Spiced Carrot Dip w/Pomegranate and Mint

A creamy, healthy, festive spiced carrot dip with pomegranate seeds, fresh mint, pistachios and sesame seeds is a wonderfully bright dip. Serve with grilled bread, mini naan or crudité.

Serves 6 – 8

Ingredients:
 

• 1 ½ lbs peeled carrots
• ¼ cup tahini
• ¼ cup TAO EVOO – you can be creative here and use a flavored olive oil
• ¼ cup water
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp honey from Honey Feast
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• ½ tsp smoked paprika
• ¼ tsp ground coriander
• ¼ tsp ground cumin
• chopped toasted pistachios
• toasted sesame seeds, black and white seeds if possible
• pomegranate seeds
• torn mint
• crudité, charred bread or mini naan

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the carrots and blanch them for about 6 minutes, or until fork tender. Transfer the carrots to a bowl of ice water to cool.
2. Trim and discard the ends of the carrots, cut the carrots into chunks, and add them to a food processor. Pulse until finely chopped.
3. Add the tahini, olive oil, water, lemon juice, honey, salt, smoked paprika, coriander, and cumin. Process until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides of the processor as needed. Taste the dip and season with more salt, honey, or lemon juice if desired.
4. Garnish the dip with the pistachios, sesame seeds, pomegranate seeds, torn mint, and a good drizzle of olive oil.
5. Serve with crudité, charred bread or mini naan.

This recipe and photo were adapted directly from Kayla Howey’s beautiful blog and website, The Original Dish, https://www.theoriginaldish.com/2019/04/05/spiced-carrot-dip-with-pomegranate-mint/#tasty-recipes-6876

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Total Time: 45 min Yield: 32

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar, plus more for rolling
• 1/3 cup TAO flavored olive oil suggestions: blood orange, Persian lime, lemon, basil or rosemary.
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

In a bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a second large bowl, combine sugar and olive oil and mix with a spatula until it forms a grainy paste. Add eggs and vanilla and stir until smooth. Fold in dry ingredients until just incorporated. You should have a fairly soft, oily dough.

Fill a small dish with more granulated sugar. Scoop dough by the tablespoonful into balls and roll in sugar to coat. Arrange on a nonstick or parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving 2 inches of space between cookies.

Bake for 11 to 13 minutes or until tops are puffed and crackly and edges just start to turn light golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies are best enjoyed the day they are made, but will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

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We use Damascus Kofta spice blend from Spice Tree Organics sold in our stores and on our website, but you can substitute any Indian 5 spice blend you may have or simply use a combination of ground cumin, coriander and ground fennel seed. The lemony yogurt sauce helps to cool the bite of the harissa oil. The hummus is best served at room temperature with crisp veggie dippers like zucchini spears, broccoli flowerets and, of course pita bread.