Butternut Squash & Hummus Croquettes with Sriracha Mayo

Round of applause on this one please. This is the first really creative, completely uninspired recipe I’ve come up with in awhile.

I talk alot about getting ideas from Pinterest, my fellow bloggers or even omnivore cooking shows and magazines. This one, however came out of nowhere. Actually, it came about from a mess of leftovers I had sitting around, and I just used them in a rather innovative way. I supposed mashed up veggies molded into balls isn’t exactly groundbreaking-but they are crazy delicious and that’s good enough for moi 🙂

I have a MASSIVE amount of butternut squash from the last day at my farm. Not having completely sufficient storage space, I had two or three that were starting to mush on the ends and didn’t want them to go to waste. I quickly skinned and chopped them all up, leave me with two massive gallon sized freezer bags full of cubed squash. What to do with it?

Well first off, almost all my client meals included butternut squash this week. I had about five cups leftover for myself when all was said and done. I decided to roast them and hopefully come up with something to do with them in the meantime. During the hour it took to roast, I reached for some leftover red pepper and garlic hummus I made for a party last weekend, only to realize I had run out of pita chips. Now I was faced with another leftover debacle-leftover squash AND hummus!

WHAT’S A VEGAN GIRL TO DO?

Put ‘them both together, that’s what!

Post-roasting, I mashed up the squash, added the leftover hummus and kept adding more ingredients until I had a nice fragrant dough. Instead of breading them, I rolled ’em up in sesame seeds, baked them and topped it off with some sriracha mayo and hoped for the best. And it was absolutely mind-blowing! The flavors all worked beautifully together, especially when served on a bed of Romaine. Try it out!

5 cups butternut squash, cubed

1/2 cup of your favorite hummus (red pepper or garlic preferred)

2/3 cup chickpea flour

1/2 cup sesame seeds

3/4 cup chopped green onions

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

SRIRACHA MAYO

1 cup raw cashews, soaked for two hours

Juice of 1 lemon

1/4 cup sriracha

1/3 cup water

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Sea salt and black pepper

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Toss squash with sea salt and black pepper and oil and lay out on a parchment lined baking sheet
• Roast at 400 degrees for 40 minutes, turning halfway through
• Meanwhile, blend together all ingredients for the mayo in a blender until smooth and creamy
• Once squash is done, pour into mixing bowl and mash (don’t mash into a creamy consistency-you want some texture still)
• Add in hummus, scallions, chickpea flour, garlic, paprika, sea salt and black pepper and stir until well combined
• Form into golf ball sized balls and roll through a plate of sesame seeds until well coated
• Place on a greased baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes turning halfway through
• Serve on lettuce and top with mayo