Egyptian Beetroot Dip – Healthy and Easy!

This quick and easy Egyptian beetroot dip is healthy and looks beautiful on the table, which makes it perfect to serve at holidays, parties and family get togethers. Nobody will be able to resist that vibrant colour. Serve it with crackers for a crunchy, creamy combination.

I can never resist a good dip on the table. And I think dips are the perfect party food because they are so shareable. People can actually stand around a dip, keep dipping their crackers in while the conversations going.

And they are always a cinch to make. The food processor does most of the job really. At most parties, I usually have three or four dips along with bowls of crackers to keep people munching while they get to know each other. My garlicky yogurt dip, this egyptian beetroot dip, a quick salsa, and my favourite creamy hummus (remind me to share the recipe with you) usually make an appearance!

In fact at the last party there was a round of which dip is the best going on. I have no idea what the winner was! I was just happy to know that people were fighting over them.

The ingredients in this recipe are extremely simple and inspired by Egyptian flavours. The most time consuming part is cooking and peeling the beetroot, and I have a few options below.

Cooking Beetroot for this dip

There are various ways to cook beets for this dip. The first is roasting them in the oven, which is my favourite method because slow roasting really concentrates the flavour of the beetroot and makes them sweeter, and taste earthier. However, if you don’t have an oven, you can boil them unpeeled in water for 30 minutes or till they are fork tender. You can also microwave them for 10 minutes with a little water in the dish – this effectively creates steam in the microwave, and is the fastest way to cook beets. Another way to cook beets is to steam them in a steamer for 30 minutes. This reduces any nutrient loss and keeps most of the colour intact too.

Once you have the beets cooked, peel and chop them into smaller pieces and then just blend everything in a food processor till smooth and creamy. I like using greek yogurt in this recipe because it keeps things healthier, but I have tried this dip with cream cheese if you want to be more indulgent. The salt in the cream cheese really balances the sweetness of the beets. However, if you are using cream cheese, don’t add any extra salt to this recipe.

Tell me, can anybody resist that beautiful pick colour? Or that sweet and salty earthy flavour that’s going to make this Egyptian Beetroot Dip so irresistible that you’ll be saying – maybe one more dip.

Egyptian Beetroot Dip

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• Author: Preeti Gupta
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Total Time: 10 minutes
• Yield: 6 Servings 1x
• Category: Appetiser
• Method: Blending
• Cuisine: Egyptian

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Description

This quick and easy Egyptian beetroot dip is healthy and looks beautiful on the table, which makes it perfect to serve at holidays, parties and family get togethers. Nobody will be able to resist that vibrant colour. Serve it with crackers for a crunchy, creamy combination.

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Ingredients

• 5 medium sized Beetroots
• 3–4 Garlic Cloves
• 1 cup Greek Yoghurt
• 1/4 cup Lemon Juice
• 2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/2 teaspoon ground Cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground Coriander Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon Paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground Pepper
• Toasted Pine Nuts, Pistachios and Feta for garnish

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees celsius.
2. Cut off the beetroot stems 1 cm from the roots. Scrub the beetroots and wrap them individually in aluminium foil. Wrap the unpeeled garlic pods also in foil.
3. Bake the beetroots for 1 hour in the oven. Place the wrapped garlic pods also in the oven 40 minutes after placing the beets to bake.
4. Cool the beets. Peel both the beets and the garlic. Chop the beets roughly. Place the beets, garlic, yoghurt, lemon juice, olive oil, cumin, coriander, cinnamon and paprika in a food processor and process till smooth and creamy. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Chill till required. Serve with warm, crusty bread or crackers.

Notes

• Look for beetroots which have fresh, green leaves and roots which smooth and firm and are not bruised
• Cook the beets either in the oven, or with a little water in the microwave at high for 10 minutes
• You can also boil the beets in water on the stove till tender