Who says it's tasty? Sesame!

I had a sesame seed disaster last week, and by disaster, I mean delicious! I've had this huge bag of raw, black sesame seeds that I picked up from my local Indian grocer, for quite some time. It was a lazy, rainy day, and I did not want to leave the house, but I despaired for hummus and baba ghanouj! I have plenty of chickpeas (and chickpea flour) and eggplant, but no tahini! The solution? Google tahini recipe.

Easy tahini:
Toast sesame seeds:
Method 1: Preheat oven to 350F. Place x amount of seeds on a baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the seeds are sizzling and become very aromatic.

Method 2: Heat a skillet to med-high heat. Add seeds and stir until you get to the end of Method 1.

Method 3: Combine Method 1 or Method 2 with just a touch of olive oil. Caution: seeds will pop akin to popcorn.

Let the seeds cool.

I used a mortar and pestle for the next step, but I don't see why you couldn't use a food processor.

Grind toasted seeds into a coarse paste. Depending on the amount of seeds you used, add enough olive oil to make your mixture somewhat creamy. Take a taste. You will die from sheer delight!

The hummus part is easy after this: mix tahini, mashed chickpeas, garlic, cumin, lemon juice and a touch of olive oil. Easier and better to use a food processor. Season as you will (I added tobasco and chipotle). Chill until chilly. Eat!


Now, this is where the disaster part comes in:
I had about 1/2 cup of the fresh tahini left over, so I started experimenting.

Note: My tahini is a deep gray color due to the fact that I used black sesame.

Experiment 1:
Tahini+
Cumin+
Brown sugar
=FatMan's own delicious halvah!

Experiment 2:
Tahini+
Sour salt+
Thyme+
=Za'atar! (less sour salt next time. Technically, za'atar is uncrushed sesame..this just brought out more flavor).

The rest of the weekend involved various odd experimentations, most involving mixing za'atar with other things. Everything, really; there's not much it doesn't complement.