Tahini: Staple of the Vegan Pantry

Delicious and Nutritious Tahini Recipes for Vegans and Vegetarians

© Jerod Allen

Dec 10, 2008

Ground sesame paste, or tahini, has long been a staple of Middle Eastern cooking. As versatile as peanut butter and just as tasty, tahini has become a mandatory component of the vegan cook's pantry, as well. It is a good source of calcium; B vitamins and thiamin; and essential minerals, including calcium. Additionally, it's a great source of the protein and fatty acids that are easy to neglect in a vegan diet.

This simple dressing uses tahini as its base and is as versatile as it is delicious.

Homemade Tahini Dressing

• 1 cup tahini
• 1 clove garlic
• Juice of 1 whole lemon
• 1 tsp cumin
• Salt, to taste
• About ½ cup of water

1. Combine the garlic and salt in a food processor, or with a mortar and pestle.
2. Add tahini and cumin and mix into a thick sauce.
3. Add the lemon juice.
4. Add the water gradually until the dressing is thin enough to pour.

Keep this dressing stocked in your refrigerator and use it by itself over salads and as a dip for raw vegetables, or combine it in a food processor with garbanzo beans and olive oil for hummus that is more delicious and less expensive than what you can buy at the store. (For a brief discussion of the difference between canned and fresh or dry beans, see A Note on Canned Beans in the article Twice-Cooked Beans and Arroz a la Mexicana.)

You can also use it in a variation of a Waldorf salad that uses tahini instead of mayonnaise as the cohesive ingredient.

Vegetable Salad with Homemade Tahini Dressing

• 1 cup tahini dressing
• 2 carrots, grated
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 1cup alfalfa or bean sprouts
• ¼ head cabbage, shredded
• 1 cup beets, cut into strips
• 1 cup chopped apple
• ¼ cup raisins
• ¼ cup chopped pecans or walnuts
• Salt and black pepper, to taste

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Don't forget there is already salt in the dressing when you add more.
2. Serve with romaine lettuce leaves and sliced tomato, either on its own as a salad or as a sandwich on flat bread.

Cold Noodles with Tahini Sauce, Tofu, and Steamed Vegetables

• 12 ounces dried spaghetti noodles
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• ½ cup tahini
• 1 tbsp sugar
• ¼ cup soy sauce or tamari
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 2-3 cups chopped vegetables, such as broccoli, carrots, or cabbage
• 8 oz tofu, diced
• Hot sesame oil or chili sauce, to taste
• Salt and black pepper, to taste

1. Steam the vegetables until tender, and set aside.
2. Cook the noodles in boiling water until tender.
3. Drain the noodles and rinse them in cold water for up to 2 minutes.
4. Toss the noodles in the sesame oil.
5. Steam the tofu, or lightly fry it in cooking oil, and set aside.
6. Beat together the tahini, sugar, soy sauce or tahini, and rice vinegar.
7. Add the hot oil or sauce, the salt, and the pepper.
8. Add hot water to the sauce until it is thin enough to pour. The leftover water from the noodles is good to use for this.
9. Toss together the noodles, sauce, vegetables, and tofu and add more seasoning, if necessary.

Noodles with tahini dressing, tofu, and broccoli

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