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Tahini

The seeds are ground while still warm from the pan, which is the only way they release their own oil.

Vegan.

Ingredients

Method

  1. THE SEEDS ARE GROUND WHILE STILL WARM FROM THE PAN, which is the only way they release their own oil. Sesame is about half oil by weight, and that oil is what turns a powder into a paste -- but it will only come out under friction if the seeds are warm and soft. Toasted, tipped straight into the processor and run while still hot to the hand, five hundred grams of seeds goes through a sandy stage, then a stiff clumping stage, and then quite suddenly becomes a smooth pourable paste. Left to cool first, the same seeds grind to a dry meal and no amount of patience will bring the oil out; all you can do then is add more oil from a bottle, which gives something oilier and blander.
  2. IT GOES THROUGH A STAGE WHERE IT LOOKS WRONG. At three or four minutes it is a stiff, crumbly mass climbing the sides of the bowl and it looks like a failure. That is the point most people stop. It needs scraping down and another three or four minutes, and the change to a smooth paste happens over about thirty seconds.
  3. HULLED SEEDS, NOT UNHULLED. The hulls carry oxalates and a distinct bitterness, and they also stay as gritty specks that will not grind out. Unhulled sesame makes a darker, more bitter, more nutritious paste and it is not what this is.
  4. THEY ARE TOASTED PALE, NOT BROWN. Four or five minutes, moving constantly, until fragrant and barely coloured. Dark-toasted sesame makes a paste that tastes strongly roasted -- closer to the East Asian pastes -- and it overwhelms everything it is then used in.
  5. THE ADDED OIL IS TWO TABLESPOONS AND IS A STARTER, NOT AN INGREDIENT. Just enough to get the blades moving through the sand stage. Pour in more to hurry it and the paste never emulsifies properly -- it stays loose and separates in the jar within a day.
  6. IT WILL SEPARATE IN THE JAR AND THAT IS NORMAL. Oil rises to the top over a week or two. It is stirred back in before use, and a jar that has separated is not a jar that has gone wrong.
  7. The sesame seeds DRY-TOASTED in a wide pan, moving constantly, 4 to 5 MINUTES, until fragrant and BARELY coloured.
  8. Tipped STRAIGHT into a food processor while still HOT.
  9. Run 3 to 4 MINUTES. It will pass through a sandy stage to a STIFF CRUMBLY mass that climbs the bowl -- this is expected.
  10. SCRAPED DOWN and the oil added a tablespoon at a time.
  11. Run a further 3 to 4 MINUTES until it turns quite suddenly to a SMOOTH POURABLE paste.
  12. Salted if wanted.
  13. TESTED: it should ribbon off a spoon. A dry meal means the seeds had cooled before grinding.
  14. Jarred. Keeps 3 months; it will separate and is stirred back in.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Lebanon · All recipes