Name: Roasted Sesame Tahini
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 12 servings
Cuisine: Levantine
Ingredients: 400 g roasted sesame seeds; 100 g plain sesame seeds; 4 to 6 tablespoons cold-pressed sesame oil; half a teaspoon fine salt; 1 a heavy blender or food processor; 1 a dry baking tray; 1 a sterilised glass jar with a lid; 1 a flexible spatula for scraping down

Before you cook

Tahini is sesame seeds and a little oil. Everything else is patience: the paste passes through a dry, crumbly stage that looks like failure and then suddenly loosens.

Do not add water at that stage. Water seizes tahini into a stiff mass; oil, a teaspoon at a time, is what carries it through.

Method

Warm the plain seeds in a dry pan until nutty and a shade darker.
Spread every seed on a tray and cool them completely to room temperature.
Blend the cooled seeds alone for two minutes, scraping the sides down.
Continue through the dry, crumbly stage without adding any water at all.
Add one teaspoon of sesame oil and blend again for a full minute.
Repeat with more oil, a teaspoon at a time, until the paste pours.
Blend in the salt last so you taste the sesame while adjusting it.
Rest the machine if it grows hot, then finish with a smooth final blend.
Decant into a sterilised jar and refrigerate for up to one month.
Stir separated oil back in before use rather than pouring it away.

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