I made some Middle Eastern Tabouleh Salad today and wanted a bit of hummus to go along with it. Being made from basically chickpeas, this is far from a low-carbers “safe” food to eat. But I recently I saw on another WordPress blog Cavewoman Cafe that cauliflower can be used to make hummus, so I pulled out my hummus recipe of many years and tried it.

I really wanted to add just a few chick peas for the flavor boost, but discovered I didn’t have any among my canned goods or cooked in the freezer either. I thought a moment and remembered I have DO chickpea flour in my pantry. After all, it’s made from finely ground chickpeas, non? Hmmmm…..Why not?

So I whipped up a batch of my regular hummus recipe, subbing cauliflower for chick peas, guessing how much chickpea flour to put in the mix. Man, this came out not just good, it was to die for! I honestly couldn’t really tell it apart from the carb-laden variety made with all chickpeas! This recipe is not suitable until the legumes rung of the OWL ladder. The bread sticks pictured are made from 1 slice of my focaccia bread

NOTE: This is not so great leftover. The cauliflower taste comes through much stronger on day 2. So only make up as much as you think will be consumed completely the day it is made.

INGREDIENTS:

16 oz. cauliflower

2 T. tahini paste (sesame seed butter)

2 T. chickpea flour (or ¼ c. cooked chickpeas. mashed up well)

1 T. fresh lemon juice

½ clove garlic, minced

dash salt

1 T. olive oil (for the hummus mixture)

¼ c. olive oil for top garnish

Dash paprika for garnish

parsley sprig to garnish (optional)

DIRECTIONS: Steam cauliflower over boiling water until tender. Lift out of pot and put into food processor. Add all remaining ingredients EXCEPT the ¼ c. olive oil, paprika and parsley sprig. Blend until smooth. Scrape out onto serving dish. Sprinkle with paprika. Drizzle with ¼ c. olive oil, allowing some to pool around the edges. Garnish with sprig of parsley (or chopped) and serve with your favorite low-carb breadsticks or crackers. I personally love this stuff best when served with Tabouleh Salad and black or kalamata olives. The flavors are wonderful together!

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes about 2 cups or around five servings. Each serving contains:

196 calories

17.76 g fat

8.04 g carbs, 3.16 g fiber, 4.88 g NET CARBS

3.46 g protein

70% RDA Vitamin C, 18% B6, 16% E, 20% copper, 16% iron, 18% manganese, 15% phosphorous, and 14% thiamin