A few months ago, I received a delicious gift from Seasonality Spices, a company that provides high quality, fair-trade spices and herbs. Every few months, they travel to farms in countries like Singapore, India, Hungary, and Egypt, and pick up small batches of their spices when they are at their peak. This creates an intensely aromatic flavor and from the moment I opened the package of their Maharajah Curry Powder, I was blown away by how amazing it smelled.
You can read more about their sourcing and practices here. The Maharajah Curry Powder is all-natural, organic, vegan and fair-trade. The depth of flavor is better than any curry powder I have ever tried.
The recipe for this hummus actually came about as a styling challenge for myself at first. I would always see beautifully styled hummus photos with drizzles of olive oil and various toppings and I wanted to see if I could create something similar. Ok, it might seem super simple, but as a food stylist and photographer, some things are harder than they seem – truth be told, this was actually easier than I thought!
Then I thought, why not give it an Indian flair! This was the perfect way to use the curry powder. Of course you can blend it into the hummus, but I wanted to separate the flavors a bit, so I made a simple basic hummus with canned chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, cumin and salt and then fancied it up! You can easily use store bought hummus too!
I then drizzled on some of the curry infused olive oil and topped with some toasted cumin seeds, roasted chickpeas, red onion, tomatoes and cilantro. The flavor was insane! The oil adds that extra bit of curry flavor without being too overpowering if you made the whole hummus curry flavored.
Ingredients
For Curry Infused Olive Oil:
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Tbsp Seasonality Spices Maharajah Curry Powder
For Crispy Chickpeas:
- 1.5 cups canned chickpeas, rinsed well and drained
- 1 Tbsp avocado oil
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
For Toasted Cumin Seeds:
- 1/2 Tbsp cumin seeds
2 cups store bought or homemade hummus
Additional garnishes:
- Chopped cilantro
- Cherry tomatos, halved
- Red onion, chopped
Instructions
For Curry Infused Olive Oil:
- Head a small skillet over medium-high heat. Dry roast curry powder for 30 seconds to 1 minute once pan is hot.
- Add in 1/4 cup of olive oil and mix to combine. Add in remaining 3/4 cup olive oil, turn off stove and remove from heat.
- Pour oil mixture into a heat safe jar. Let it cool off a bit and then cover and let it site for 12-24 hours until flavors infuse and powder sinks to bottom.
- Once ready, strain oil into another jar through a fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth. Keep in a dark, dry place for 2-3 months (but I guarantee you'll use it all before then!)
For Toasted Cumin Seeds:
- Heat another skillet over medium-high heat and then dry roast the cumin seeds for 30 seconds to 1 minutes. Be careful not to burn them. Remove from heat and set aside.
For Crispy Chickpeas:
- Preheat over to 400F.
- Pat dry chickpeas really well. Some skins may come off which is fine. Discard them.
- Spread out chickpeas on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.
- Roast for 30 minutes, gently shaking the tray every 10 minutes to evenly brown.
- Remove from oven. It's best to eat these immediately as that is when they are the most crispy, but you can store them in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days and use them in salads and soups!
To serve:
- Put hummus into serving bowl. Drizzle with curry infused olive oil.
- Sprinkle toasted cumin seeds.
- Garnish with some chopped cilantro, red onion, tomatoes and crispy chickpeas.
- Serve with crusty bread, pita chips, pita bread, veggies or use in a sandwich!
