Stripped Bare Fashion

Tag: homemade tahini

  • Lemon, garlic and tahini dressing

    Lemon, garlic and tahini dressing

    This dressing can be poured over baked vegetables, served as a dip or tossed into a salad.

    Ingredients

    3 tbl tahini (store bought is completely fine, but if you want to make your own it’s super easy and you can avoid the bitter aftertaste…)

    2 peeled garlic cloves

    1/2 tsp salt

    generous grating of black pepper

    1 1/2 tbl olive oil

    1 lemon juiced

    Method

    Place all ingredients except for the lemon juice into the bowl of a food processor and bleeeeend until smooth, maybe a minute or so.

    When you’re happy with the smooth texture, pour in the lemon juice and blend for another few seconds. That’s it, you’re done!

    I first made it to go over tempeh, as a vegan version of  Madeleine Shaw’s halloumi salad, or it would be perfect over baked aubergine, kind of like a decontructed babaganoush?? Anyway, my tempeh salad is below if you’d like to give it a try, and there’s also a link to Madeleine’s original.

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    For a super-food vegan lunch, try it in a warm tempeh salad: assemble a combination of leaves, celery, tomatoes, fennel, red pepper, spring onion, cress and whatever other lovely raw vegetables you have in the fridge drawer. Add 100g hot, grilled tempeh and pour over the dressing. It’s got to be good for you!!

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    Madelaine Shaw makes a brilliant tahini dressing for her grilled halloumi and mango slaw with coconut tahini dressing which was how I first realised how good tahini is in a dressing. It’s not vegan but it is delicious summer fare which can be prepared hours ahead, or for a more warming winter lunch, serve it freshly made with the halloumi hot from the griddle.

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    Nutritional Information for lemon, garlic and tahini dressing
  • Tahini

    Tahini

    ingredients in tahiniIf you’re thinking life’s too short to make my own tahini, I hear you. I too am very happy to use well made store bought items in everyday recipes. However, I love lots of food that benefits from tahini (humous, chocolate chip cookies and tahini dressing just to name a few…) and I really don’t like the bitterness of lots of store bought tahini. So here is a super quick and easy way to make your own which can be stored in a jar in the cupboard for a month, added to all sorts of delicious recipes and doesn’t have an overpoweringly bitter aftertaste.

    I have stipulated to use hulled sesame seeds as unhulled seeds tend to taste more bitter and don’t give such a smooth end result.

    Ingredients

    95g hulled, toasted sesame seeds (toast your own if you prefer, over low heat in a dry pan and only lightly, but if we’re subscribing to life’s too short, buy them ready toasted!!

    3tbl avocado oil (or your preferred light tasting oil – I think avocado adds a little more creaminess and sweetness)

    1tsp salt

    Method

    Place the toasted sesame seeds in a food processor and process on high for a good minute until you see them starting to break down.

    Pour in 1 tbl of oil and add the salt. I feel like the mixture gets smoother when it’s a bit thicker, so blend for a minute or more with just 1tbl of oil.

    Once the mixture is looking very smooth, pour in the remaining two tbl of oil.

    I store tahini in the cupboard in a glass jar. As well as being a useful addition to various recipes, tahini is very moreish spread on fresh bread or as a dip for crudite.

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