Tahini is a beautiful creamy paste made from sesame seeds. It’s a fantastic way to enjoy seeds and works a real treat for salad dressings and sauces. In this recipe I’ve created a tahini sauce especially for falafels.

The tasty, creamed blend of garlic, coriander and tahini complement the warming spices and chickpeas of falafels perfectly.

If you decide to mix the sauce with a spoon, then it works best to add the liquid a little at a time. You’ll find everything combines much easier that that way and the tahini will cream nicely.

Make tahini sauce for falafels with either a spoon or hand blender

If you add all of the liquid at the same time, you’ll notice the tahini coagulate and stubbornly resist your mixing efforts for a little while.

However, if you are using a hand blender then  just go ahead and put everything in together at the same time and blend away for an instant cream (it will only take a few seconds).

Different brands of tahini vary a lot and it really matters…

There are lots of different tahini’s out there; all with different tastes (and to be quite honest, it can be a bit off-putting if you get a grainy bitter one). Make sure you get a creamy, delicious version. I tend to avoid the raw ones as they generally just don’t do it for me.

I’ve also tried making my own in my high-powered food processor, but I’ve not ever managed to get that delectable creaminess – buy a long stretch haha!  In the UK, Suma, Essentials, Sunita, and Cypressa do the best ones. They are all creamy and delicious and they also do organic, light versions (‘light’ means it has been creamed without the husks). In the USA there different options that I have enjoyed such as Achva Tahini. A friend of mine did not like tahini until she found a good one. Now she’s a big fan of the stuff (I’ve heard that story a lot to be fair as it’s so important to get the right one)… so I am thrilled that she didn’t give up!

There are some other delicious brands out there although I’ve forgotten the names. If you have a favourite please do let me know and I’ll check them out.

I must warn you though, if you stumble on to a delicious source of tahini, you’ll probably get hooked on the stuff, just like we have! For more about the health benefits of eating seeds check out my article here: The Importance of Eating Seeds for a Healthy Diet

A couple of delicious falafel recipes:

• Turmeric & Sweet Potato Falafels
• Falafel Carrot Burgers
• Roast Beetroot Falafels