Tarator Sauce (Tahini Sauce)

This delicious Sauce is used along many Mediterranean dishes. Some of which are Falafel, Chicken Shawarma, Beef Shawarma, and Swiss Chard Rolls to name a few. It contributes a distinct unique flavor to every dish that no other sauce or flavoring can do.

This recipe is not really meant to be a recipe that you stick to and cannot deviate from. It can be adjusted to whatever your taste buds like.

If you are the type of person that likes sour food, then be ready to add a lot of lemon juice.

If you are the type of person that likes mild food, you will be adding more water than anything.

And if you are a garlic lover, get ready to crush a whole lot of garlic.

What you will need:

Tahini
Lemon Juice
a Lime
Garlic
Water
Salt

Tahini is a Mediterranean paste made from crushed sesame seeds. Not all Tahini is made the same. Some taste better than others. Find the one that you like best and use it for this Taratour Sauce (Tahini Sauce).

In a small bowl, add about a 1/3 cup of tahini, 1/3 cup of lemon juice, 1/4 cup of water, 1/2 tsp to 3/4 tsp salt, 1 crushed garlic clove, and the juice of half a lime.

I like to crush the garlic using a mortar and pestle. I find that this brings in a depth a flavor that minced garlic simply does not have. To crush the garlic using a mortar and pestle, add a little bit of salt with it. The salt will make the crushing process go a lot quicker and easier as the grains of salt penetrate the garlic clove and brake it up.

I love sour and salty food, so if you find this amount of lemon juice in the sauce to be too much for you, you can reduce it and substitute it with water.

This recipe is very objective to the person that will be consuming it, and to the dish that it is being made for.

For Falafel, I like to make the Taratour Sauce a little on the thicker side. Falafel is usually eaten in the form of a wrap. The last thing that you’ll want is to have a soggy wrap that is falling apart on you, but if you like it to be a little runnier, you can adjust that by adding more liquid, or removing a small amount of the tahini.

For Swiss Chard Rolls, I like to have the Taratour Sauce (Tahini Sauce) more on the runny side. You want to be able to easily drizzle it on the rolls.
The Taratour (Tahini Sauce) that is made for the Swiss Chard Rolls is usually made with the warm liquid that the swiss chard stalks were boiled in. It is also mixed with the diced and cooked swiss chard stalks to complement the flavor of the dish.

For Shawarma, I personally prefer it to be a medium thickness. You want the ease of drizzling the Taratour (Tahini Sauce) over the Strips of beef or chicken without causing the wrap to become soggy. Which makes a medium thickness perfect for shawarma.

Just keep in mind that if you use warm liquid to make the sauce, it will taste drastically different, and it will be on the runny side. When the Sauce is placed in the fridge, it will thicken, and the sour and salty flavors will become more prominent.

These are the links to some of the dishes that you can serve this Taratour (Tahini Sauce) with

Falafel (Mediterranean Bean Burger Patties)
Vegetarian Swiss Chard Rolls (Mehshe Sele’e – Selek)

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