Experiments in Paleo: Zucchini Hummus

In my ongoing experiment with the fad of eating like our ancestors (only healthier) I found a great online resource with Chris Kresser. Now, I'm not granola-y and am more than a bit wary about health claims that link every disease or mental illness solely to nutrition, but eating healthier can't hurt and if you sign up on his site you can download his recipe e-book for free. This is where I discovered paleo hummus. I LOVE hummus so I had to try this recipe sans my beloved chickpeas. It's tweaked a bit to suit my tastes (e.g. extra garlic & lemon).

Before you can make "hummus" you need tahini. Here's how I make my fresh tahini.

Tahini

I can never find tahini at the shop so I make my own since all you really need are some sesame seeds and olive oil. Some recipes suggest toasting the raw seeds to give it a nuttier flavor, which is worth it and only takes about 5 minutes on the stovetop. Make sure they end up light colored and not brown.  

Put 1 c of the seeds in the "mixie" and grind until a crumbly paste. Add 2 tbsp of olive oil and continue mixing until a thick and smooth paste. If you want a thinner tahini you can add more oil (1 tbsp at a time) until you reach your desired consistency. I find that 3 1/2 - 4 tbsp is usually the perfect amount to take it from crumbly to silky. If you are using the tahini as a sauce on its own I suggest adding salt to taste. 

Zucchini "Hummus"

2 large zucchini

3/4 c tahini

1/4 c olive oil

4 lemons

10-12 garlic cloves

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp rock salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp paprika

Fresh parsley/coriander (cilantro) (for garnish)

I don't like bland hummus; I like to taste garlic in every bite. I also think that lots of lemon makes for a better dip, we get these teeny tiny lemons here so I use 4 of those. Also, if you made your tahini from scratch, you may want to cut back from the 1/4 c. I only added 1 extra tbsp for taste. Another thing I do is mix the paprika into the dip so it's more evenly spread throughout rather than sprinkle it on top like you see it normally. If you're serving to guests you could always mix half and sprinkle the rest as garnish. I used parsley on top because we had a fresh bunch, but I've seen recipes that call for cilantro in case you want something with a bit more taste.

Combine everything in the mixie. I added the zucchini on top of the tahini I already blended and then added the spices and taste tested as I went. Unfortunately I managed to add too much salt to begin with so I  tried an Indian wives tale to get out the excess. I boiled a small potato, cut into 1/2 inch pieces and put them in the dip to soak up the salt. Supposedly you can tell a difference after 10 minutes, but I left them overnight and it did help somewhat. It's still a bit salty, but I'll combat that by adding lemon juice to each serving. 

I also read that you can use a wheat dough ball to attract excess salt, but we didn't have any on hand. What do you do to counteract too much salt or spice in a recipe?