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Saturday, April 20, 2013

Tahini, a paste made

Tahini, a paste made from ground sesame seeds, plays an important role in Middle Eastern cooking, adding flavor and texture.
Tahini also known as tehina is a paste made from ground, hulled sesame seeds used in North African, Greek, Turkish and Middle Eastern cuisine.
East Asian tahini is made of unhulled seeds. It is served as a dip on its own or as a major component of hummus, baba ghanoush and halva. It is best known as one of the main ingredients in hummus. Tahini is used in Iran as Ardeh.
Tahini is made from sesame seeds that are soaked in water and then crushed

to separate the bran from the kernels. The crushed seeds are soaked in salt water, causing the bran to sink. The floating kernels are skimmed off the surface, toasted, and ground to produce an oily paste.
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Traditionally, tahini is made by soaking sesame seeds overnight, after which they are crushed in order to separate the bran (the hull) from the seed. The crushed seeds are then put into a mix of salt and water, which allows the bran/hulls to sink and the seed kernels to float to the top of the water where they can be skimmed off. After this they are either immediately ground (for a hulled raw tahini) or toasted and then ground into a paste.
Sesame paste is an ingredient in some Chinese, Korean, and Japanese dishes; and it also used in Indian cuisine.
Tahini works best for dressings and sauces because it adds a creamy, light, and an earthy flavor to dishes.
When blended with potatoes, squash, carrots or miso, it makes a wonderful base for any soup. Tahini can help bind dishes together.
As Tahini is made from ground sesame seeds into a paste, tahini becomes easy to digest, and within half an hour of consuming it, the body is provided with a balanced supply of energy, vitamins, and minerals. Health Benefits of Tahini are an excellent source of protein, copper and manganese, calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, vitamin B1, zinc, and essential fatty acid.
Tahini does have a good deal of fat in it, but mostly the good kind. Simply use your best judgment on how much to enjoy on a daily basis.

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