture should be like peanut butter after a few seconds.

Next, add the zucchini. You’ll probably need to plunger it in.

After blending for a little while, add the seasonings: Salt, cumin, paprika and maybe a little cayenne pepper for heat (go really light on the heat for there is nothing to temper it here). If it’s a little runny, add more sesame seeds. Then, continue blending until smooth.

There you have it. The best zucchini recipe on the web!

And, before you go thinking that I’ve created this from scratch, I’ve got to give credit to Carmella (of The Sunny Raw Kitchen). She posted the root version of this on the web back in 2007. The only real change that I made was to sprout the sesame seeds first.

This recipe makes about four cups hummus. I’d say that ¾ cup is a serving.