Tahina!

One of the things I love most about my line of work is the opportunity to meet, interact and build friendships with people from all over the world. Over the years I have come to know people from France, Lebanon, India, Italy, Nigeria, Turkey, Israel, Argentina, Egypt, Venezuela, Palestine, Mexico, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, China... This may not be listed among the formal list of benefits by my employer but it is the one I cherish the most thanks to being in science.

People have great pride in their country and the evidence for this is never lacking. Whether it's during down time in the lab while you're waiting for an incubation or while setting up something repetitive which may not require strenuous concentration, we engage in conversation about customs, habits, holidays, history and most certainly food from their country of origin. And if you're sitting down to lunch with them, they waste no time in sharing little glorious tidbits of their ethnic foods with you for you to try.

One such sharing happened this week with one of my coworkers, who comes from Israel.  I noticed an interesting little dip he was using. He offered some for me to try but it looked so creamy and silky white that I had to quickly point out that I'm vegan so don't do any dairy. I was certain that it must have had either sour cream, yogurt, or some other such dairy product since it looked so rich and creamy white. Nope, I was wrong! Tahina is made from ground up sesame seeds. Certainly I could taste it, then. Oh!! :-)

After much oohing and aaahing over it (it was so yummy mixed with my brown rice and veggie stir fry), he later sent me the recipe, along with some pictures of the starting base to purchase. That same night I made myself my first batch of tahina.

The Tahina base

Getting the brand he recommended, I came home that night with my own bottle of the base. A few ingredients are added and pretty soon you have your own dip for pita bread, flatbread, chips, or to put in just about anything, like my coworker does.

To this base you add the juice of 1 lemon, water, 2 or 3 crushed garlic cloves, and paprika.

Tahina base with lemon juice just before stirring. 

To measure the water, just fill the now empty Tahina jar, cover and shake (that way you can also rinse off the base that stays behind coating the inside of the jar). You'll need to add the water a little at a time, then whisk it in. Measuring the water this way, it takes almost the whole jar of Tahina base in water. You want it to get thick and creamy, like a thick ranch or blue cheese dressing. After that you then add the crushed garlic and paprika to taste. And voila! Tahina for you!

My finished Tahina.

 

The total yield came out to be around 2 1/2 to 3 cups or so, judging from the 4-cup container in which I stored it. 

Next, what to have with it? I felt like the rosemary flatbread recipe I discovered a few months ago and which I make frequently would go really well with it. It's so quick and easy to make, so why not?

Within a half hour, I had the whole flatbread recipe all baked and ready to be broken into pieces for dipping.

 And with that, I had me my own little Tahina party.

Maybe I'll have some with my brown rice for lunch today, while feeling so lucky and thankful for this wonderful benefit of exposure to cultures from all over the world that comes with my line of work.