What is tahini and where can you buy it?

|ta-hee-nee|

Adam Bush

Published: April 16, 2020 at 11:29 PM

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Discover what tahini is, where to shop for it, and how to use it in our ingredient glossary

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What is tahini?

Tahini is made by grinding the toasted hulls of sesame seeds into a paste and is a major ingredient in hummus, halva and baba ghanoush. Its nutty flavour is synonymous with Middle Eastern, North African and Eastern Mediterranean cuisines and lends itself well to both sweet and savoury dishes.

Where to buy tahini

Cypressa Tahini, £3.50/300g, Waitrose

Belazu Tahini, £11.35/1kg, Amazon

Tahini recipes

Chocolate and tahini cookies

Jazz up your cookie repertoire and bake these chocolate and tahini cookies. Our irresistible version of the classic American Oreo biscuit teams crisp, dark cookies with a creamy tahini buttercream – one will never be enough.

Chickpea and vegetable koftes with tahini yogurt sauce

These low-calorie koftes are served with a nutty tahini yogurt sauce and come in under 415 calories per serving.

Vegetable Kofta Recipe with Tahini Yogurt Sauce

Cauliflower shawarma, pomegranate, tahini and pine nuts

This recipe for cauliflower shawarma comes from Berber and Q in East London. Serving cauliflower whole like this, fresh from the BBQ is inspired, particularly, when it's smothered in shawarma butter. Serve this by itself, or as a side dish.