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Cumin Whipped Butternut Squash and Red Pepper Dip is a super simple vegan appetiser, rich in flavour and personality.
This Cumin Whipped Butternut Squash and Red Pepper Dip came about in my current bid to cram more veggies into my everyday eating. I love vegetables and have never had a problem fitting them into breakfast, lunch and dinner until my time allotted to preparing my meals was suddenly halved on the arrival of Beau. Pasta Pesto Tuna was on rotation for dinner every other day at one point with nary a vegetable in sight. Vegetables require washing, peeling and chopping, none of which activities appeal at 8.30pm when the children have finally been settled and I have half an hour to make, eat and wash up dinner before crashing out at 9.
I wrote on Instagram this week how I had a mini meltdown last week which led to no new posts on the blog. I may not have been able to achieve any concrete work due to extreme sleep deprivation and a string of recipe failures. But, what I did achieve was a week of mindful eating. I successfully cut out starchy carbs in the evening which I have found pull my energy and focused on getting as many veggies as I could into my day. It also turns out that not needing to prep carbs for an evening meal actually means dinner gets on the table, or my lap, a lot quicker too. Double win.
Now normally I’m not a big snacker but getting up several times during the night to tend to both children is making me so hungry during the day. So instead of ripping open another packet of oatcakes to scarf as I wait for the kettle to boil I am making sure to chop up a batch of carrot, cucumber and celery sticks at breakfast time to munch on during the day. If Cole assists with this little task then he can’t help but snag himself a fair number of the crudités there and then which has bonus points of getting vegetables in my picky pre-schooler too.
Now crudités are a pretty crappy snack on their own if I’m honest so I’ve been getting into my dips to make them a more exciting prospect. And since dips don’t live and die by houmous I’ve been branching out a little. I admit was quite proud of myself that my new favourite dip was based around yet more vegetables. I really feel like I’m top of the class at this whole veggie power movement. Not only that but Cumin Whipped Butternut Squash and Red Pepper Dip tastes amazing.
The butternut squash and red pepper are roasted together with peppery olive oil then whipped in the food processor with a splash of creamy almond milk. The added flavouring is kept simple because of the richness of the roasted vegetables with toasty warming cumin. I’m really loving cumin at the moment and like to add the whole roasted seeds in, some crushed, but mostly whole as I love the crunch.
SHOP THE RECIPE >>> Food Processor
This Cumin Whipped Butternut Squash and Red Pepper Dip is sophisticated enough that you can serve it for a crowd. It also stands up quite well to sitting on a table for a length of time, houmous can go a little crusty and guac turns brown. This guy though is quite happy chilling on a table for an hour or two without being worse for wear. The dip is vegan so will get you on the good side of your vegan pals but is so good that your carnivore buddies will be scooping it up like there’s no tomorrow.
And you know what, if you serve it on a plate with a pile of chicken fingers your pre-schooler might just take it upon himself to dip dip dip there too. This Cumin Whipped Butternut Squash and Red Pepper Dip is an absolute keeper, we’re really living the veggie dream in our house.
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I urge you to give this Cumin Whipped Butternut Squash and Red Pepper Dip a try. If you do then please leave a comment below and give the recipe a rating which helps others find the recipe on Google. If you then go on to use this recipe as a launch pad for your own culinary creation then I’d also love it if you’d share it and tag me on Instagram. It is so lovely for me to see your versions and variations of my recipes.
Cumin Whipped Butternut Squash and Red Pepper Dip
Ingredients
- 1 butternut squash
- 2 large red peppers
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons almond milk
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil to serve
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 180°C.
- Prepare your vegetables by peeling, de-seeding and cutting the butternut squash into half inch cubes. De-seed and stalk the red peppers and cut into one inch pieces.
- Pour the olive oil in a large roasting tray and toss in the butternut squash and red pepper with the salt.
- Roast the vegetables for about 1 hour 15 minutes. Checking every so often to give a stir.
- Remove the vegetables from the oven and leave to cool.
- Pour the butternut squash and the red pepper into a food processor, along with the excess olive oil and whip up with the almond milk until smooth.
- Toast the cumin seeds in a dry saucepan for thirty seconds then crush lightly in a pestle and mortar and add to the food processor. Pulse into the rest of the dip slightly just to disperse the spice.
- Transfer the dip to a serving bowl and chill until needed.
- Serve with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a few extra cumin seeds if you like.
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