Kale and parmesan hummus

I have a weird relationship with chickpeas. I absolutely adore them 95% of the time (see: 31 vegetarian chickpea recipes), but just occasionally I find their texture a bit weird – usually when they’ve been mashed or blended. In other words, I find falafel pretty tricky sometimes, and I don’t really like hummus.

Yeah, I know. Hummus is like liquid (um, viscous liquid?) gold to a lot of people. Sorry about that. The texture just really doesn’t do it for me.

Since I feel I really should like these foods (come on, what vegetarian doesn’t like hummus or falafel?!), I like experimenting to make them more enjoyable to me – I loved my quick falafel, for example, and I love hummus made with other beans instead of chickpeas (especially with added lemon juice and feta – yum).

This time, I played around with the standard hummus recipe so much that it barely even resembles hummus any more – and it’s completely and utterly delicious. There’s no tahini, but there is a good handful of kale, and a decent amount of parmesan cheese (the veggie version, of course).

I know, how predictable am I: to make hummus more exciting to me, I added some cheese. But believe me, it made this kale hummus so, so tasty. I think kale and cheese might just be my new favourite combination. Parmesan has a pretty strong flavour, so this hummus really packs a punch, especially along with the garlic and lemon juice.

Smeared on a few tortilla chips, this made for a seriously enjoyable (if wholly inauthentic) lunch.

I left my parmesan hummus quite thick and chunky, but if you prefer a thinner hummus you could always add back in the tahini that I skipped. When it’s thick, it’s great for scooping onto tortilla chips, but if you’re more of a dipper or a spreader, it would be easier if you make it a little thinner.

Print Recipe

Kale and parmesan hummus

Prep Time5 mins

Total Time5 mins

Course: Snack

Servings: 3

Calories:

Author: Becca Heyes

Ingredients

• 1 small clove garlic

• 50 g vegetarian parmesan-style cheese, grated (~ 1/4 cup when grated)
• Large handful of kale
• 400 g tin of chickpeas, drained (240g when drained, or ~ 1 1/4 cups)
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 50 ml extra virgin olive oil (~ 1/4 cup)
• Salt
• Black pepper

Instructions

• Place all the ingredients in a blender or food processor, and blitz until the mixture reaches your desired consistency (I left mine slightly chunky). You might want to hold back some of the extra virgin olive oil to add at the end, until the mixture is as thin as you would like it.

Note: nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on exactly what ingredients you choose.

Got leftover kale? Here’s some more kale inspiration.