Roast red pepper, garlic & scotch bonnet suya spiced hummus

Suya spiced hummus

Suya spice is a popular west African spice blend. Most commonly used with bbq meats on street food stalls. It has a spicy, aromatic and nutty flavour that brings many dishes to life when the spice is added onto it.

When creating this hummus, I was simply looking around my kitchen for something that I could snack on while I work. I found some chickpeas floating about in my cupboard and thought why not make a batch of hummus, that I could use for the week. I looked around my seasoning cupboard and decided to spice it up with some additional suya spice and honestly it was the best decision I made that day!

Making your own hummus is great because you can jazz it up as you wish, but most importantly you know exactly what’s going into it.

Chickpea are a great source of protein and fiber that help keep your appetite under control. The protein and fiber in chickpeas work synergistically to slow digestion, which helps promote fullness. Chickpeas also have a low calorie density. This means they provide few calories relative to the amount of nutrients they contain. This is beneficial for those who may be trying to loose weight or on a calorie deficit diet.

A recent study revealed that, those who ate at least one serving of legumes, such as chickpeas, each day lost 25% more weight than those who did not eat legumes.

Ingredients

800g Chickpeas, tinned or cooked
2 Red bell pepper, chopped
4 Cloves of garlic, peeled
150ml Extra virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons suya spice
1 Teaspoon of black pepper
1 Teaspoon smoked paprika
1 Teaspoon cumin
1 Teaspoon chilli flakes
1 Teaspoon salt
1/2 Lemon

Preparation

Chop the bell peppers in large chunks and place on a baking tray along with peeled cloves of garlic and cooked chickpeas.
Season the vegetables and chickpeas with black pepper, smoked paprika, rock salt, cumin, chilli flakes and suya spice. Drizzle a little olive oil over them and mix thoroughly.
Bake at 160 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool down for 5 minutes.
Empty the roasted vegetables and chickpeas into a food processor. Squeeze in the juice of half a lemon.
Begin blending at a medium setting while gradually adding the extra virgin olive oil. Continue to blend until the hummus is smooth.
Serve with some baked plantain (click here for my baked plantain recipe) or fresh chopped vegetables.