Hummus Bar Style Hummus - Shawarma Roast Zucchini

      Welcome to this month's edition of the Foodie Extravaganza Party! I get to host this month and I picked the theme Zucchini for National Zucchini Day on the 8th of August. It's quite a versatile vegetable. When I got the zucchini for this recipe I had a few leftovers and got to smell zucchini bread baking while I was typing this up. It was delicious, and vanillaed, and given a little middle eastern flair with the addition of one of my favorite spices, mahaleb. But that is a post for another day. Back to the topic, or recipe, at hand. Let me explain...

     Before I moved to Israel I thought hummus was gross. And that's because most of the stuff you can get premade in the US really is. That does a disservice to really good, fresh, hummus with good quality techina and fresh lemon juice. It's silken and smooth and has a rich nutty flavor that is decadent and tangy. Add a few extra things to round it out and you have a satisfying spread. 

     In the middle east, they take it one step further though, and instead of just having a delicious bowl of hummus it gets turned into a full meal with things like toppings. There are whole cafes and restaurants dedicated to hummus. An entire, and varied, menu with hummus as the base of it all.  The toppings can be any number of things. Chopped shawarma is common, roast veggies are common, seasoned ground lamb is common, cucumber salad is even a thing. So if that sounds like your thing, keep reading. If pictures of Tel Aviv are your thing scroll past the recipe and you can enjoy those too. 

     For this recipe, I took a little from each of those and roasted zucchini with shawarma seasonings for a healthy, easy, and sensational dish that is simple and impressive. It can be served on top of your favorite hummus, store-bought, or homemade. If you prefer store-bought I recommend seeking out a middle eastern market for some really good stuff but any kind you enjoy is perfect for this. The roast zucchini is also really good on top of grits with a fried egg. What can I say? I lived in the south before I lived in Israel. 

There are few things as gorgeous as the beach during the rain

Check out these other delicious zucchini recipes from other Foodie Extravaganza participants. Comment below with which recipes you can't wait to check out. 

• Hummus Bar Style Zucchini Topped Hummus by Pandemonium Noshery
• Keto Beef Mince with Broccoli and Zucchini by Sneha's Recipe
• Mushroom Leek Zucchini Gratin by Food Lust People Love
• Zucchini Agrodolce by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Zucchini Fried Rice by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Zucchini Kofta Curry by Magical Ingredients

Roast Zucchini Recipe

2 Zucchini

5 oz. cherry tomatoes

1-2 Tbsp. olive oil

1/8 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. coriander

1/4 tsp. cumin

pinch turmeric

pinch allspice

pinch nutmeg

pinch cinnamon

1/4 tsp. Aleppo pepper

1/2 tsp. paprika

1/8 tsp. black pepper

1/8 tsp. white pepper

1/2 tsp. salt

Hummus (recipe to follow)

Olive oil

Pine nuts, toasted

Parsley, chopped

Flatbread, crackers, or chips

Preheat the oven to 450⁰F. Drizzle the olive oil into a medium-sized baking dish and add all of the spices from the garlic to the salt. Stir to combine. 

Chop the zucchini into quarter-inch cubes and quarter the cherry tomatoes. Place the chopped vegetables into the baking dish with the mixed seasonings and stir to coat. 

Place into the oven and roast for 20 minutes. Stir and then roast an additional 15-20 minutes until cooked through and dry on the outside. Remove from the oven

Place your hummus into a serving dish. Top with a drizzle of olive oil, roast veggies, toasted pine nuts, and chopped parsley. 

Hummus Recipe

1 can garbanzo beans, drained but liquid reserved

1/2 c. tahini

2-4 Tbsp lemon juice

4 cloves garlic, grated

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. black pepper

1/8 tsp. cumin

1/8 tsp. coriander

1 Tbsp. olive oil

Place everything in a food processor and blend until smooth. Taste to check for seasoning and consistency. Add more lemon or tahini as needed. If neither is needed but the consistency is too thick add the reserved bean liquid until desired consistency is reached. This is also the time to add salt or coriander. Once it tastes great allow the hummus to run in the food processor for 10 minutes. 

     Ok, now that that is over, let's get back to talking about Israel. I've discussed it a little before when I posted about Shawarma and talked about where I lived, Be'er Sheva. I called it my "heart home" and that still stands, Israel is where I felt the most at peace and the most at home. That post was about Be'er Sheva. In this post, I want to share a few pictures of Tel Aviv. 

     Did you know that Tel Aviv translates to "Spring Hill"? It was founded in 1909 by Jewish immigrants looking for a safe space to exist so they returned to the land of their ancestors. The town was started just south of the historic port town of Yafo (Jaffa). Now, Tel Aviv has expanded so much that the towns are one township and the actual name is Tel Aviv-Yafo. 

 

     Since I like random tidbits and facts I'm going to share one. Did you know there is no "J" in the Hebrew alphabet and language? Everything with a "J" is really more of a "yah" or "yuh" sound. that goes for Yafo, usually romanized as Jaffa. It also means Jerusalem is a very English version of the word, it sounds a lot more like "Yeh-shuh-lhem". Anglicizing words is really common, even native Hebrew speakers will use the anglicized version of the word when speaking English, even with names. 

      Except mine of course. Everywhere I went I was "Yulia". I was getting smoothies one day at ReBar (which I HIGHLY recommend, their frozen goat yogurt is amazing) and she asked for my name for my order. I said "my name is Juli" and she said "no it isn't, I will put Yulia". and from then on I didn't even bother and just went with it.