Interesting!
I’ve been using chana dal (a kind of chick pea that comes with no skins) for smoothness and citric acid along with lemon juice to make the tahini ‘pop’ into a creamy mixture.
Also, I’ve been using avocado oil in place of olive as it doesn’t go bitter when blended/food processed a lot. I still serve it with EVOO.
For those people asking ‘how much tahini?’, here’s my recipe (which started out as an attempt to replicate/replace Sabra (long story involving Palestinian rights). It’s not the same — but friends tell me they like mine better than Sabra.
- 2 C chana dal (dry measure) 400g
- 1–2 Bay leaves
- ½ C sesame tahini (195g) 185
- ¼ C avocado oil
- ¼ C + 2 Tb lemon juice (6Tb)
- 1 tsp salt 6g (try 7g next time)
- 1 tsp citric acid 5.5g (or 1½ tsp 8.25g)
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 1 tsp dill (optional)
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1–4 cloves garlic (to taste)
- ½ C + 2 Tb cooking water (approximate, see instructions)
1. Plate the chana dal as you put it into a pot, removing stones etc.
2. Wash the chana dal several times, until the water is transparent (or at least not as cloudy as milk. Soak in clean water overnight. Then wash again. The grains should absorb most of the water and almost double their volume.
3. Cover chana dal with water. Add Bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then barely boil over very low flame until the grains are very easily crushed when pressed between two fingers. It should take around 3.5–4 hours. When done, sieve the grains and keep the cooking water. Remove Bay leaves.
4. Start with garlic, oil, lemon juice, spices in food processor. Grind 4 min. Mixture should emulsify.
5. Add chana dal and some of the cooking water, grind well (8 to 10 minutes). Leave it to chill a little while before you continue.
6. Adjust thickness by adding cooking water. If you make a groove in the surface, it will fill in in a few seconds.
Serve with some good olive oil and chopped parsley or scallions. It’s particularly good when served warm, which is how I remember it in Beirut.
Feel free to scale. The weight measurements should make that easy.
