Tahini 5/5 (2)

Tahini is a vegan, gluten-free, and healthy recipe. It has a super nutty flavour and super easy to make. Tahini is a staple for the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine.   

Tahini or tahina is a dressing or sauce made from toasted sesame seeds. They are ground with any neutral oil like Extra virgin Olive oil (EVOO) and salt.   

This 2-ingredient recipe can be made in a jiffy, it involves,  

–two ingredients – Sesame seeds, EVOO  

–two steps – Toasting and grinding.  

But the usage of this paste is versatile. It can be served as a   

• Dip by itself   
• Dressing for salads  
• Drizzling as a sauce for roasted veggies and meat.  
• A key ingredient in Hummus, baba ghanoush
• Also, in halva.  

It’s readily available in stores, still, nothing can replace homemade in the aspect of taste, texture, and expense. It’s quite easy and has a long store life in the refrigerator. It can be made from hulled or with the hull, raw or toasted, sprouted sesame seeds of your choice. Each one has their own texture, flavour, aroma and colour. Hulled sesame seeds are the normal white sesame seeds without its husk or hull. Unhulled sesame seeds are with their outer covering husk intact. Black sesame seeds are also used in the place of white sesame, it has a more intense nutty, burnt and bit bitter flavour. 

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Take a flat bottomed pan or skillet, add 1 cup of hulled white sesame seeds. In medium flame dry roast these seeds roughly for 3 – 4 minutes till it turns light brown and pops.

Switch off the flame and transfer to a tray or a wide plate, let it cool.

Once cooled down, transfer to a blender jar and run it for a few seconds, it’ll turn into a crumbly texture.

Now scrape the bottom and sides, add half of the EVOO. Run it for a minute, you’ll get a gritty texture, again scrape the side, add the remaining EVOO. Run it for another minute, you’ll get a fine runny tahini paste.

Now add required salt and pulse it once or twice to mix well.

Transfer this paste to an airtight container. Store it in the refrigerator for a month as well.

Recipe card 

Preparation time: 3 minutes  

Cooking time: 3-4 minutes  

Cuisine: Middle Eastern, international  

Category: Accompaniment, Dip 

Serves: ½ cup (roughly) 

Author: Manimala

Ingredients: 

Hulled sesame seeds – 1 cup 

Extra virgin Olive oil (EVVO) – 3 tbsps

Salt – To taste. (optional)

Instructions:  

1. Take a flat bottomed pan or skillet, add 1 cup of hulled white sesame seeds.  
2. In medium flame dry roast these seeds roughly for 3 – 4 minutes till it turns light brown and pops.  
3. Switch off the flame and transfer to a tray or a wide plate, let it cool.  
4. Once cooled down, transfer to a blender jar and run it for a few seconds.  
5. It’ll turn into a crumble texture, now scrape the bottom and sides, add half of the EVOO.  
6. Run it for a minute, you’ll get a gritty texture, again scrape the side, add the remaining EVOO.  
7. Run it for another minute, you’ll get a fine runny tahini paste.  
8. Now add required salt and pulse it once or twice to mix well.  
9. Transfer this paste to an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator.

Notes:  

• I used hulled (hull removed) white sesame seeds. As mentioned, you can try with black sesame seeds as well.  
• Here I used Extra virgin Olive oil. You can replace it with any neutral flavoured oil. Can try sesame oil, but not too much as it may overpower the taste.  
• Inclusion of oil gives tahini a more creamy texture. If you add less than the quantity of oil mentioned, you may get a gritty texture.  
• Roasting has to be perfect in medium flame. Don’t burn it as it may completely spoil the taste of tahini. Have patience and roast until it turns brown.  
• Salt is optional, but tahini tastes better with it.  
• It has a good shelf life in the refrigerator. After it’s kept in the fridge, the oil might separate; you can always stir it before you use it.   
• It’s an indispensable ingredient in Hummus, baba ghanoush, and adds an amazing twist in the flavour.   
• As mentioned above, it can be used as dressing in salad, dips for starters, sauce on roasted veggies.