Alright, my beauties. As most of you know… cultured hummus is my thing, my jam, my baby. I was strained to work within a particularly restrictive budget when we lived in Northern Ireland and frankly was overwhelmed and saddened by the lack of exciting food within that budget. I learned fermenting for health reasons and for some culinary excitement… but my niche quickly became hummus… of all sorts.
About a year ago my body started shutting down in earnest… I started having such a struggle with inflammation that I couldn’t really pinpoint it and the only thing that would deal with it effectively was a strong CBD tincture. Toward the fall of 2019 I was so anemic and so inflamed that I ended up in the hospital with tachycardia due to an extremely low level of sodium in my body, amongst other things I’m sure. My bio-hack now is that I drink pink salt (for clean sodium) and organic cream of tartar (for potassium) in every glass of water to keep my heart rate normal and that baby pumping away happily.
That season was tough… my body could no longer tolerate vegetables, grains, beans/pulses, legumes or most fruits. I could eat lamb, wild caught fish, some poultry and had to have at least one dose of organ meat per day just to feel like I wasn’t withering away with exhaustion. Not fun… not for this veggie lover. I discovered I could eat avocados and preserved lemons, skin and all, and that was a Godsend. Bone broth with L-Glutamine added was the order of the day and after a few months I started to heal enough to add some veggies back in very slowly. I’ve found that I have to rotate them and only “splurge” on one or two veggies per week though… unless fermented. But even then the amounts are small if I don’t want pain and inflammation to ransack my body.
So all that to say… here is a baby I have been waiting to post. Waiting until my small children are snug in their beds and I have a quiet moment, that is.
I love this one. I do have to be careful with it because cauliflower still gives me jip… but it’s a goodie.
I roast 1-2 heads of organic cauliflower and about 1 cup of peeled garlic cloves (you can adjust that to taste, but I LOVE garlic) in this 17″ Lodge Cast Iron Pan.
The hummus I prepare in a Cuisinart 14 Cup Food Processor.
You can find the recipe for the cultured onion brine here, but note, you can do a full 68oz jar with just one onion if you plan to use a lot of brine.
Note* I did not use ALL the garlic pictured, but roasted it all to store in the fridge for use whenever it took my fancy.
Roasted Garlic Cauliflower Hummus
Equipment
- Cast Iron Pan
- Food Processor
Ingredients
- 2 heads organic cauliflower
- 1 cup green olives
- 6-10 garlic cloves
- ½ cup cultured onion brine
- 1/2 cup tahini or 1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds or toasted sunflower seeds
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tbsp pink salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ¼ - ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil poured over top to seal out bacteria
Instructions
- Wash, remove the leaves and break the head of cauliflower. Dry roast cauliflower in a cast iron pan at 350°F for 30 minutes and then add the garlic and roast another 30 minutes. Put all ingredients in a food processor (hold out the olive oil) and process until smooth.
- If serving immediately, leave out the fermenting liquid. Spoon into a bowl and stir in 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, then drizzle a bit more on the top. Serve with crudite platter or chips.
- If fermenting, hold out the olive oil until the very end. Transfer hummus to a 2 litre clip top jar, cover with the olive oil and clamp closed. Slowly rotate the jar until the olive oil seals the entire empty surface. Leave to ferment for 2-3 days depending on your preference. It will be cultured after 24 hours but you will have a stronger bite and more gut healthy bacteria after 2 or 3 days. It is an acquired taste so if you're new start with 1-2 days. Once finished, stir the olive oil in and store in a 1 liter glass jar in the fridge.
