Spicy Tahini Hummus

Hummus Ingredients:
1 16oz. jar of organic sesame tahini
1 tbsp. fresh ginger (microplane grater)
5 organic garlic cloves (garlic press)
1 tbsp. organic honey
2 1/2 tbsp. organic tamari
½ cup of filtered water
½ tsp. smoked paprika
1 tsp. chili lime powder (Trader Joe’s)
½ tsp. red pepper powder
½ tsp. Chinese hot mustard powder
½ tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. lime juice

Directions:
Place the tahini, ginger, garlic, honey, tamari, water, smoked paprika, chili lime powder, red pepper, mustard powder, sesame oil, and lime juice into a Vitamix. Blend until creamy smooth. Remove from the blender with a spatula into an airtight container. Store it in the refrigerator overnight to let the spices set in.
Makes 2 cups.

Garnish Ingredients:
1 large organic yellow bell pepper
1 bag of organic carrots of many colors
1 large organic zucchini

Garnish Directions:
Take a bell pepper and use Japanese vegetable carving knives on it. If you don’t have them, use a very sharp paring knife. Take the pepper in one hand and insert the knife about half of the way down from the top. Cut a zig zag pattern all the way around the pepper. This will form petals so cut the sides with curves if possible. Make sure to cut the petals all the way through. That way when you finish going all the way around the pepper, you will break it apart into two pieces. Remove the seeds and hollow it out. Make sure the petals are uniformly set and shaped. Take the bottom piece of the pepper and begin putting layers into each petal. First you will make a layer by slicing a petal lengthwise just under the skin. Peel back the skin just a little. Then slice another layer by slicing lengthwise down the center of the remaining inside layer. Peel that back just a bit and you will have the petal in 3 layers. Repeat the procedure until all of the petals are formed in 3 layers. Now take the top piece of the pepper and cut it in half down the middle. Now cut the petals on both of the halves into 3 layers. Follow the above procedure. Place the pepper into a bowl of ice water with the petals facing down. This will curl the petals nicely.
Let all of the ice bowls sit for 40 minutes. That way everything will curl properly.

Take a Spiralife spiral slicer and use the side with the straight fan blade to spiral slice one large zucchini. Take the carrots of many colors and repeat the procedure on all of them.

Plate Decoration Directions:
Take a decorative plate and place a stand on it. Take the zucchini fan and make a bed on top of the stand. Then fan the zucchini in a spiral down the stand post to hide the stand from view. Place both of the pepper flowers upside down on a paper towel to drain and dry. Then place one of the flowers on top of the stand to hold the hummus. Make a bed with some of the zucchini on the plate itself and place the other pepper flower on the bed to hold more hummus. Make more zucchini beds around the rest of the plate. Place some carrot flowers on top of the zucchini beds. Use various colors of carrot pieces in the carrot flowers to make them look alive. Pour the hummus into your bell pepper bowls and enjoy!

Serving suggestions: Serve with vegetables, crackers, as a topping, or however you choose.

The hummus will last 4 to 5 days stored in a covered container in the refrigerator.