Hummus and lentil mac'n'cheese

This legume-based mac'n'cheese made a wonderful weekday dinner on a busy day this week. I had been thinking about this kind of recipe for a little while, and as I seemed to have all ingredients at home, I tried this out.

I got an idea for using hummus as the binding agent for mac'n'cheese from my lovely blogging colleague Johanna from Green Gourmet Giraffe when I was looking for alternatives. I recently used mashed squash, which was also a good variant. Johanna commented to that post saying that she had used hummus in lasagne and would be tempted to try it in mac'n'cheese as well. I can tell you that it worked very well and made a really nice and smooth batter for the bake. My partner who refuses to eat milk-based mac'n'cheeses was very happy.

This dish is easy to veganise by using vegan cheese, and this lentil pasta is also gluten free and very rich on protein. I think it would make a very nice side dish as well, but this time it was my dinner on its own.

Hummus and lentil mac'n'cheese

Ingredients

250 g lentil pasta

100 g hummus

150 g grated cheese

1 tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

1 red onion

1 tbsp rapeseed oil

½ cup breadcrumbs

Method

First prepare the toppings that they are ready to go once everything else has been cooked. Cut the red onion into rings and fry them in the rapeseed oil. Measure the breadcrumbs.

Cook the lentil pasta in water until done and save about one cup of the pasta cooking water. Drain the pasta and mix gradually the hummus in and some of the pasta cooking water. Keep adding the water until you have the right smooth texture. Then also add the grated cheese and seasoning.

Put the pasta mix into an oven dish or smaller ramekins and put the breadcrumbs and fried onion rings on the top. Bake at 180 C for about 10 minutes and enjoy!

I'm sharing this simple recipe with My Legume Love Affair #114, which I'm hosting this month. It's a legume-centric cooking challenge started by Susan from The Well-Seasoned Cook and hosted by Lisa from Lisa's Kitchen. I hope to see many more recipes with pulses there, so keep sharing your recipes!

Your VegHog