Pink and gold beet dip with pine nuts
A bright pink dip made of pureed beets has always been one of my favorite dishes, both aesthetically and in terms of taste. But mixing a sunshine-yellow beet dip into the equation takes this classic to uncharted, borderline tie-dyed levels of presentation that people will love. It’s an extra step to make two different batches of dip, but when you bring them together and combine them with all those finishing touches, it’s a real showstopper.
SERVES
Ingredients
- 3 medium-sized red beets
- 3 medium-sized yellow beets
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 4 cloves garlic, divided
- 1 cup greek yogurt, divided
- 1 cup tahini, divided
- 2 teaspoons salt, divided
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin, divided
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander, divided
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice, divided
Garnish:
- 1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted and chopped
- 1/4 bunch chives, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoons za’atar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F. Wrap the red beets in a tight foil packet, and wrap the yellow beets in a separate foil packet. Try to find beets of similar size so that they cook in the same amount of time, and keep the yellow beets separate from the red ones to preserve their contrasting color.
- Roast on a baking sheet for 1-1/2 to two hours, or until very tender. Remove the beets from the oven, unwrap them from the foil packets, and peel while still warm. Chop the peeled beets, reserving 1/2 cup of the yellow beets for garnish.
- Puree the yellow beet dip first. Place the peeled and chopped yellow beets in the food processor and add the turmeric. Then add two cloves of garlic, 1/2 cup of the yogurt, 1/2 cup of the tahini, one teaspoon each of salt, cumin, and coriander, and one tablespoon of lemon juice. Puree until very smooth. Remove from the food processor and transfer to a bowl.
- Repeat with the red beets. Add them to the food processor along with the remaining garlic, yogurt, tahini, salt, cumin, coriander, and lemon juice. Blend until very smooth. To plate, place a dollop of the yellow beet dip on the bottom of your serving bowl. Top with some of the red beet dip, then artfully draw swirls through the whole thing with an offset spatula or the tip of a knife. Creatively add more dollops of the contrasting colors to create a unique look. To finish, top with the pine nuts, chives, za’atar, olive oil, and the leftover yellow beets. Most importantly, post a picture of all this hard work on Instagram before you dig in!
Excerpted from Eat, Habibi, Eat! Fresh Recipes for Modern Egyptian Cookingby Shahir MassoudCopyright © 2021Shahir Massoud. Photography by Kyla Zanardi. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.
