I often come across people with an ooooold jar of tahini in their cupboards. Do you know tahini? It’s a paste of ground sesame seeds, used in Mediterranean, North African and Middle Eastern cooking. It is most widely known as a component of hummus. You’re familiar with hummus, right? A versatile chickpea spread that’s great on bread or as a dip? Now that’s how most of these nearly full containers of tahini end up in many Western kitchens: there are only one or two tablespoons needed for a batch of homemade spread — and what to do with the rest???
Well, the Dutch foodie blogging quartet is here to help!
Uniflame is sharing a recipe of tahini-yoghurt sauce (vegetarian)
Chinoiseries treats us to summer rolls with a tahini dip (vegetarian)
JannyAn fried up some falafel (vegan; in Dutch)
And on Graasland we’re having roasted eggplant & tahini soup.
The taste of this soup transported my globetrotter friend Loes right back to Morocco!
Roasted eggplant and tahini soup
Serves 5-6.
Ingredients
- 3 medium tomatoes, halved
- 2 medium eggplants (about 550 grams together), halved lengthwise
- 2 medium onions (I used a red and white one), halved
- half a head of garlic
- olive oil
- 1 litre of vegetable broth (4 cups)
- 2-3 teaspoons ras al hanout spice blend (store-bought or mixed yourself)
- 4 tbsp = 60 ml tahini (1/4 cup)
- juice from half a lemon (2-3 tbsp or more to taste)
- chopped fresh cilantro for garnish
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F). Place tomatoes, eggplants and onions on a baking sheet.
- Sprinkle or brush with a little oil (we don’t have cooking spray over here), and season with salt and pepper.
- Slice a small part of the bottom of the garlic and fold it in a piece of aluminium foil. Wrap up tightly and put it on the baking sheet with the vegetables.
- Roast the veggies for 30-45 minutes, until they are tender and brown in some places.
- Remove from the oven and wait until the vegetables are cooled enough to handle.
- Scoop the eggplant out of its skin and into a large saucepan.
- Squeeze the cloves of roasted garlic out of their skin and add to the eggplant.
- Remove the skin and green centre from the tomatoes and add to the pan as well, along with the onions.
- Add the broth and ras al hanout. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes, until the onions are very tender.
- Puree the soup with an immersion blender or in a food processor.
- Add the tahini and simmer for about 5 more minutes.
- Finish the soup by adding lemon juice and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Garnish each bowl of soup with a generous sprinkle of cilantro.
Notes
For this soup I heavily relied on the recipe from Cara’s cravings; there are also instructions for homemade ras el hanout on her page. I already had a mix that I made a long time ago and desperately need to finish…
The spices determine the flavour of the soup, so keep that in mind when you decide to substitute. If you’d like an even creamier soup you could also add a dash of soy cream to the bowls. But whatever you do, do not skip the lemon juice, nor cilantro. They’re absolutely essential!
Okay, you all need to confess now… Have you got a pot of tahini stashed away somewhere? It’s time to get it out and start cooking!
Also check out our previous blog hops:
TTHop (tofu & tempeh)
New Years Quartet: Dips & Spreads
– – – – –
Join Beth Fish’s Weekend Cooking with a food-related post!
24 reacties
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zaterdag 10 maart 2012 bij 09:44
breieninpeking
I just love Tahini! I have a nut-allergy and I use it for ‘fake-peanutsauce’ in Indonesian recepies, and use it as breadspread with a little salt and chili on top and of course for hummus and all kinds of other things.
No jars lingering in my cupboard.
Thanks for some great new ideas.
zaterdag 10 maart 2012 bij 10:14
Taste of Tahini – Falafel « JannyAn's Blog
[…] team-bloggers in the Taste of Tahine Blog-Hop: Chinoiseries at Always Cooking Up Something Gnoe at Graasland Uniflame at She Likes Bento Share this:FacebookTwitterE-mailVind ik leuk:LikeWees de eerste om post […]
zaterdag 10 maart 2012 bij 10:33
Bonnie
YUM! I love tahini and this soup sounds so good.
zaterdag 10 maart 2012 bij 12:32
Leeswammes
I used to have a pot of Tahini that had been used just once for hummus… I threw it out at some point and decided to never buy it again.
