Tahini lemon dressing
Units
Temperature
Servings
Ingredients
Dressing
- 150 g tahini, stirred smooth from the bottom of the jar before weighing rounded
- 60 ml lemon juice rounded
- 120 ml cold water, added in stages, and the amount varies with the tahini rounded
- 1 garlic clove, crushed to a paste with salt rounded
- 6 g fine salt rounded
- 3 g ground cumin, optional, and it points the dressing at roast vegetables (optional) rounded
Method
Method
- Whisk the tahini, lemon juice, garlic and salt together first. It will seize into a stiff, pale, unpromising paste. This is correct.
- Add the water a splash at a time, whisking. It loosens suddenly and turns much paler.
- Stop when it pours in a ribbon. Different tahinis need noticeably different amounts of water.
Why it seizes
Tahini is an emulsion of sesame oil and finely ground solids. Adding acid and a little water breaks it, so the solids clump and the mixture stiffens. Keep adding water and it re-emulsifies the other way round, this time as a water-continuous sauce rather than an oil-continuous paste, and it goes pale and smooth.
The colour change is the signal. Ivory means it has flipped; the colour of the jar means it has not.
Notes
- It thickens in the fridge and needs a splash of water to come back. Expect that rather than treating it as a fault.
- It keeps 5 days, longer than any dairy dressing here.
- It is a sauce as much as a dressing. Over roast cauliflower, falafel, grain bowls or grilled fish, and thinner still it is the sauce for masabacha.
- Bitter tahini cannot be rescued. If the jar tastes bitter neat, more lemon will not fix it, and the dressing will be bitter too.
Ingredient substitutions
- Lebanese and Palestinian tahini are the benchmark and are smoother and less bitter than most supermarket own-label. It is the only ingredient here, so it is worth the difference.
- For a creamier, higher-protein version, replace half the water with Greek yogurt, which is no longer vegan but is very good.