Sesame: Seeds, oil News

Sesame: Seeds, oil, and paste open up world of cooking

March 21, 2006 - By Kathie Smith, Blade Food Editor

This is the second in a three-part series on seeds used as spices.

Sesame seeds, sesame oil, and tahini can open up a world of cooking in your kitchen.

White, black, and roasted sesame seeds are staple ingredients in so many foods that we easily overlook them. It's easy to forget that there are sesame seeds on top of your hamburger bun and in your sushi. And note that tahini (sesame seed paste) is an intrinsic ingredient in hummus (dip of mashed chickpeas and sesame paste) and baba ghannouj (eggplant-sesame dip).

Not only are the hulled white sesame seeds at our fingertips, we also have black and roasted versions and sesame oil, but they generally turn up in a familiar place.

"The majority of sesame seeds produced are used on hamburger buns and breads," according to Laurie Harrson of McCormick & Co., the spice company headquartered in Baltimore.

For a different twist on bread, make Pale Ale-Sesame Cheese Bread with a delicious savory flavor. It also makes awesome toast the next morning. Not only are the sesame seeds in the bread dough, they're sprinkled on the shaped bread loaf before baking.

Sesame seeds are also used in other baked goods, especially benne wafers, a traditional recipe from the Old South. Benne wafers are thin, crisp cookies made with brown sugar and sesame seed. In Damon Lee Fowler's New Southern Baking (Simon & Schuster, $26), the author writes that benne seeds have become indigenous in the Carolina and Georgia Low Country and many cooks have their own versions of this delicate cookie.

When The Blade baked Lemon Ginger Scented Benne Wafers, the scant half-teaspoonful of dough seemed like too little. But the resulting baked cookie is two to three inches in diameter.

With a nutty sweet aroma and a buttery taste, sesame seeds can also be paired with asparagus, chicken, fish and shellfish, lamb, and mushrooms.

But "toasted sesame seed is more flavorful," Ms. Harrson notes. "Use high heat for cooking like a stir-fry."

(To toast sesame seeds, place in a dry skillet over medium heat. Once the pan is hot, pour in the desired amount of seeds. Using a spatula, stir the seeds in the pan until they become fragrant, about one to two minutes. Note that black sesame seeds do not toast well.)

Many Asian-inspired recipes also use sesame oil. Catfish Roasted with Sesame Seeds, Basil, and Spinach uses sesame oil and white or black sesame seeds. Note that you can also buy toasted sesame oil, which has a deeper flavor.

Sesame oil also is a favorite in salad dressings. For Sweet Ginger Dressing, combine 1/2 cup seasoned rice vinegar, 1 clove minced fresh garlic, 1 tablespoon minced candied ginger, 4 tablespoons vegetable oil, and 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil.

Sushi ingredient Sesame seeds are also found in sushi, the Japanese specialty. Depending on the sushi maker, "You would find them sprinkled on many of the rolls, such as spicy tuna roll and shrimp tempura roll," says Dennis Chung, owner of Kotobuki Japanese Restaurant in Sylvania. "We like to use it. It adds a nice flavor.

"In a week, we use a pound of sesame seeds, which is quite a bit. We're roasting it once a month, about two gallons at a time," he says. "We buy raw sesame seeds. We wash them and while they are still damp, roast them in a hot fry pan that makes them crispy. You would notice on a hamburger bun, it's a raw sesame seed. When sesame seeds are roasted, they are crunchy and darker in color. They snap and crackle in the pan when we do this."

The restaurant also grinds roasted seed, which is used as a garnish. It is put in a shaker and sprinkled on rice after it's on the seaweed. "It adds a warm flavor," Mr. Chung says. "On the nigiri sushi (these are individual pieces, not rolls), we sprinkle seeds on eel and on sea urchin. Sesame seed is not used on sushi pieces made with fish, traditionally."

In Asian foods, including Chinese and Korean, sesame seeds are also used in desserts, he says. They are sprinkled on top of desserts or may be ground and mixed with sugar and used in a cakey dough in the core of rice cakes.

Middle Eastern foods In Middle Eastern cooking, sesame seeds are most prevalent in halva and as tahini used in hummus, and baba ghannouj.

Halva is a confection made from ground sesame seed and honey, sometimes with chopped dried fruit and pistachio nuts. It is sold in many supermarkets in wrapped bars.

Tahini is a thick paste made of the ground seeds. It is an ingredient in hummus also made from mashed garbanzo beans seasoned with lemon juice, garlic, and olive or sesame oil, which is used as a dip with pita bread. Recently I made a version of hummus that included roasted red pepper and parsley; the color was darker than the traditional hummus, but it was just as creamy and delicious.

While many cookbooks and local cooks use dry chickpeas (garbanzo beans) to make hummus, the canned garbanzos are much quicker. The dry chickpeas must be soaked overnight and drained, then have fresh water added, and be cooked until well done. Then they must be mashed.

With canned garbanzo beans, the beans may still seem crunchy, according to some experts, but I found that my food processor did a good job of mashing them.

Labib Hajjar of the Beirut, Byblos, and Poco Piatti restaurants has both homemade hummus and homemade baba ghannouj on the menu at the Beirut. He estimates that the Beirut uses 100 pounds of dried chickpeas at a time to yield 440 pounds of hummus. "We do this three times a week," he says.

"We soak dry beans 20 hours and then steam them in a big steamer for a couple of hours. The chickpeas should mush and you can't get that [texture] out of the canned ones." Mr. Hajjar says.

Tahini is also used in baba ghannouj, the eggplant sesame dip. "We barbecue eggplant and put it through a food mill to get the seeds out. The [eggplant] seeds make a strong flavor and are crunchy," Mr. Hajjar says. "It will last 10 days. Lemon and olive oil is a preservative. The tahini will last for a while refrigerated."

You can also roast eggplant in the oven at 400 degrees. Cut the eggplant in half and pierce the skin. Bake for 30 minutes. The skin should peel off. Mash and strain the eggplant; add garlic salt, tahini, fresh lemon juice, and a little water. Serve with pita wedges.

For home cooking, sesame seeds should be stored in an airtight pack and kept away from extremes of heat, light, and humidity. The seeds have high oil content.

Contact Kathie Smith at:
food@theblade.com
or 419-724-6155.

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