Lebanese Tarator Sauce and All Purpose Tahini Dressing

Growing up in a Lebanese household, our refrigerator was never without a jar of tarator, a creamy dressing made from tahini and lemon. We mostly used it in wrappped sandwiches like falafel and shawarma or drizzled on shish taouk (grilled chicken), but we also used it as a tarator sauce for fried fish and vegetables. Why anyone would fry a cauliflower is beyond me, but culinary cultural traditions, delicious as they may be, aren’t always influenced by sensible nutrition choices.

While my eating habits have changed a lot since childhood, my love for tahini has only grown. I adore tarator and use it in many different ways from grilled vegetables to pasta sauces. Below the recipe, I’ve left you with a few delicious ideas.

Tahini Sauce & All Purpose Dressing

Author Nissrine Boufawaz @ HolisticNiss.com

Time 3 minutes
Difficulty Easy
Servings 1/2 Cup
Diet Vegan, Gluten Free
Category Condiment

Ingredients:

1/4 Cup Hulled Tahini
Juice of 1 Lemon
1/4 tsp Fine Sea Salt
2 - 4 tbsp Filtered Water (depending on desired texture)
1 Clove of Garlic, crushed (optional)
2 Tbsp Parsley, finely chopped (optional)

Method:

Add all ingredients, starting with just 2 tbps of water, to a jar with a tight fitting lid and shake it until well combined. Add more water to thin it out if you like it more runny. Adjust salt to taste.

How to use tahini sauce:

Drizzle it over grains,vegetables and protein.
- One of my favourite ways to enjoy this sauce is over sumac roasted cauliflower. Coat the cauliflower florets with extra virgin olive oil, a sprinkle of salt and a good sprinkle of sumac spice. Roast at 200 C on a parchment paper line baking sheet for 20-30 minutes until slightly caramelized. Drizzle with tarator and enjoy.
Use it as a salad dressing
Use it as a dip. There are two ways to do this.
- Add less water to the above recipe to get a thicker consistency and use it as a vegetable dip, or
- Use less water then thicken it with nutritional yeast. Add 1 tbsp nutritional yeast for every 1/4 cup of tahini sauce
Turn it into a pasta sauce. Use prepared tahini sauce and add nutritional yeast or nut parm and pasta cooking water and use it to toss your pasta & vegetable dish (my favourite combo is buckwheat pasta with peas and baby spinach).