Spicy Green Tahini Dip
Published Nov. 7, 2024
- Total Time
- 30 minutes, plus 40 minutes’ cooling
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 20 minutes, plus 40 minutes’ cooling
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
Advertisement
Ingredients
- 2bunches Swiss chard (not red; about 1½ pounds), rinsed
- ½cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 4garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 3serrano chiles, thinly sliced
- Salt and black pepper
- Zest and juice of 1 lemon (about 3 tablespoons juice)
- 1cup mint leaves
- ½cup tahini
- Sliced crunchy vegetables, such as cucumbers, radishes and carrots, for dipping
Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.
Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.
Preparation
- Step 1
Pull the leaves off the stems of the Swiss chard and coarsely tear (you’ll have about 5 cups). Finely chop the stems and keep them separate from the leaves.
- Step 2
Heat ¼ cup of oil in a large skillet over medium. Add the Swiss chard stems, garlic and chiles, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the stems are tender and the garlic has softened but not browned, 6 to 8 minutes. If the pan looks dry or the garlic is beginning to brown, add a splash of water. Throw in the chard leaves, season with salt and pepper and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the greens are very tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely, about 40 minutes.
- Step 3
Using your hands, gather the cooled chard mixture and squeeze out as much liquid as you can into a bowl or measuring cup. Save that liquid!
- Step 4
Place the chard mixture in a blender along with the lemon zest and juice, mint, 2 tablespoons of the reserved chard liquid and the remaining ¼ cup oil. Purée until almost smooth. Pour in the tahini and blend once more, until combined. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve with crunchy vegetables for dipping. (The dip can be made 3 days ahead and stored covered in the fridge; bring back to room temperature before serving.)
Private Notes
Comments
I made this exactly as written and it was not very good. Pretty bland actually. I felt like there was perhaps too much tahini and it drowned out the other flavors. I added more salt and lemon in hopes it would improve but it just was not that good,
I just made this dip, and I'm into it! Seeing the other comments about blandness and spice level, I made these tweaks: used one serrano and two mild jalapenos (all seeded), and reduced the tahini to 1/4 C. The extra chard liquid seemed flavorful and at least half oil, so I poured it all into the food processor to loosen the sauce instead of the second 1/4 C of olive oil. The result was tingly but not overly spicy, and the lemon and mint flavors came through well.
@isabel perhaps go less in the Swiss Chard (or skip, I didn’t notice him adding Swiss chard in his Instagram video of this herb sauce) and go heavy on other herbs maybe some parsley or dill. Also on his video he laid the sauce on a large plate and placed a ton of beautifully seasoned and roasted veggies on top and that seemed like the way to go.
Based on comments, I am wondering if this would be better treated more like baba ganoush, leaving the garlic raw and adding lemon. Maybe even roast the chard stalks and the peppers and either leave the greens raw or add them to the roasting pan for the last few minutes. I’m going to try this. (Also, because my husband doesn’t like mint I will substitute cilantro, so it will be pretty different)
I like serving dips that are more vegetable matter than fat, and that use healthy fats. But this was completely mediocre until I added some Greek yogurt--probably about 3/4 cup (skim milk is what I had), maybe more. That transformed it. By that point I had so much that I was able to offer some to my guests to take home, and they did so eagerly. --Also: I didn't have enough liquid in my vegetable mix to squeeze out 2 T. Total waste of time and an extra couple of dirty dishes.
Agree that there's too much tahini, I wish I'd that comment before making it! I ended up adding some salt, some more olive oil for texture, the juice of a whole additional lemon, and a splash of red wine vinegar (because I didn't have more lemon). Definitely livened it up and counteracted the tahini.
Advertisement