Tarator

Ingredients

Sauce

• 200 glight tahini, well stirred
• juice of 2–3 lemons, about 80 ml
• 2garlic cloves, crushed to a paste with a pinch of salt
• about 150 ml ice-cold water
• ½ tspsalt

To finish (optional)

• 2 tbspchopped flat-leaf parsley
• ground cumin
• olive oil

Directions

1. Stir the tahini in its jar until it is completely uniform. Tahini separates hard, and a spoonful taken off the top is oil while one from the bottom is paste — the sauce will not behave if you start from either.
2. Whisk the tahini with the crushed garlic, salt and about half the lemon juice. It will immediately seize into a thick, pale, grainy mass that looks ruined. This is what tahini does and it is the correct halfway point.
3. Now add the ice-cold water a tablespoon at a time, whisking hard after each. It will loosen suddenly and turn smooth, glossy and much whiter than the tahini you started with.
4. Keep adding water until it is the consistency you want: pourable and cream-like for dressing fish or vegetables, thick enough to hold a ribbon for binding a shawarma sandwich or spreading on a plate.
5. Taste and balance with the remaining lemon juice and salt. It should be sharp — the tahini is rich enough to carry more lemon than seems right at first.
6. Scatter with parsley and a dusting of cumin, and pour a little olive oil over if serving it as a dip.

Technique

• The seizing is not a fault and the fix is more water, not more oil. Adding oil at that point gives a greasy, split sauce that cannot be recovered.
• Cold water gives a whiter, thicker emulsion than warm. It is worth using water from the fridge.
• It thickens in the fridge. Loosen with a splash of water before serving rather than making it thinner than you want on the day.

Substitutions

• Dark or unhulled tahini makes a more bitter sauce; light hulled tahini is what is meant here.
• Yoghurt can replace some of the water for a milder, less sharp version, though that is a different sauce.

Variations

• The default sauce of the Levant: thinned it dresses samke harra and fried fish, thickened it binds shawarma and falafel sandwiches. Bulgarian tarator is a cold cucumber and yoghurt soup — an unrelated dish sharing the name.

History

The default sauce of the Levant: thinned it dresses fish, thickened it binds shawarma sandwiches.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tarator?

Tarator is a sauce & condiment from Lebanon: tahini loosened with lemon, garlic and water, poured over fish and falafel. The default sauce of the Levant: thinned it dresses fish, thickened it binds shawarma sandwiches.

How long does Tarator take to make?

Tarator takes 10 min of preparation and none of cooking. The recipe makes makes about 400 ml. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Tarator?

Yes, within limits. Dark or unhulled tahini makes a more bitter sauce; light hulled tahini is what is meant here. Yoghurt can replace some of the water for a milder, less sharp version, though that is a different sauce.

What is the most important thing to get right in Tarator?

It thickens in the fridge. Loosen with a splash of water before serving rather than making it thinner than you want on the day.