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Are you getting sick of hummus on everything? Looking for something new? Don’t spurn the chickpea yet. Here’s a dip that’ll make you look at that beautiful garbanzo bean in a whole new way. And there are good reasons to keep it on the menu: high in fiber, protein, manganese, and iron along with a series of powerful antioxidants, this little legume helps keep you in tip-top health.
Every single time until now that I’ve used chickpeas for a dip or spread, I’ve whizzed them up into some variation of hummus. I don’t know why. I’m not usually a creature of habit, but for some reason my needle was stuck on a single track with these. But since I’d already consumed the last of my tahini sampling the latest round of bread from the oven, I needed to come up with something else.
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I was working on a recipe for Quinoa Patties (recipe coming soon now click on that link!) filled with Asian flavors, so I decide that the fresh zing of ginger and lemon combined with a few stems of cilantro might be just the light note I was looking for.
The dip was perfect with the quinoa patties, but also perfect later with light crackers and as a dip for a variety of vegetables. It’s easy to double or triple the batch and would freeze nicely, so go ahead: go crazy with this stuff!
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Chickpea Ginger Lemon Dip
1 cup / 250 ml cooked chickpeas, liquid reserved
2 tablespoons minced, fresh cilantro, including stems
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon fresh, grated ginger
salt to taste (note: if you are using canned chickpeas, definitely taste before adding salt)
2 Tablespoons or up to 1/4 cup / 50 ml of chickpea liquid, depending on desired dip thickness
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Taste; add salt, lemon and/or chickpea liquid as needed/desired.
Serve with quinoa patties, crudite, crackers…
Makes approximately 1 cup/2dl