“I’m all about simplicity,” says Ayub Julany, the founder of Albaik Tahini. “If a recipe has more than three to five ingredients, I don’t want it.” With no frills, the ingredients can shine—and Julany wants the tahini that he produces in Arlington Heights to be a star. That’s why the hummus he sells at farmers’ markets contains only three ingredients.
“Tahini is the recipe,” he says. “I keep telling people, we make the only hummus in Chicago that’s been made completely from scratch. Take my word for that. Nobody else makes their own tahini, and then uses their own tahini that they stone-mill to make hummus. From zero, from nothing, from scratch.”
“Nothing” is a bit of an exaggeration: obviously the process of making tahini, that luscious staple of Middle Eastern cuisine, starts with sesame seeds. In Julany’s case, they are imported from Sudan. “We only work with this specific strain for multiple reasons,” he says. “The color; the texture; it has a high oil content; and the taste doesn’t have a bitter taste or aftertaste; and has a nutty flavor to it.”
I really like hummus and I've made my own with store-bought tahini. A Syrian restaurant in New Castle, PA (Mary's Restaurant) is one of my favorite places to eat and I often order their hummus when I go there. Their tzatziki is also excellent.
Here is an article on uses for tahini that I recently read. Let us know if you go buy your local tahini and what you do with it.
Big Al
-------------------------------- Money seems to buy the most happiness when you give it away.
Why does everything have to be so complicated, all in the name of convenience. -ShiroKuro
A lifetime of experience will change a person. If it doesn't, then you're already dead inside. -MarkJ
Posts: 7466 | Location: Western PA | Registered: 20 April 2005
