Do you know what's the latest dip that has taken the food world by storm? It's tahini! Thanks to the popularity of Middle Eastern food like shawarma and halal platters, Tahini has risen fast in the popularity chart of delicious sauces. But do you know that tahini is so much more than just a dip for your pita bread?
Well, you're about to know now as we'll tell you everything you should know about Tahini! Stick around till the end and we'll also tell you how to make your own special tahini right at your home kitchen!
What is Tahini?
If you are a fan of strong nutty flavors, then tahini will hit your sweet spot. Tahini is made from grounded sesame seeds. That's right, tahini is nothing but a paste made out of crushed sesame seeds!
And yet it is one of the most important parts of Middle Eastern and even Mediterranean cuisine! Have you ever had hummus? Do you like it? If yes, then you should know that hummus too contains Tahini.
In fact, Tahini is one of the main ingredients in hummus besides Chickpeas. Actually, leave aside Hummus, we doubt there's any Middle Eastern sauce that does not contain tahini! Even Babaganoush, a Middle Eastern dip that is primarily made of Eggplants, also has Tahini in it! So if you're looking to master Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine, you better know how to make perfect tahini!
Why should I make Tahini though?
Good question! Sesame seeds can be expensive so does it make any sense to make a glorified dip out of it?
Well if you are right now nodding your head along to these questions, then allow us to change your mind!
First of all, sesame is a delicious topping on everything, whether it be your noodles, your fried tofu, or even your burger buns! So just imagine how good Tahini would be when it's made of only sesame seeds! And if this is not enough to sell you on the idea of trying out Tahini, then maybe the many health benefits of eating tahini regularly will win you over!
Tahini is made of sesame seeds, so you can get all the health benefits of sesame seeds by having tahini, right? Then you should be having tahini a lot more often because sesame seeds are actually very good for your heart! One of the major causes of serious heart diseases is LDL cholesterol.
Too much of this bad cholesterol and your heart can even face a cardiac arrest. But if you include sesame seeds in your diet, then you can avoid this! You see, sesame seeds are filled with healthy antioxidants like Sesamin and sesamolin which are known to reduce bad cholesterol in our body!
Past research has even shown that patients with high cholesterol can reduce their LDL cholesterol levels by a significant amount just by eating 40 grams of sesame seeds daily for two months. And let us tell you beforehand that sesame seeds are a whole lot cheaper than heart medicines!
An increasing amount of scientific research and studies are showing that the leading cause of chronic diseases is inflammation. This inflammation in the human body is mostly caused by our daily diet. It also doesn't help that our modern diet is filled with foods that contribute to inflammatory responses by our human body. Well, all except one food, and that is Tahini!
Since tahini is made solely out of sesame seeds, it comes with the health benefit of having antioxidants that reduce inflammation in our bodies. Namely antioxidants like sesamin and sesamolin can stop the development of inflammatory cytokines in our bodies.
These antioxidants are so good at fighting against inflammation that past research has shown patients with inflammation can reduce it just by eating 40 grams of sesame seeds daily!
Many people, especially the weight-conscious ones, get scared of trying tahini after seeing its fat content.
But don't let that high-fat number fool you, as it's all healthy fats! And before you say we are fibbing and there's no such thing as healthy fats, we'll bring out all the evidence to prove that healthy fats do exist!
Ask health experts what unhealthy fats are and they'll say it's saturated fats, which are found commonly in any fast food. But on the other hand, unsaturated fats are regarded as healthy fats by all health experts.
And guess what kind of fats sesame seeds have? That's right, tahini is packed with unsaturated fats which are decidedly good for your health. Unsaturated fats are said to improve brain function and even help with good heart functioning!
One specific unsaturated fat found in tahini, which is polyunsaturated fat, also aids in reducing bad cholesterol. So don't let anyone convince you that having an extra bit of tahini on your pita bread will make you fat!
If you are vegan then you must know how hard it is to find a good calcium-rich replacement for dairy products. And if you don't know how important calcium is, then you should know that your bone health practically depends on this one mineral, as bones are largely made of calcium.
So if you don't want your bones to go brittle and weak at a young age, you need to have a good calcium source in your diet. And it just happens that sesame seeds make for a wonderful non-dairy calcium supplement!
Just two teaspoons of Tahini dip is enough to fulfill 15% of your daily calcium requirements! So if you're vegan and tired of relying only on soybeans, then give tahini a try!
There was a beauty trend recently when everyone was plastering tahini on their faces as a face mask. While most thought it was ridiculous, they might actually be onto something as tahini does have skin improvement properties!
Sesame seeds contain vitamins A and E both of which are known to be extremely good for our skin health. And if this was not enough, tahini also contains a good amount of Zinc.
This important material contributes towards making collagen in our skin, which keeps our skin supple and elastic for a long time. So if you are getting worried about your skin that is aging too fast, maybe invest in Tahini instead of all those fancy skincare creams!
A lot of health problems can originate from the failure of liver functioning. This is not a surprise since the liver is responsible for the secretion of most enzymes in the human body.
So keeping good liver health is imperative for our general health. Having food that aids in fat burning can avoid most liver problems, including fatty liver disease which happens because your liver produced too much fat.
Sesame seeds can help avoid this from happening as they are rich in fat-burning compounds and also reduce bad cholesterol. In addition to these fat-friendly benefits, tahini also comes with healthy unsaturated fats, making the functioning of your liver smoother.
How to make Tahini?
Making tahini is among the easiest things you can do inside your kitchen.
All you need is a good amount of sesame seeds, a little bit of water, and a grinder.
If you want to go the old-fashioned way, you can use a mortar pestle to grind your sesame seeds.
Either way, you have to be careful in how much water you add to sesame seeds while grinding them, as too much of it will make your Tahini runny in consistency and too little of it will make it too stiff which can't work as a dip.
To get just the right consistency don’t dump water all at once. Instead, keep adding it little by little as you grind it.
Soon enough you will get the perfect tahini with a perfect consistency which will make for an ideal dip!
Tahini gets a bad rep from so many people for being a glorified sesame paste that can help you gain weight.
We hope after reading this guide for tahini you have realized just how wrong all those myths are.
Recipes using Tahini
- VEGAN GRANOLA CUPS
- No-Bake Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bars (Gluten-Free) | (No Condensed Milk)
- No-Bake Mini Blackberry Cheesecake (Vegan)
Tahini is not only a great dip that can go along with anything, but it can also be a healthy addition to your daily diet! And it is so easy to make that you can do it in the time you took to read this article!
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