Sweet Potato Hummus and Pita Bread

Hummus has been one of my favorite things to prepare for almost any occasion since I lived in Berlin for 8 months and got to eat a lot, and a lot of Lebanese food. Usually the chicken schawarmas and falafels in pita bread were accompanied by tahini sauce, but sometimes you were lucky to get some hummus too. Hummus is rich in flavor, in nutrition and childishly simple to prepare. You can dip various kinds of stuff in it to create delicious combinations - most traditionally of course pita bread. 

I ran into different variations of hummus lately, as I’ve been actively browsing Pinterest. My typical hummus includes the basic ingredients, chickpeas, tahini, garlic and lemon, and often also sun-dried tomatoes. I find them almost unbeatable in hummus! But I wanted to try something else for change, and there came the idea of this one, sweet potato hummus. The recipe I took from Martha Stewart. I still keep preparing my favorite hummus with tomatoes, but this was actually very fresh, delicious and sweet, too. 

I also baked my own pita bread, for the first time, and they became quite okay. I highly recommend, as they’re super easy to make and cost you much less than buying them from the market. I got the recipe from a Finnish super popular food blog, you can find the original here.

Sweet Potato Hummus

450g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into small chunks

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed, or equal amount boiled chickpeas

juice of one lemon

3 heaping tablespoons tahini

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 garlic clove, chopped

salt

sweet paprika powder

Set a steamer basket in a large pot. Fill with enough water to come just below basket and bring to a boil. Add potatoes, cover and cook until tender, about 10 to 12 minutes.

Combine chickpeas, lemon juice, tahini, oil, cumin, and garlic. Puree all the ingredients, including boiled sweet potatoes, in a food processor until smooth paste. I used a stick blender because I (still) don’t have a food processor. Thin the hummus with water if necessary. Season with salt and pepper and let cool.

Before serving, sprinkle with sweet paprika powder and top generously with olive oil. Serve with freshly baked pita bread.

Simple Pita Breads (makes 10-12)

300ml lukewarm water (or 42 C)

11g (one bag) dry active yeast

7-8dl all-purpose flour (I used a little less, maybe 6,5dl)

0,5 teaspoon salt

Mix the dry ingredients together and gradually add the warm water, kneading until the dough is almost chewy in its texture.

Let it stand in a warm place, covered with a kitchen towel until it has doubled in size. This takes usually around one hour, but keep sometimes even more.

On a floured surface, using a rolling pin, roll the dough into small, approximately 10-15cm diameter rounds. The thinner you roll them, the better the result as the pitas are supposed to form an air pocket inside them in the oven, and with too thick dough the upper part doesn’t rise properly. So make some effort in this.

Preheat the oven to 250C and let the pitas stand covered until the oven is hot. Bake the pitas for 3-5 minutes, depending on the oven. They should stay very light in color, so once they have puffed up, they are starting to be ready. Don’t over bake, otherwise they might end up being too hard to eat.