Pimp Your Veg part 8: dips, dips, and more dips! (perfect for using up leftover vegetables)

 Yes, it had to be done didn’t it? I’ve been called the ‘dip queen’ so often that I couldn’t ignore one of my fundamental kitchen practices during this series…I have made dips with sweet potato, butternut squash, aubergines, shallots, garlic, cauliflower, potato, tomato, spinach, coriander, parsley, parsnips, sprouts, pumpkin, courgettes/zucchini, peas, endemame beans, avocado, beetroot, swede/rutabaga, carrots…basically, no vegetable is ever safe from from being whizzed up in a blender with various other ingredients in my kitchen and being turned into a super tasty dip!

It’s also another great way to use up leftover vegetables, cooked or uncooked; and another great way to get more people eating vegetables…its a win win!

There are more examples of dips below, and even more in my recipe index if you’d like more inspiration.

My simple go to method is to whizz up my chosen vegetables with tahini, lemon juice and sometimes some water, if necessary, to loosen the mixture.

Alternatively, you could use peanut butter or another nut butter, plain yoghurt or soft cheese, cashew cream or hemp seed cream (example below), experiment with lime juice or vinegars, it all depends on your tastes. The key thing is to give it a go.

You can roast, steam, boil or cook your veggies however you want to make dips by design, or use up leftovers. Alternatively, try using raw vegetables and see what you think.

Adding spices or herbs is a definite for making a real difference to the flavour. Vegetables roasted with spices make great dips.

Get your blender out and have a go!

Sweet potato (link above)

Spiced roasted potato

Roasted tomato and garlic

Beetroot

Swede (rutabaga) and carrot – basically roasted root vegetables blended with tahini and lemon juice

Homous and harissa – a blend of things I had left over

Chermoula and tahini sauce – yum! Again, I was using things up

Fava bean and salad

Wild garlic pesto

Roasted carrot, red onion and garlic – this is a really favourite: beautiful roasted carrots, red onion and garlic whizzed up with some homous – so good!

Chimichurri pea and quark

Hemp seeds and parsley

Green sauce

You may find this recipe of use as a base for your dips: my homous holy grail, and tahini sauce is a blend of 1 part tahini plus 2 parts water plus the juice of 1-2 lemons depending on taste. You can make it thicker or thinner by controlling the amount of water you add.

I hope you like my suggestions 🙂

I’m going to share this over at Fiesta Friday today in case anyone needs some ideas for using up leftover vegetables from their Thanksgiving Day meal xx