Just Another Meatless Monday: Lemon Tahini Sauce

If you like hummus, try this sauce/dip. It is like hummus without the chickpeas. I found the recipe in the Washington Post a few weeks ago when they did a feature on cauliflower. They called for deep fried or roasted cauliflower to dip in the sauce. I made it yesterday, and it was so good that I had run out of roasted cauliflower by the time I took a picture tonight -- it is that good!

Tahini is ground sesame seed paste -- similar to fresh peanut butter. It is not low calorie or fat-free. You will usually have to stir in a layer of oil floating on top before you use it. So it is not something to eat with abandon, but it has its place in a healthy diet, just as nuts do.

Here's the basic recipe:

Blitz in a blender (or food processor) the following ingredients:

1 cup tahini
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup water
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons kosher salt (I left this out)
dash hot sauce (I used Sriracha)

Jerusalem: A Cookbook, by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, which I used last week, has a similar recipe that also uses fried cauliflower. But this recipe mixes the tahini sauce in a bowl rather than a blender or food processor. The proportions are a little different, as it uses 3/4 cup tahini rather than 1 cup, but they are essentially similar. In addition to the ingredients listed above (except the hot sauce), the sauce includes 2/3 cup Greek yogurt and 1/4 cup each of chopped parsley and mint, plus some ground black pepper. And instead of using it as a dip, this recipe adds the fried cauliflower (2 heads, divided into small florets) and some fried green onions (8, divided into 3 long segments) to the tahini sauce, so that it is more like a dressing for a salad. The dish is finished with a drizzle of pomegranate molasses and chopped mint.

Between these two recipes, I can see using this in many different way as a dip or dressing for vegetables -- raw or roasted. I think the sauce would be wonderful drizzled over steamed broccoli, for example. It would also be good drizzled over chickpeas, as it has the basic flavors of hummus already. Or use a mixture of chickpeas and veggies for a one-dish meal. I could also imagine thinning it with more water (or yogurt, if you use it) to make a dressing for a green salad.

I could also see mixing up a smaller quantity in a bowl rather than using the blender, because I have lots left over even after the cauliflower is gone. Just aim for the consistency of honey when you mix it up this way. I look forward to trying variations with chopped herbs. Also, the 3 cloves of garlic were very strong. I love garlic, so it was not a problem for me, but you might want to start with one clove of garlic for your first batch and add more in future batches if you like more garlic.

This addictive sauce is going to become a staple in my kitchen.