Mid Eastern Garlic Sauce

[Brooksy]

You guys are killin' me

What a mish mash of delicious sauce variations. C & P'd the lot. Thanks.

The only sauce or accompaniment we've made with yoghurt is the old yoghurt, mint and cucumber siding for curry.
These look fantastic, & since DW & I love Harissa Lamb casserole (or stew), these sauces should set it off magnificently.

Thank you.

[Eric_C]

Ok...we went back to our favorite Arabic resturant yesterday and I asked another waitress what it was called. We never had luck with them telling us how they make it but she said it was called, and this is phoetic, toom.

She told us:

Olive Oil
Lemon Juice
Salt
Raw Garlic

Puree it until it turns white and thick...we tried it last night and it didn't come out exactly right, or even close :)

But we did not use raw garlic. Also she said to mix, with a high speed mixer, the lemon juice and olive oil until it turns white, ours turned a slight shade of yellow and actually gained some consistency but no where near what there's is.

There is somethign to the idea. Sometimes the sauce we get is thick, other times its not so it must be the raw garlic puree'd thickening it up.

We weren't excited about pouring out a ton of our good olive oils o I'll pick up some cheap stuff to experiment with and a better mixer.

I think I need way more raw garlic, less olive oil and less lemon juice. She didn't say how much, you just have to play around with it.

[ironchef]

There must be something like yogurt or mayo that the waitress forgot to tell you. If not, I don't see how it's going to get a white color because of the natural color of the oil. The recipe as it was given looks more like a vinaigrette. To get it thick you would need a 2-to-1 or 3-to-1 ratio for the emulsification.

[velochic]

In Turkish cooking, we do a simple dressing that is olive oil and lemon juice, and yeah, if you emulsify it correctly it WILL turn white. Especially if you don't use Extra Virgin.

OP- could it be possible that there is some tahini in the sauce? That's pretty common in middle eastern cooking and would make a big difference in the taste.

One more thought... if you add chickpeas, you've got hummus (pronounced WHO-MOOSE, not HUM-MUSS). Could that have been the word... it's kinda close to TOOM, I guess if you really make a stretch and the person wasn't an native english speaker.

[Michael in FtW]

Well, I Googled and searched for recipes for Toom - and this is what I found:

Toom appears to mean "garlic" in Arabic - thus this is a garlic "sauce" (actuallly an emulsion something like mayonnaise).

The waitress told you both the ingredients and the technique .... "Also she said to mix, with a high speed mixer, the lemon juice and olive oil until it turns white ..." - that's making an emulsion.

"But we did not use raw garlic ..." - why not?

Here is the recipe that I found to be the most common ingredients and their ratios for toom:

Blend the following ingredients in a blender (or use a stick/immersion blender in a narrow glass) until the ingredients are emulsified into a smooth paste:

4 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt

I would probably start with the garlic, salt and 1/2 of the lemon juice. Whizz that in the blender until the garlic is pureed - add the rest of the lemon juice and then drizzle in the olive oil - just as if you were making a mayonnaise.

If you try this please let us know how close it came to what you had in the restaurant.

[Ishbel]

This is a sauce that I make and keep in the fridge during the summer. It uses roasted garlic and the 'magic' ingredient is BREAD

4 large garlic bulbs
100ml olive oil
1 thick slice white bread (cut off the crusts)
Juice of 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 200°C, gas mark 6. Cut a thin slice off the top of each garlic bulb and place the bulbs in a shallow ovenproof dish. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil and roast for 30-35 minutes, or until the flesh feels soft when pierced with a knife. Allow to cool.
Meanwhile, soak the bread in cold water for 5 minutes. Then squeeze out the water and place the bread in a food processor with the lemon juice.
Squeeze the garlic flesh out of its skin and add to the processor. Blend to a smooth paste. With the motor running, gradually pour in the remaining oil until thick. Season. Allow to cool, then chill before eating..

[ronjohn55]

Originally Posted by Eric_C

I'll check out the dressing recipe...one place we goto they serve it and you just dip pita in it, its phenomenal stuff but everyone guards their recipe.

I work near Dearborn, Michigan, the largest Arab population in the United States. There are tons of Arabic resturants and bakeries and they all make it a variety of ways but it is not with Cucumbers. There is another 'salad' that they make that is similar but for sure different than the dipping sauce.

Thanks again

Eric C has been eating at either La Shish or La Pita!

Great places!

John

[buckytom]

a peeping tom bump.