magic ingredients > sesame seeds
sesame seeds
Before I got into cooking, I associated sesame seeds with tooth-breaking sweet bar that I used to love as a kid. Imagine a very thin biscuit of roasted sesame seeds “glued” by honey and you'll get the idea. Sounds silly but one of my childhood memories of sibling rivalry and bitter disappointment was my sister scoffing ALL packs of this candy which Mum bought us to share. Well, the world moves on and I'm now enjoying the sesame seeds and its oil in my everyday cooking. I even forgiven my sister! Sesame seeds are rich in vitamins and minerals and their fat does not contain any cholesterol, so they can add a real boost to your diet. Having said that, one of the most common food allergies is the intolerance to sesame seeds, so always ask before you serve them. In flavour, roasted seeds resemble the taste of almonds and they tend to be used lot in Asian dishes, adding crunch and texture.
cooking with sesame seeds
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Provided you or anyone you are cooking for doesn’t have an allergy to them, sesame seeds are fun to use in all sorts of dishes:
sesame tuna with pak choi, pepper & shiitake mushrooms malay duck with stir-fry noodles chicken brochettes with crunchy stir-fryinterestingly...
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- According to the Assyrian legend, gods drank wine made from the sesame seeds when they met to create the world. In early Hindu mythodology, sesame seeds represented a symbol of immorality.- Culinary use of sesame seeds dates back for more than 5,000 years. Indeed, they are believed to be one of the first condiments used in cooking. They were also used to create the earliest edible oil known to man.
- The famous password of “Open Sesame” that opened the treasure cave for Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves is believed to refer to the way ripe sesame seeds burst from their pod with a sharp popping noise.
- Along with egg yolks, sesame seeds are one of the few sources of Vitamin T, thought to strengthen red blood cells.
- Tahini, is an oily paste made from sesame seeds served as part Middle Eastern meze.
