In Mumbai, sesame comes into its own in til laddoos and chikkis, offered during Sankranti with the words ‘ til gud ghya, god god bola ” (eat sweet and speak sweet). But going beyond these popular sweets and the culinary versatility of sesame will thrill the cook in you. Sesame indicum , the cultivated type, which originated in India, continues to be an ingredient of significance today.
A wonderful ingredient, sesame is extremely versatile, lending itself to both sweet and savoury dishes. Sprinkle it whole on salads, or knead into chapati dough. Make spice mixes to fortify the flavour and health of your meals. One sprinkle I’m hooked to is gomasio, a condiment from Japan, in which toasted sesame is ground coarsely with salt. I just combine coarse sea salt and toasted sesame in a bottle and keep it within reach. It’s perfect with anything from a simple bowl of brown rice to salads, noodles, steamed vegetables, even khichdi. Another favourite is the Middle Eastern za’atar (a mix of herbs and spices), a condiment popularly combined with olive oil and smeared on flat bread. Za’atar is also used to flavour meat and vegetables dishes, on labneh (a thick hung yogurt cheese) or fried eggs as a garnish. I toast sesame with dried thyme and salt and grind with amchur instead of the sumac that is traditionally used but not easily found in India. It works perfectly on naans, kulchas, and in raitas. I also like to sprinkle it on chunks of paneer or chicken and grill them.
Grinding toasted sesame opens up many more options. Although south India is best known for its use of sesame, I discovered, after I married into a Garhwali family, that the cuisine of Uttarakhand uses a lot of ground sesame in its winter dishes. Crushed sesame adds a nutty accent to lobia khichdi. The piquant khatte aloo is made of potatoes tossed in yogurt, toasted sesame and chillies. And then there is addictive til ki chutney in which toasted sesame is ground with toasted cumin, ginger, green chillies, and the juice of the bada nimbu (large wild lemons that come into season in the winter). Another lovely dish is the earthy pinni ka saag that is made from pinni or compressed seed cakes left over from the oil extraction process of sesame. With the oil removed, these become extremely high in protein and dietary fibre. Grind sesame until it gives forth oil and you get tahini or sesame butter, a staple ingredient in Middle Eastern cuisine. Stir it into soups, or dips, or add honey to make a quick spread for toast or dip for fruit. I am endlessly confounded that we have been pressing sesame for oil for millennia but never thought of toasting the seed prior to extracting its oil, something that the rest of Asia has savoured for centuries. Toasted sesame oil is the most magical ingredient. The roasting process intensifies the inherent flavour of sesame and is used more as a condiment or flavouring oil. It quickly grows into being indispensible: drizzle over fried eggs, add to vinaigrettes for a delicious variation, swirl a few drops into soups… it pairs well with any flavour but is especially good with Asian, tomato and clear soups.
And we already know sesame’s nutty flavours work wonderfully in sweet dishes; our laddoos and chikkis are testimony to this. But sesame is also popular in sweets around the world. In the Middle East you will find sesame halva; which, unlike Indian halvas, come in large dry blocks from which portions are sliced off. They literally melt into a nutty, sweet toffee and glide down your throat. Addictive! In Asian cuisine, a favourite dessert is the sweet black sesame soup of Cantonese cuisine. Asian supermarkets worldwide usually carry instant mix packets but I have made it at home by boiling crushed black sesame or toasted unhusked sesame with water, sweetened with honey or jaggery. It is a great dessert for children.
We should be eating a lot more of this super food, not just saving it for festive occasions.
If you hate milk like I do, sesame offers a great substitute with three times the calcium content of milk. Plus, one tablespoon of sesame contains 52 calories, 88 mg calcium, 1.3 mg iron and 32 mg magnesium. Why look to the west for health-boosting foods when we are so fortunate in our own home-grown bounty?
(The writer is a food consultant, writer, stylist and author of A Pinch of This, a Handful of That )
