This sauce is lovely layered with tomatoes or cucumbers. Thinned with more water, oil, or yogurt, it also makes a great salad dressing. You can buy canned or bottled tahini—ground sesame seed paste—at any Middle Eastern or health food store.
Recipe information
Yield
makes about 1 cup
Ingredients
1/2 cup tahini, with a bit of its oil
1/2 cup yogurt or water
Juice of 1 lemon, or to taste
Salt and black pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, optional
Preparation
Step 1
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Thin, if necessary, with a little sesame or olive oil, yogurt, or water.
Step 2
Taste and adjust the seasoning and serve, or refrigerate, covered, for a day or two.
The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman. © 2005 by Mark Bittman. Published by Broadway Books. All Rights Reserved.
MARK BITTMAN is the author of the blockbuster The Best Recipes in the World (Broadway, 2005) and the classic bestseller How to Cook Everything, which has sold more than one million copies. He is also the coauthor, with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Simple to Spectacular and Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef. Mr. Bittman is a prolific writer, makes frequent appearances on radio and television, and is the host of The Best Recipes in the World, a 13-part series on public television. He lives in New York and Connecticut.
