Smoky Nora Pepper Houmous Recipe
by Nicola Lando
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Easy
Smoky and creamy, this Nora pepper houmous is an easy homemade dip that deserves a place in your weekly repertoire. Made with Spanish ñora peppers, chickpeas, tahini and lemon, it has a deep, rich flavour, with gentle sweetness and a subtle smoky finish.
Ñora peppers are a staple ingredient in Spanish cooking, particularly along the Mediterranean coast, where they're prized for their fruity, almost sun-dried tomato flavour. Unlike hotter chillies, they're mild and aromatic, adding colour, depth and complexity without overwhelming heat.
They're the secret ingredient in dishes like romesco sauce, but they work just as beautifully blended into houmous, where their natural sweetness balances the nutty tahini and bright lemon juice.
Ingredients for Nora Pepper Houmous
- 8-10 whole nora peppers (around 35g)
- 2 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained
- 2 heaped tablespoons tahini (70g)
- Juice of 1 1/2 to 2 lemons (70g)
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp fine sea salt (2tsp kosher salt)
- 60g cold water
How to make Nora Pepper Houmous
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Deseed and gently toast the whole nora peppers in a hot pan, for 30-60 seconds or until you can smell the rich smokiness of the peppers. Remove and place in a bowl. Pour over boiling water, weight down and leave to soak for 20 minutes. Drain, and squeeze them to remove as much excess water as possible.
- Blend everything - the chickpeas, tahini, Nora peppers, most of the lemon juice, and the salt in a blender until smooth. Add the water a spoonful at a time until the houmous is pale, creamy and spoonable. Taste and add more salt and lemon juice until it’s seasoned to your taste.
- Enjoy simply as a dip for excellent crisps. Or serve as a base for roasted cauliflower with toasted hazelnuts and pink pickled onion.
About the author
Nicola Lando is the co-founder and CEO of Sous Chef, where she has spent more than a decade sourcing, tasting and selecting specialist ingredients, cookware and tableware from producers around the world.
She trained at Leiths and later completed a stage at a Michelin-starred London restaurant, experiences that helped shape Sous Chef’s original mission: to give home cooks access to the same exceptional ingredients used by professional chefs.
Today, Nicola leads much of Sous Chef’s product sourcing and ingredient selection, working directly with producers and travelling internationally to food fairs, farms, mills and manufacturers. She tastes thousands of products each year and has built deep expertise across storecupboard ingredients, olive oil, condiments, spices, preserved foods and specialist cooking ingredients.
She holds an olive oil sommelier certification from ESAO in Spain, Imperial Executive Education’s Certificate in Nutrition for Health: Evidence-Based Tools and Strategies certificate; as well as studying Food Safety and Control at University of Greenwich.
Nicola also writes recipes and ingredient guides for Sous Chef, combining practical cooking experience with first-hand knowledge from producers, suppliers and specialist food makers. Her work focuses on helping cooks understand how to choose better ingredients, use them well, and get more flavour from their cooking.
