Homemade Tahini Paste

Tahini /tɑːˈhiːni/ (also tahina /tɑːˈhiːnə/; Arabic: طحينة‎) is a paste made from ground, hulled sesame seeds used in North African, Greek, Turkish, and Middle Eastern cuisine. Tahini is served as a dip on its own or as a major component of hummus, baba ghanoush, and halva.
It is easily available from Middle East stores or health stores. But did you know it's really easy to make at home?
Well, I never thought of it until a few days ago. I wanted to make some Baba Ghanoush and I was out of tahini (although I'm still convinced it's hiding somewhere in the fridge ;)). So I went to my local health store and I couldn't find any plain tahini paste. Just two Japanese style ones with adition of algae or something else and I didn't want to risk spoiling my middle eastern eggplant dish with different flavours. So I set to checking how to prepare tahini paste at home.
And of course the recipe is so simple and foolproof that you can't go wrong.
The taste?!?! Really!!! That homemade stuff is thousand times better than the store bought one. I could eat it on it's own, with a spoon, it tastes and smells that good.
I'm sure you can't find an excuse for not making it NOW. Dig your bag of sesame seeds, a skillet, a food processor (or a mini pimer), olive oil and start making it soon.

Tahini Paste

* 1 cup hulled sesame seeds
* approx. 3 TBspoons light extra virgin olive oil (or sesame oil)

Put the sesame seeds in a large heavy bottom skillet and dry toast them for a few minutes, until golden, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon so they don't burn.
Remove from heat and let cool a little bit.
Transfer the toasted sesame seeds into a food processor or a mini pimer and  process them until they start turning into a paste.
Start adding the oil, I added 1 TBspoon at a time until I reached the desired consistency.
Transfer the tahini paste into a glass jar and store in the fridge.

Pasta Tahini

* 1 tazza di semi di sesamo
* circa 3 cucchiai di olio extravergine d'oliva leggero (o l'olio di sesamo)

Mettete i semi di sesamo in una padella e tostateli leggermente sul fuoco medio mescolando continuamente con un cucchiaio di legno. Pochi minuti e saranno pronti. Attenti a non bruciarli perché inaspriscono.
Lasciateli raffreddare leggermente. Poi trasferiteli in un robot da cucina o mini pimer (se state preparando una quantità più piccola). Azionate il robot e riducete i semi di sesamo in polvere. Continuate a frullarli finché si trasformano in una pasta densa.
Allungate con l'olio d'oliva (in alternativa anche l'olio di sesamo), aggiungendolo gradualmente, un cucchiaio alla volta fino a raggiungere la consistenza desiderata.
Trasferite la tahini in un baratolo di vetro e conservatela in frigo.

uso: vari piatti della cucina Nordafricana, Greca, Turca o del Medio Oriente, come ad esempio Hummus, Baba Ghanoush, come salsina di accompagnamento per intingere il pane pita o simili.

Tahini

* 1 šalica sjemenki sezama
* otprilike 3 žlice ekstra djevičanskog maslinovog ulja blagog okusa (ili sezamovog ulja)

Stavite sjemenke sezama u suhu tavu i lagano ih tostirajte, miješajući neprestano drvenom žlicom i pazeći da ne izgore jer će postati gorke.
Ostavite sjemenke da se malo ohlade pa ih onda stavite u električnu sjeckalicu (ili mini pimer ako pravite manju količinu). Sameljite ih prvo u prah, a zatim nastavite miksati dok ne počnu ispuštati ulje i pretvore se u gustu pastu.
Dodajte sad polagano ulje, jednu po jednu žlicu po potrebi, da pastu razrijedite do željene gustoće.
Premjestite tahini u staklenku i čuvajte u hladnjaku.

Upotreba: tahini se koristi kao sastojak u raznovrsnim jelima sjevernoafričke, turske, grčke i bliskoistočne kuhinje, najpoznatiji od kojih su humus, baba ghanoush, i sl. ili jednostavno kao dip u koji umočiti pita kruh ili u ovom receptu uz falafel.