What is so special about tahina from Ethiopia.

Ethiopian tahini is known as “tirhas” which is derived from the sesame seeds and a variety of Ethiopian seeds and nuts they processed as butter and oil. Ethiopian tahini has a dark brown color due to the amount of sesame seeds, nuts, grains etc. that are used to process it. The main ingredient is sesame seeds.

The sesame seeds are roasted, cooled and then crushed. It is pressed to extract about 50% of the oil. This process is repeated to get about 85% oil extracted from each batch of sesame seeds. The oil is boiled down until it becomes thick and then filtered to remove the big particles of oil. It is then boiled again until it becomes a paste. Finally, it is dried to preserve it as tahini.

Tahini is used for a variety of dishes in Ethiopia.

It is either served as a dip or mixed with water and used to make hilib, a popular dish made with a spongy flatbread called injera and various vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, cabbage, onions etc.

It is also the main ingredient in the most popular Ethiopian morning drink called Tella. Tella is made by adding some tahini to hot water and boiling it until it becomes a thick paste like texture. Then add sugar to sweeten it. Tella is made by adding some tahini to hot water and boiling it until it becomes a thick paste like texture. Then add sugar to sweeten it.

Another dish is the great “Fitfit”: for this dish you need to mix tahini with chicken stock or vegetable stock and boiling them until it becomes thick. The recipe differs here: some people use crushed garlic as a topping while others use chopped onion or raw onion or both.

Use of Ethiopian tahini in Western countries

Tahini from Ethiopia is becoming famous in the Western countries also. It is used as a spread in sandwiches and as an ingredient for salad dressings and hummus. This makes Ethiopian tahini unique compared to the other kinds of tahini available throughout the world.