This is a nice springtime dip. Mint and lemon provide a bright and zesty flavor. Impress your guests, or just enjoy it as a healthy snack. Serve it as a dip, or spread it on sandwiches.
I wanted to try a new mint recipe, and I found this minty pea dip. I decided to double down on the mint, and skip the tahini. I’m happy with how it turned out.
Apparently plenty of people make green pea dip, and J. Kenji Lopez-Alt compared it to hummus. I thought this line was pretty funny: “Lighter, fresher, and just a little bit yuppier than the chickpea and tahini-based original, Green Pea Hummus is like the Pinkberry of the hummus world.” Other recipes use a food processor to process it, but a Vitamix works great.
Ingredients
3 cups frozen green peas (1 lb, 450g)
½ cup packed fresh mint leaves (20g, removed from stems)
juice and zest from 1 lemon
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt to taste
Makes slightly over 2 cups.
It’s up to you whether you cook the peas. Some bags warn that the peas should be cooked before eating. The issue is that there is a small chance that they may have picked up some food-poisoning-causing bacteria. This is particularly relevant if someone who will eat the peas is in a high-risk group.
If you do cook them, just make sure not to overcook. You can put them into a boiling pot of water for a minute or two, then into ice water to stop the cooking. If you don’t cook, you should still defrost, because otherwise you’ll end up with a frozen dip.
Add all ingredients to the container. Use the tamper to get it circulating as you blend. I blended on high for about 20 seconds. If you want more texture, you could blend at a low speed.
I used my handy 32-oz Vitamix container. If you only have a wide container (G-Series or Ascent), you might need to make a bigger batch for it to blend easily. (If you try, please let me know how it goes, since I forgot to test this recipe in a wide container—I usually just autopilot to the 32-oz container for this sort of blend.)
It will keep for at least a few days in the fridge, but the flavor is brightest the first day.
If you have any leftover mint, I highly recommend this pineapple mango mint smoothie.
