Northern Ireland has had some unseasonably good weather over the past two weeks and it drives me insane with happiness. I am a sun bunny, I was born for the hot weather – tan me…..and tan me good!!

Not only that – the weather has a massive impact on the food I like to cook and the food I like to eat. I lean towards lighter, picky foods that are easy to make and easy to scoff. I find myself eating more Italian, Spanish and middle eastern foods and I love eating outside in this weather.

With all that in mind – International Hummus Day is tomorrow (13th May) and I cracked out a recipe that’s both comforting, delish and is excellent picky food fodder.

This Spiced Roasted Red Pepper Hummus is a cinch to make – just whack it all in a blender and it’s done. The other beauty about this little guy is that you can be creative and swap out ingredients as you please. You can increase the garlic, reduce the jalapenos, add in feta – really, make it to suit your tastes.

This is an awesome vehicle for eating things like breadsticks, toasted pitta, nachos and really anything crispy and dippy. You can always go for the healthy options of carrot sticks, tomatoes, celery etc!

Whatever you choose to dip, make sure you fully load it and enjoy!

Spiced roasted red pepper hummus

Ingredients

• 1 can chickpeas in water, drained
• 2 large roasted peppers from a jar in oil
• 3 large garlic cloves, crushed
• 6 jalapenos slices from a jar (or to your spice tastes)
• 2 heaped tsp tahini paste
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1 tsp chipotle paste (optional)
• 50-60ml olive oil
• Generous salt and pepper

Method

1. Put all the ingredients except the olive oil in a food processor or blender and blitz until it’s a smooth paste.
2. Add in the olive oil and blitz till combined.
3. Check for seasoning and scrape it into a bowl.
4. Eat with whatever you like – breadsticks, salty potato chips, carrots are all on my list of dippy goods!