Tahini is a wonderful thing. Not only is it a great source of good healthy fat, its also so diverse in the kitchen.
Most people eat tahini as it is, the middle eastern secret is to make your own dip from the thick paste that comes in the jar you know.
The most importent thing I think, is to buy the right Tahini. There are so many kinds that even in your neighborhood supermarket you can be confused. I'd recommend an organic unhulled tahini paste, you can always try black seseme tahini to pimp your dip (though its more expensive).
On Christmas I whipped up a crazy double dip of (my lovely go to) Beetroot Tahini and on top of it a funky Beetroot and Cashew dip. I was so happy to find that my boyfriend's family loved it and all were all keen to know the secret recipe (and it's always good for the first impression ;) )
If you've ever seen me in the kitchen I always play around and use as many ingredients and spices as I can find, I've tried really hard to put it down to a proper recipe.
Beetroot Tahini dip:
You will need one big beetroot (at least, if you are doing both recipes you can use 4 beetroots) to boil in a pot, in this recipe we will use the purple water created from boiling the beetroot.
(Another option is to buy a vacuum beetroots and use the water if it's easier for you)
I love to use the organic unhulled tahini
Lemon
cumin, salt, peper to taste
parsley, basil, coriander to taste
So traditionally it's pretty much one tbspoon tahini to one tbspoon water (in this case- beetroot water) with some Tahini pastes you'll need to add more water.
My recommendation is to do it tbspoon by tbspoon, then add lemon and only then see if it needs more water.
I'll use between a half to a whole big lemon for 5-6 tbspoons Tahini.
(It's really hard to say so just do it to your own taste)
Put all the ingredients together in a bowl and stir with a spoon until it becomes a creamy paste.
*Don't forget that in the fridge the tahini becomes even thicker, so make it just a little more watery if you plan on puting it in the fridge.
Then I love to play around! this is your time to shine!
add spices like cumin salt and pepper to taste
chop some greens - parsley and coriander they are always amazing, and if you want to give it a kick try a bit of basil, or sprinkle some black sesame.
If you want to make other Tahini dips (not a beetroot one)
you can always grind tomatoes and make it a tomato tahini!
you can add spices like turmeric paprika sumac zaatar etc. There are no rules!!!
Beetroot Cashew dip-
its easy to make the two recipes together because you already have some of the ingredients-
you will need to use-
4 boiled beetroots,
1 tbspoon tahini,
1/2 tbspoon Lemon juice (or to taste...this dip is not suppose to be so lemony...)
a little pinch of salt and cumin to taste
a big handful of Cashew nuts.
add all the ingrediants to a food processor, blend them until it becomes a thick paste (you can leave some chunks if you like).
fix it to taste, be creative!
(I don't recommand adding pepper to this dip)
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