This almond dip is tastier and easier than hummus
Joseph Abboud has been serving his interpretation of modern Middle Eastern cuisine at his restaurant Rumi in Melbourne, Australia, since 2006. He has now compiled his best recipes. In the beautifully designed cookbook Rumi, he shares irresistibly delicious Middle Eastern dishes. Such as this almond dip. It is hummus for cheats; its base is almond flour, which you can always have within reach, unlike chickpeas, which first need to be soaked, cooked and puréed.
Jospeh: ‘Almond tarator sauce has been a popular starter at Rumi for years. We don’t have hummus on the menu at Rumi because it is such a well-known dish, and I wanted people to try something other than the standard fare at most Middle Eastern restaurants. If you aren’t paying attention, you might, like many customers, swear that it is hummus, but this sauce has a sweeter, more compact and, naturally, nuttier character.’
Arabic garlic sauce
For this insanely delicious almond dip, you need toum. Toum is the Arabic word for ‘garlic’ and for a paste made from garlic, oil, salt and lemon; a kind of thick garlic mayonnaise without egg. The problem with toum is that you will want to use it for everything, and that everything you make ‘needs toum’. So you might as well make 600 grams straight away.
Making toum
Tips: weigh the ingredients and refrigerate them for a few hours before making toum. Also make sure the blade of the food processor is cold. This prevents the toum from splitting. If the garlic is somewhat old and has a green shoot, cut the clove in half and remove the green shoot, as it can give the toum an unpleasantly bitter taste.
- Purée the garlic cloves with the salt in a food processor for 20 to 30 seconds. Slowly add half the oil, as with mayonnaise, and make sure the garlic mixture does not split.
- After 2 minutes, add half the lemon juice and most of the remaining oil. You can add this a little faster.
- Add the rest of the lemon juice and the last little bit of oil.
- You can add some ice-cold water to make the toum airy, white and slightly milder. Store for a maximum of 2 weeks in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
