Serve as an appetizer with pita bread, or as a sauce to accompany various dishes such as fried fish, boiled vegetables, and falafel.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 6
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Blend all the ingredients together in a food processor or blender, adding enough cold water to achieve a smooth, light cream. Taste and add more lemon juice, garlic, or salt until the flavor is fairly strong and sharp.
Step 2
Serve in a shallow bowl sprinkled with chopped parsley and provide Arab or other bread to dip in it. Or use as a sauce to accompany falafel (page 61) or grilled meats and salads.
Variations
Step 3
An Egyptian way is to flavor this with 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin and to garnish with a sprinkling of olive oil and a dusting of cumin and chili pepper.
Step 4
For a parsley-and-tahina cream, ba’dounes bi tahina, stir in 1/2 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley.
Step 5
For a wonderful version rich with pine nuts, tahina bi senobar, fry 1–1 1/2 cups pine nuts in a drop of oil over low heat, shaking the pan, until lightly golden, and stir them in. This is particularly good as a sauce for fried or grilled fish.
