What is tahini?

One of the main foundations of the Middle East kitchen is tahini, a ground paste made of sesame seeds. In Arabic and Hebrew, he is known as Techninah , while the Turkish word, tahin , is obviously closely related. The root of the word appears to be an Arab word that means "grind", which is also used as a base for other words describing ground foods such as flour. Unlike sesame paste, popular ingredients in Asian cuisine, tahini is made of sesame seeds that has been suppressed, so it is a more sophisticated product and also has less nutritional value because the outer case of sesame seeds has been removed. In addition, tahini tends to be lighter than Asian sesame paste.

To create tahini, sesame seeds are usually blanched in hot water to remove the hulls that hover to the top. Fuses are centrifuged and the remaining seed meat may be released before grounding, usually with a small addition of salt and sometimes olivatacé. The result is a dense, walnut paste, such as walnut butter in consistency and taste. When stored in an airtight container, tahini can be kept at room temperature, but as soon as the container is open, it should be cooled so that sesame seed oil does not slip.

In the Middle East kitchen, tahini appears most often in hummus, ghana and halvah. Hummus and Baba Ghana use the base of tahini, lemon, oil and garlic to hold food together, while Halvah is dessert candies made with tahini and sweetener like honey. Other ingredients are often added to Halvah to add texture and taste. All these meals are very popular around the Mediterranean.

In addition, tahini is used as a base for sauces. Tahini -rich sauces are used as bandages for meat, vegetables and salads. Usually the bandage is made by thinning tahini with additiveo are dill, pepper or other herbs, can be added for taste. Many of these sauces also include olive oil, Mediterranean cuisine clamp.

tahini can also be used to replace sesame paste in Asian cooking. Especially in Japan, sesame paste is used as a base for many decreases and sauces and is sometimes used in soups. Tahini taste is comparable to sesame paste, although it tends to be creamy, with less slightly bold texture sesame paste.