Tahini, or untoasted sesame seed paste, is a staple of Middle Eastern cooking. It is best known as an ingredient in hummus — a chickpea spread made to order in the Middle East and usually served just above room temperature — or in baba ganoush, a condiment made with charred eggplant.
Tahini is also used in halvah, a rich dessert that combines tahini with toasted sesame seeds or other nuts, honey and additional flavorings such as vanilla, coffee, cardamom, rosewater or saffron.
I like to use tahini to make a kind of vinaigrette. Because tahini is rich and oily, it acts as the “oil” or fat in the dressing. The tahini is first thinned out with boiling water (if you add cold water the tahini will seize up), then combined with garlic, cayenne and lemon. If you don’t like the drab khaki color this tahini dressing has, you can brighten it up with something green, like a puree of mint, parsley or scallions.
Tahini dressing can be used as a sauce for hearty greens like escarole or curly spinach, as a sauce for eggplant or carrots, or as it’s often used in the Middle East as a condiment for falafel or lamb sandwiches.
When you buy tahini, buy it in a glass jar. If there’s a layer of fat on the top, it means that the tahini has separated and is old and possibly rancid.
Tahini Dressing
Makes about 1 1/4 cups.
Ingredients
1/2 cup sesame tahini
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/4 cup lemon juice
Pinch cayenne pepper
Salt
Directions
Bring 1 cup of water to a boil. Place the sesame tahini in a bowl. Whisk in 1/2 cup of the boiling water into the tahini. Whisk in the minced garlic, lemon juice, cayenne pepper and salt. The dressing should have the consistency of heavy cream. If the dressing is too thick, add a little more hot water.
Refrigerate, covered, until ready to use.
