Clapton Kitchen: Tahini Salad

This is a simple and versatile salad, very popular in Palestine . It is a great mezze, barbecue side, a lunch with some bread and crunchy vegetables and I really love it with fasoolia (green beans) and rice, a home special. There are different variations on this salad, however I like a relatively thin and lemony tahini sauce. The vegetables and herbs should all be finely chopped and it should be served a little chilled.

A large handful of parsley

salt to taste (1 tsp minimum)

tahini paste – 200 ml approx

lemons – 2 large or 3 small juiced

First of all peel the tomatoes. If you do not have a peeler that works for tomato skin, you can put them in boiling water for 5 minutes and then peel the skin off. Leave to cool and deseed them. Next peel the cucumber. Chop the tomato and cucumber into a fine dice and place in a bowl.

Chop the parsley finely; a good technique is to gather and pinch so that it is very tightly bunched together and then slice across in one direction.

The dressing should be silky and rich with a citrusy tang. I like my sauce to be fairly loose and lemony as tahini is quite rich and has quite a dominant flavour. Whatever your preference it should have a creamy and smooth consistency. Also buy a good quality tahini - al Nakhil and California garden (Lebanese brands) can be found in many Turkish and Asian food stores.

Use a knife to stir the tahini in the jar as the contents tends to separate. To the bowl with the tomato and cucumber, add about 2/3 of the tahini and stir it so that the salad is coated. Now slowly add the lemon (not all) and gently stir. Add ½ tsp of salt. If it needs a bit more thickness to it, add the remaining tahini slowly and stir it. Add the rest of the lemon. I always need all the lemon. Add a bit more salt if it needs it. Finally add the water last to get the smooth creamy consistency and add it very slowly and carry on stirring. You might not need all of it.

Stir in the parsley gently and refrigerate for 15 minutes so that is chilled. Take it out, give it one final stir and a drizzle of olive oil and its ready. Best eaten with warm pitta bread.