Peanut Butter Hummus

At the moment, my general philosophy with food is that the addition of peanut butter improves most things. Be that fruit, porridge, granola, toast, even certain vegetables, it has a 95% success rate. So, naturally, as I was snacking on peanut butter whilst making hummus the other day, I thought it a great idea to combine the two. And, oh boy, is it good.

I was ever so impressed with myself for coming up with this genius combination but a quick Google brought me back to reality, revealing that Nigella got there first. Damn. Nevertheless, here is my take on peanut butter hummus. Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it.

My recipe evolved from this one featured on the Jamie Oliver website. It makes enough for 6-8 people or, alternatively, it will last a few days in the fridge of one greedy person (me).

The ingredients you’ll need are:

• 2 x 400g tins of chickpeas (keep a few back for decoration)
• 12 tbsp reserved liquid from the tinned chickpeas (or water if, like me, you forgot this step)
• 5 tbsp crunchy peanut butter (or smooth, whichever suits your preference)
• 4 tbsp tahini
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• Pinch of salt
• The juice of half a lemon (roughly 3 tbsp if using a bottle)
• 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (plus extra for drizzling)

Optional:

• Peanuts (think of the instagram!)
• Cinnamon

The method:

Essentially, bung it in a bowl and blend. You can, of course, use a food processor but I find that my trusty little hand blender does the trick just fine.

Drain and rinse the chickpeas before throwing them in a bowl along with the reserved liquid/water, peanut butter, tahini, garlic and salt. Blend away, adding in the olive oil at intervals. Once mixed, pop in a bowl, scatter with a few chickpeas and peanuts along with a drizzle of oil. Sprinkle with cinnamon to finish.

Et voilà! Peanut butter hummus complete. It’s unconventional, granted, but I'm obsessed.

My favourite way to eat this is with a chopped up apple as a snack. It also tastes great on toast, in pitta bread, on ryvita, with a banana or on its own, with a spoon, please don’t judge me.

If you try out this recipe for yourself, I’d love to see! Let me know on Twitter (@PoppySherlock) or Instagram (@poppyflaxman).