Just put tahini on it.

When I was little, my family used to frequent an Indian restaurant near our house. As an appetizer, they would serve a big plate of tahini with, I think - some crispy pita. The truth is I can’t remember what I dipped in the tahini, I just remember eating the tahini. And so began my love affair with that rich, creamy seed butter.

After we moved away from the restaurant, I didn’t eat tahini anymore, we just didn't buy it. One day when I was about 19, I drove past a Middle Eastern market. I immediately pulled over and ran inside, looking for some of the spices and foods that brought me back to my childhood….and there it was…gigantic jars of tahini. I bought one and for two days I ate nothing BUT tahini. Good times.

Fast forward to the present, I use tahini all the time now that I have lessened my dairy intake, and for some reason I have been craving it like mad. Currently, I'm pretty much dreaming about it, so I thought I’d share some of the tahini creations I’ve been munching on lately.

My life revolves around creating super fast, super tasty single or double serving meals. I’m so freaking busy and my husband has a completely different schedule than me right now, so I’m pretty much cooking for myself. And I hate doing dishes, so the fewer steps, the better. Also, I hate going to the store, so these are all made with ingredients I have in my kitchen as staples.

Nothing fancy, just tasty.

Spicy-sweet Tahini Saute Sauce

2 tablespoons tahini 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1-2 teaspoons of sweet chili sauce Water to consistency

Mix it. Eat it.

Some tips: I prefer tamari over soy sauce, but I was running low on tamari and had liquid aminos, so that is what I used in this picture. It couldn’t matter any less which one you use.

If you don’t have sweet chili sauce in your fridge, use 1/2 teaspoon maple syrup and 1/2 teaspoon of sriracha, or whatever liquid sweetener/hot sauce combo you have in your fridge/cupboard right now.

Also, "water to consistency" just means you want it thin enough to pour over stuff but still, like, coat the spoon you are mixing it with. I highly recommend using a teaspoon or tablespoon to measure out the water and not hold the bowl under the tap and try to get “just a little” out. It’s possible you’ll end up with too much water. *Ahem* ask me how I know.

So, what can you do with this sauce? Whatever you want. I like slice up half a block of tofu and pan-fry it. It's roughly 8 minutes a side on medium…don’t touch it between flips. Then take the pan OFF the heat and pour the sauce over the tofu, put it back on the burner with the heat turned OFF, and let it get almost caramelized… You’re welcome.

My favorite honey mustard sauce is made by McDonalds. I would drink that shit with a straw if it was socially acceptable. Now that I no longer eat meat, I no longer frequent the joint, so when I mixed this up and realized I got so close the same flavor as my favorite sauce, I freaked out.

Side note: You will still be able to taste the tahini flavor in this. It's TAHINI honey mustard.

Creamy Tahini Honey Mustard

2 1/2 teaspoons tahini (1/2 T) 1 teaspoon stone ground mustard 1/2 teaspoon teaspoon honey Water to consistency

Mix everything up and dip whatever you want in it.

I think this would also make an excellent dressing, but I haven’t tried that yet. It’s winter, so I just want to dip warm breaded things in it. All the time.

As far as the syrup on the waffle at the top of this post goes, I mixed equal parts tahini and honey, then added some water. I used jalepeno infused honey that my friend makes on his farm, which I would link to, but he doesn't have a website.

The Simple Veganista has some of my absolute favorite recipes, she uses tahini quite a bit in her sauces. I am currently obsessed with her Sonoma chickpea salad. The dressing is ridiculous. Spoon-lick worthy.

Blog-writing soundtrack: Spectrum of Infinite Scale by Man or Astro-Man?