Spiced Beef and Butter Bean Hummus
Spiced Beef and Butter Bean Hummus
Hummus is one of my favourite things to snack on whether it’s with bread, crackers or just cut vegetables. It’s SO tasty. There is a bit of a trend with butter beans right now, so I thought I would tap into it and I went out on a limb and made a butter bean “hummus”. It’s not exactly the same as chickpea hummus but it sure is delicious! The butter beans are smooth, silky and well…buttery! It makes for the perfect base of this appetizer. The beef is quite flavourful, so I wanted to keep it simple with the hummus and the rest of the ingredients.
Butter beans - Canned butter beans make up the bulk of the butter bean hummus. They are a type of white bean that is very soft and smooth. You can buy these as most grocery stores in the canned bean section!
Olive oil - The olive oil helps to give the hummus a really smooth texture. I recommend using extra virgin olive oil.
Tahini - Tahini is a common ingredient that is added to hummus. It adds texture and flavour.
Lemon juice - Adding lemon juice to the hummus is really important for balancing purposes. Without it, the hummus would be kind of bland and yucky. Taste and adjust the amount when you’re making the hummus. If it needs a little more, add a little more!
Garlic - One garlic clove goes a long way! It adds a nice bit of zing and flavour to the hummus.
Salt - Salt is used on everything in this recipe! Salt plays a very important role in emphasizing flavour. It’s especially important in the butter bean hummus as beans on their own are white bland and flavourless. I like to use sea salt.
Spices - I added a little paprika into the hummus for extra flavour. The sweet potatoes are kept simple with just salt and pepper. The spice mix for the beef is suppose to mimic that of baharat spice. It’s made up of paprika, cumin, coriander, black pepper, salt, cinnamon, cardamom and cayenne. It’s delicious! I really love the cinnamon in there.
Onion - I like to sauté a bit of white onion with the beef for added texture and flavour. You could also use shallots, yellow onion or purple onion here. All would work well.
Yam - The yams add an important element of sweetness to this otherwise very savoury dish. It helps to balance out the flavours while also adding colour. You can use either yams or sweet potatoes.
Ground beef - The ground beef is one of the stars of the show in this recipe. I always like to recommend grass fed beef as it is much more flavourful and nutritious than regular ground beef, but the latter works just fine.
Parsley - Sprinkling a little fresh parsley on top before serving really just finishes off the “look” of the appetizer. It adds beautiful colour as well as flavour.
Feta - Adding a little feta on top is totally optional but is also a pretty garnish and adds a bit of saltiness as well as flavour.
Naan bread - This appetizer is served with warm naan bread for dipping. It’s the best accompaniment! Pita bread or crackers would work as well for serving.
This is just such a fun and unique appetizer to share with your more adventurous crowd of friends or family. It’s different than say, classic chicken wings or french fries, but the real foodies will definitely appreciate it! My husband and I will make this and just share it for dinner sometimes. Also, if you’re not a fan of the butter bean hummus, you can easily substitute the butter beans for chickpeas and make a more traditional-style hummus. It’s so good either way!
Spiced Beef and Butter Bean Hummus
Spiced Beef and Butter Bean Hummus
Ingredients
- 1 398ml can butter beans, drained and rinsed
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp tahini
- 6 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 cup diced white onion
- 3/4lb ground beef
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp cardamom
- 1/8 tsp cayenne
- 1 cup sweet potatoes, cut into 1/2" cubes
- avocado oil, for roasting
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped, optional
- 1 tbsp crumbled feta cheese, optional
- naan bread, for serving
Instructions
- Roast the sweet potatoes: Preheat the oven to 400F and grease a nonstick baking sheet with avocado oil.
- Add the chopped sweet potatoes onto the prepared pan and drizzle with avocado oil. Season with salt and pepper and toss to coat with your hands.
- Roast the sweet potatoes in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until soft.
- While the sweet potatoes are roasting, make the hummus: add the butter beans, olive oil, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, salt, paprika and black pepper to a food processor and blend on high speed until smooth. Set aside.
- Make the spiced beef: in a cast iron or stainless steel pan, add a drizzle of avocado oil and the diced white onion and cook over medium heat for about 1 minute or until slightly softened.
- Add the ground beef and cook along with the onions, breaking up the meat as it cooks.
- Sprinkle on the paprika, salt, cumin, coriander, black pepper, cinnamon, cardamom and cayenne and toss the beef to coat in the spices.
- Plate the appetizer: spread the butter bean hummus in a thin layer on a large plate or small serving platter. Top with the spiced beef and roasted sweet potatoes.
- Garnish with fresh parsley and feta. Serve with warm naan and enjoy!