Do you love exploring the cuisine habits of a foreign country?

I absolutely do - and what’s even more interesting is walking around local areas and learning how each different city has adopted diverse food cultures from all over the world.

When I was in Berlin last September, not only did I fall in love with that fat juicy crispy pork shank - which is something you usually expect to eat when you visit Germany. I was also literally blown away by a peculiar offering at a cute little hipster-style restaurant in Oranienburger Straße. This area used to be the main Jewish area of Berlin, and it is now a very popular venue for tourists. Despite this, though, I personally love this area: it is extremely lively and colorful, but it can also be nice and quiet in the morning, perfect for a stroll. It is no secret that Berlin has become a magnificent melting pot of cultures, trends and so on, hence it is no surprise that it can also offer some exquisite culinary surprises.

The little joint that caught my attention is called Hummus & Friends, and as you can tell by the name, its specialty is indeed hummus. Particularly, they offer a hummus trio: regular hummus; avocado hummus; and beetroot hummus. They all tasted delicious, which is not taken for granted because with such few ingredients involved, you need to make sure that they are of great quality.

So when I last went grocery shopping and found myself grabbing a chickpea pack and some beetroots, my mind immediately traveled back to that restaurant and decided I would give the hummus beetroot a shot (please note: measurements used below were determined by my own taste and by what I had available in my kitchen!)...

Would you like to try this recipe out with me?

Yield: 3-4 cups

What you’ll need:

- 300 g chickpeas

- 1 cooked beetroot

- 1 tbsp tahini

- 1.5 cloves garlic

- 1 tsp sesame seeds

- 1 tsp flax seeds (optional)

- 4 tbsp olive oil

- salt and pepper to taste

- lemon juice to taste

- paprika powder to taste (optional)

Soak the chickpeas into water for about 12 hours and cook for 1-2 hours according to the packaging. Quick tip: steam cook them for 20-30 minutes.

Peel the cooked beetroot and cut it into small chunks.

Pour into the food processor the beetroot, tahini, oil, salt and pepper, garlic, lemon juice, seeds and paprika powder if you feel like; start mixing at medium speed.

Once the ingredients have started to blend, add in the chickpeas and blend well together at medium speed.

Serve with a garnishing of seeds and mint leaves.

Hummus is a popular dip coming from the Near East cuisine, simply made of cooked and mashed chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic. It is a wonderfully multipurpose food which you can use as appetizer, main, snack; and you can mix and match it with many other ingredients and create your own twist to it - like this super delicious beetroot hummus ;)

Enjoy!