Have you Had your Tahini Today?

Tahini is a nut paste made from ground sesame seeds and it’s a nutritional powerhouse!It’s an acquired taste and for years I didn’t get into it at all even though I knew the healthy goodness that was in that sticky paste. For instance Tahini is rich in vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B15, biotin, choline.  It’s also 20 percent complete protein. It’s high in methionine, an essential amino acid, and also contains lecithin, which reduces the levels of fat in the blood and protects against environmental toxins such as nicotine. In addition, Tahini contains an abundance of minerals including magnesium, potassium, iron, and phosphorus, and is an excellent source of calcium. (source: http://www.naturaltherapypages.com.au/article/Tahini)

From a Chinese medicine perspective, tahini is considered a “neutral” energy-reinforcing food. Regularly eating tahini is good for the liver, kidneys (reproductive system) and spleen.

I fell absolutely in love with tahini when I discovered this dressing which I’ve incorporated into one of my favourite fish recipes below. It’s full of omega 3 oils, calcium and protein and it’s sublime with the freshness of lightly steamed lemony vegetables.  I always feel so healthy when I eat this! Let me know what you think!

Salmon with Tahini Dressing and Spring Vegetables

Ingredients

• 2 pieces of salmon with skin
• 2 cups mixed spring vegetables such as snow peas, asparagus, broccoli, broccolini, green beans, peas, carrots, capsicum etc
• 1 clove crushed garlic
• Olive oil

For the sauce

• ½ cup unhulled tahini
• 1 tablespoon good quality chilli sauce (optional). If you are not keen on heat, you may wish to add a ½ tspn or more of honey to add sweetness
• 1 red chilli (optional)
• 1 tablespoon grated ginger
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Good splash of soy sauce or tamari

Mix all the ingredients together adding a little water if the sauce is too thick. That’s the sauce done! Easy eh? You can add more lemon or tamari to your taste. I like it sour, spicy and with a hint of sweet

For the Salmon

1. Season the salmon
2. Drizzle olive oil in a pan and heat
3. Place salmon skin side down in the pan then lower the heat and cook slowly until the skin is crisp.
4. Turn salmon over and cook until the salmon is still pink in the middle.

And the Vegetables

1. Lightly steam your selected vegetables until just cooked
2. Take off the heat and strain off any liquid
3. Put aside
4. Heat a tspn of olive oil in a pan and when hot add the crushed garlic
5. Once the garlic is nicely golden add the vegetables back to the pan with the juice of ½ a lemon. Season and you are ready to serve.

I like to serve this dish with a small serve of jasmine rice because I am part asian and partial to rice but it’s not necessary. It does however, soak up all that lovely sauce!

Serve the salmon piled on the vegetables and drizzle the tahini dressing all over.

Yum Yum Yum! Enjoy!