Spiced Roasted Carrot Dip

There’s is nothing like the nutty and earthy flavours that come with roasting veggies in general. Root vegetables carrots included also become intensely sweet and fabulous. Roasting the carrots with onions and garlic really marries the flavours together even before they all get blended up in the food processor.

I love a little bit of heat in my dips and that is why I loved adding the ground harissa to these carrots. It adds so much flavour and you don’t need plenty. Feel free to adjust amounts according to your liking and degree of heat tolerability. If you are strongly opposed with adding the heat then feel free to treat it like hummus and just replace the harissa with ground cumin. I have had it both ways and both ways are fabulous.

This dip has a nice natural sweetnesses and is perfect served up with crispy pita bread or pita chips and perfect with some crispy crackers. Nut thins are super crispy and salty and I loved having it with those. I also love it in my sandwich and on toast with some cloves tomatoes. My husband loved it with my homemade Rosemary Cranberry crisps that have a slight sweetness to them as well.

The tahini adds a wonderful flavour but also helps make this dip extra rich. You will love how creamy and delicious this dip is and it’s the perfect addition to a cheese board and great as a party dip or an appetizer. It’s also so simple to make and can easily be made in advance. It is also dairy free so even the vegans in your life will be able to indulge. Hope you give it a try and add it to your list of delicious dips.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 lbs of carrots (approx 6-10 depending on size)
• 1 onion peeled and chopped in quarters
• 6 cloves of garlic peeled
• 3 tbsp of olive oil plus a couple of extra for processing later if needed
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp ground harissa (plus more to taste and heat preference – can sub with just ground cumin if you don’t want the heat but homemade harissa seasoning recipe is below)
• 1 heaping tbsp of tahini
• Juice of one lemon
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425°F
2. Toss the carrots onions and garlic in the olive oil, harissa and salt and pepper
3. Roast for 30 minutes or until carrots are tender. Flip and toss halfway through.
4. Remove and let cool for a few minutes and then transfer all the veggies plus pan juices into a food processor or high speed blender.
5. Add the tahini and lemon juice and process until smooth - stop in between to scrape the side of the bowl. Drizzle in a little more olive oil or lemon juice if needed and according to taste. Season with more salt and pepper to taste along with more ground harissa.
6. Garnish with what you like. I garnished with some gomasio, pine nuts, pomegranate, shopped parsley, a drizzle of olive oil and a little dusting of ground harissa. Serve with crackers, pita chips, veggies or great in a sandwich too!

Homemade Harissa Spice Rub Mix

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp Cumin Seeds (or 1½ tsp. Ground cumin powder)
• 1 tbsp Coriander Seeds (or 1½ tsp. ground powder)
• 1 tbsp Caraway seeds (or 1½ tsp. ground caraway powder
• 1 tbsp Fennel seeds (or 1½ tsp. ground fennel seed powder)
• ¼ cup Ground dried chili powder (mild or hot per your preference)
• 2 tbsp Smoked Paprika
• 2 tsp Garlic powder (not garlic salt)
• 1-½ tsp Sea salt
• 1 tsp Ground black peppercorns
• 1 tsp Dried mint leaves
• ½ tsp Ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp Ground ginger
• ¼-½ tsp Ground cayenne pepper (optional)
  

Directions

1. In a dry skillet add the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, caraway seeds and fennel seeds. Heat skillet on medium-high heat.
2. Shake the skillet over the heat until the spices start to toast and become fragrant, about 2 minutes.
3. Remove skillet from heat and transfer spices to a mortar and pestle bowl or a spice grinder and grind into a powder. (Note: if using pre-ground spices skip this step and proceed to step two.)
4. Combine all ingredient and store in an air-tight container.
   

Dip recipe adapted from Martha Stewart and homemade harissa powder from Foodytv