Carrot, sweet potato and hazelnut creamy vegan dip recipe
It´s been a while since we posted one of our popular dip recipes on the blog, so this month we are sharing our carrot, sweet potato and hazelnut creamy vegan dip for you to make at home.
Carrots are high in fibre (souble and insoluble), which means they naturally contribute to maintaining our digestive system in good health. Vegetables like carrots and sweet potato, which are both high in fibre, can also help you to feel fuller for longer, so they are a doubly-good vegetable to eat regularly if you are looking to lose weight or maintain a healthly weight. Some researchers and scientists suggest that regularly eating raw carrots can help with hormone problems, which can arise from an inbalance in the gut. The fibre in carrots helps to clean and maintain the intestine, which can help to remove excess hormones. (Please note, occasionally, some people can experience challenges digesting raw carrots, so monitor any symptoms (like pain or gas) that could arise after eating raw carrots. If you notice symptoms, then lightly cook the carrots instead for a period of time. Then try again). Read more in this months article digestive health – plant-based foods for relief of tummy troubles. Softly cooked carrots can be a great “go-to” food when you experience tummy troubles. Boil and mash them and eat them just like that – you can also add a little bit of apple cider vinegar (also great for digestive health). Or enjoy them in this dip!
We use sweet potato in this recipe to make it creamy and to bring some natural sweetness in flavour. If you don´t have any sweet potato, you can use a normal white potato instead, it will keep the creamy consistency but the flavour might change slightly. If you wish to reduce the calories, you can miss out the nuts.
Make in bulk and freeze: Make future meals easy for yourself by doubling up on the ingredients and making a bulk portion. This dip will freeze. Eat half and place the other half in a container and into the freezer. Take it out of the freezer a few hours before you want to eat it.
RECIPE TIP: Buy natural hazelnuts (make sure they are unsalted, either with the skin-on or removed – your choice). To give added taste to the hazelnuts, toast them first. To toast, place the nuts onto a baking tray (single layer) and beneath a medium grill. Shake the hazelnuts regularly to make sure all sides are toasted. Alternatively, you can use a large flat-bottomed frying pan – no oil. Heat the frying pan, add the nuts and shake over a medium heat. Both ways you will see the colour of the nuts changing and the smell is lovely! Store in an airtight container for up to one week.
Carrot, sweet potato and hazelnut creamy vegan dip recipe
Serves: 8
Calories: 797 total, 100 per serving
Allergens: tree nuts
Ingredients
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into small cubes
2 large carrots, peeled, finely sliced
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
1 small courgette, finely chopped
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp turmeric
Handful of toasted hazelnuts
Juice from ½ lemon
Handful of mint
Directions
Cook the carrots and sweet potato in boiling water until soft. Drain, reserve the water in case you need it later. Rinse the carrot and sweet potato beneath cold running water, drain again and place to one side to make sure the veggies cool. (Getting rid of all the water and allowing the vegetables to cool will help to make your dip thicker and creamier).
Fry the onion in water in a frying pan, over a medium heat, until they are soft (7 minutes). Add in the courgette, cinnamon and turmeric and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes. Drain any excess liquid and allow to cool.
Place the hazelnuts in a blender and pulse to allow them to break down a little.
Add the cold vegetables into the blender and blitz for 60-90 seconds, until you reach the desired consistency – you can leave quite chunky or keep blending until the mixture becomes smooth. If the mixture is too thick, add some of the reserved carrot / sweet potato water slowly.
Place in the fridge until you are ready to eat.
To serve: Sprinkle the top with a couple of hazelnuts and some mint for decoration.
Plant-based food in our health and wellbeing retreat
We hope you enjoy making this recipe at home. La Crisalida Retreats is focused on health and wellbeing and we therefore serve plant-based (vegan) food, all freshly prepared on the premises by our talented chefs. If you want to read more about the food that we serve here follow this link: food. You can also read more about digestive health in our two articles: plant-based food for relief from tummy troubles and digestive health part 2: the digestive system.
You can find more recipes on our blog (click on “food recipe” category), which is regularly updated. Remember to share this recipe if you enjoyed it.
About the author
- Lisa is one of the founders of La Crisalida Retreats. She is an Epidemiologist, therapeutic hatha and yin yoga teacher and also teaches mindfulness meditation. Lisa has studied NLP and hypnosis, as well as nutrition (she designs the menus).
