Green Tahini Sauce (Vietnamese Flavors)

herby-tahini-sauce-on-spoon-over-noodles

Green Tahini Sauce (Vietnamese Flavors)

Fresh herbs abound in this herby tahini sauce inspired by Vietnamese flavors such as cilantro, lime, mint, scallions, and garlic. The bite of the fresh herbs and tang of the lime balance the richness of the tahini for a bright and slurpable sauce, with many uses.

Prep Time10

Cook Time0

Total Time10

Course: dressing, sauce

Cuisine: Southeast Asian

Keyword: green tahini sauce, herby tahini sauce, tahini sauce

Servings:

Calories: 194kcal

Author: Kathy Marshall

Equipment

1 food processor or blender

Ingredients

1/2 cup tahini (a.k.a. sesame seed paste)
1 bunch fresh cilantro (see notes)
1 cup fresh mint (see notes)
1 bunch green onions (a.k.a. scallions)
1 large garlic clove (2 if smaller)
1 lime (juiced)
1 tsp fish sauce (vegan) (see notes)

Instructions

Thoroughly wash 1 bunch fresh cilantro, and 1 cup fresh mint, lay on towel and wrap to dry/remove water. Remove the mint leaves from stems. Keep Cilantro leaves whole with stems. See notes.
Wash 1 bunch green onions , trim root ends off and dry. Only trim off tops of greens if they are brown or bruised.
Add fresh herbs, green onions, and 1 large garlic clove to food processor/blender. Run the machine to finely chop all the ingredients, pulsing and scraping down the sides as needed.
Add the 1 lime, juiced, 1/2 cup tahini and 1 tsp fish sauce (vegan)/other sauce-see notes. Blend with pulses and scrape down sides. End by blending continually for 10 seconds or so to achieve smooth texture and green color. Taste and adjust with salt to taste. Taste and adjust, making sure you are happy with the level of tang of the lime or funk from the fish/other sauce.

Notes

Fresh Herbs: cilantro stems are full of flavor and should be used, while mint stems are woody and should not be used. You can cut back one of these herbs and add in some basil as well, with stems.

Fish Sauce: This vegan sauce uses vegan fish sauce, or you can use coconut aminos, soy or tamari sauce, or regular fish sauce if you are not vegan/vegetarian. Any of these choices adds that funky flavor/umami. You could also use miso.

Nutrition