I’m also a bit worried about the ras al hanout spice blend. If I need only a few teaspoons, I’ll soon need a recipe to use that up. And then in that new recipe there will be an ingredient that I need a new recipe for that has an ingredient… and eventually this chain will lead me to a recipe that needs tahini, which I will of course have already used up by making this soup. Oh! Endless!
zondag 11 maart 2012 bij 20:01
Gnoe
I know what you mean! I quote: “I already had a mix that I made a long time ago and desperately need to finish…” ;) But there are a lot of recipes with ras el hanout around, like these cabbage rolls or couscous salad from vegatopia, and you can make just a little of the mix too. The other ingredients in these recipes are pretty common! :)
zaterdag 10 maart 2012 bij 14:25
Beth F
This soup looks awesome. I like Cara’s cravings, and must have missed the recipe for this. I always have tahini in the house, but I mostly use it for the ole standard: hummus and falafels. I too have a peanut allergy (mild) and I’ve been using a sunflower butter as a substitute but I like breieninpeking’s idea of using tahini for some of the satay sauces.
I’m seriously considering making this eggplant soup this week.
zondag 11 maart 2012 bij 20:02
Gnoe
Well, I hope you do Beth! That would be a big compliment. :)
zaterdag 10 maart 2012 bij 17:26
Christine
Hello! This is my first time visiting your blog and am delighted to see we are participating in at two of the same reading challenges.. the Murakami and What’s in a Name. I’ve also done something similar to the 100 Mile Fitness Challenge. How fun! I’m curious about some of the others you have going on too..
Your soup looks fantastic. I don’t think I’ve ever had something similar. I’d love to try it at some point.. maybe in the summer when I get eggplant and tomatoes in my vegetable box. Or I could show up at Beth’s house this week… haha!
zondag 11 maart 2012 bij 20:04
Gnoe
Thanks for dropping by! :) I’m not sure whether Beth will say the same when you drop by unannounced LOL.
What fun that we participate in 2 of the same challenges!
zaterdag 10 maart 2012 bij 20:29
JannyAn
I still have half a jar of Tahin left. I can try all recipes :-)
zondag 11 maart 2012 bij 12:40
Saskia
No lingering tahini overhere. Together with eggplant and granade apple makes baba ganoush. Or this Libanese dish with cauliflower: http://www.nrc.nl/thuiskok/2012/03/07/variaties-op-een-libanese-kool/ .
zondag 11 maart 2012 bij 20:04
Gnoe
TNX for the recipe Saskia!
zondag 11 maart 2012 bij 14:22
Uniflame
This sounds so lovely!! A great way to finish a jar of tahini :)
zondag 11 maart 2012 bij 16:42
Carol @ Always Thyme to Cook
I’m guilty, I have a half used jar in the back of the refrigerator. I’d love to try the eggplant soup, looks delicious, great flavors in there.
zondag 11 maart 2012 bij 19:57
Gnoe
I’m glad you all like the recipe! And that there are two teams: one of tahini stashers and another of tahini gluttons ;)
maandag 12 maart 2012 bij 14:08
Bentobird/Jenn
Gorgeous soup–a magic carpet of Middle Eastern richness and complexity…plus detailed instructions and pretty photos (always love your veggie stiff life compositions)…wow!
maandag 12 maart 2012 bij 14:09
Bentobird/Jenn
let’s replace “stiff life” with still life, OK? LOL!
dinsdag 13 maart 2012 bij 16:38
Gnoe
I DID wonder how you knew about my well-hidden other hobby ;)
woensdag 14 maart 2012 bij 22:28
Libby
This is like baba ganoush soup! What a good idea!
woensdag 21 maart 2012 bij 13:33
Gnoe
Yeah, but it’s not the same as heating up a container of baba ganoush! It tastes more after ras-el-hanout.
donderdag 15 maart 2012 bij 11:24
Novroz
This looks delicious…but the preparation is too much for me. I like cooking something simple.Have I told you that I cook almost everyday now?
Someone has tocookfor my dad…and it’s me ;)
woensdag 21 maart 2012 bij 13:27
Gnoe
Noooh, you didn’t tell me yet! I’d love to pop over some night and have dinner with you. :)
woensdag 21 maart 2012 bij 16:27
Novroz
Well,now that my mom is not around…whether I enjoy cooking or not…I have to cook, funny thing is…I do enjoy it ;)
I wouldlove that to happen, I can learn to cook better from you :)
vrijdag 1 maart 2013 bij 17:21
Modern Moroccan Cinnamon-Scented Chickpea and Lentil Soup | Graasland
[…] if you feel like trying another Moroccan soup, how about this sesame soup recipe I posted […]