Guest Post: White Bean Hummus with Spicy Air Fried Mushrooms

We have a guest in our kitchen today!  Carole of The Yum Yum Factor is sharing the recipe to her favourite appetizer with us!

This is my new favourite appetizer, although I have been known to make it my dinner from time to time as well. You may be unfamiliar with the Maras and Black Kurdish chilis, but you can order the Turkish chili flakes online if you can’t find them in the store. They are absolutely worth the effort because they both give a wonderful, earthy, slightly smoky flavour with a subtle hint of heat and are the bomb when used to season mushrooms. I also find switching out the chickpeas with white beans results in a lighter, less grainy dip with a more neutral flavour, so that these mushrooms can really shine. Scoop it all up with plenty of pita, baguette or sourdough and it’s up to you whether you use pumpkin seeds or the more expensive pine nut, but just make sure you use one of them because the crunch they provide is needed to balance out the smoothness of the bean dip.

White Bean Hummus with Spicy Air Fried Mushrooms

Serves 6 as an appetizer

Ingredients

White Bean Hummus

• Olive oil
• 1/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds or pine nuts
• Italian parsley
• White bean hummus
• 1 15oz can white beans, preferably cannellini
• 1/3 cup tahini
• 2-3 tbls lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic, grated on a rasp
• Good pinch kosher salt to taste
• Approx 1/4 to 1/3 cup ice water

Air Fried Mushrooms

• 227g button mushrooms
• 2 tbls olive oil
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• *1 tsp maras chili flakes (also called Marash)
• *2 tsp Black Kurdish chili flakes (also called Urfa Biber or Isot) – 1 tsp for mushrooms and 1 tsp for finished dish

*substitute Aleppo pepper if you can’t find these two or even Gochugaru

Method

Hummus

1. Drain the beans and put them in a food processor and pulse a few times and then process for a full minute to puree them. At this point, add in the tahini, lemon juice, garlic, and salt and puree until blended. Start drizzling in the ice water, a couple tbls at a time until it is really creamy but not soupy or runny. Let it process for 5 minutes.
2. Scrape this into a shallow serving bowl, smoothing it out with the back of a big spoon and create a shallow well in the centre.

Air Fried Mushrooms

1. Half smaller mushrooms and quarter larger ones. Toss with the olive oil, salt and 1 tsp of maras and 1 tsp Black Kurdish chili flakes. Preheat your air fryer for a few minutes at 375F. Spray the fryer rack with cooking spray and add in the mushrooms. Cook for 10 minutes, shaking well halfway through. (You can also roast the mushrooms in the oven for about 15 minutes at 400F, but an air fryer is the perfect way to cook a small batch like this without heating up the whole kitchen.)
2. Remove the mushrooms from the air fryer and spoon them into the well you made in the centre of the white bean hummus. Drizzle with olive oil.

Finishing the Dish

1. Drizzle with more olive oil – at least another tbls or two- and a scattering of either toasted pine nuts or roasted pumpkin seeds. Add another tsp of the Black Kurdish pepper and serve with your favourite bread.

You can make the dip and the mushrooms ahead of time, but make sure they are both back to room temperature before you assemble the final dish.

Be sure to follow along with Carole at The Yum Yum Factor and on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest!