Thoom - Arabic Garlic Sauce
This is that magical white garlic sauce served all over the Middle East in one form or another. Thousands of my felow ex-expats know it as it comes with wonderful Saudi broasted chicken (like Al-Baik). In some countries this sauce is almost mayonaissey, and in others it is a more flow-ey sauce. I like the stiff version, but it is more time consuming as it's harder to blend.
Ingredients
- 1 cup canola oil
- 1 head garlic cleaned
- 1 egg white
- lemon juice
- salt
Instructions
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Use a blender as the well on a food processor is too big for this. Try a wand blender, I havent, but if you have a strong one, I bet it's just the ticket.
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Drop into the blender: cleaned garlic, egg-white and a few teaspoons oil. Blend and add remaining oil by the teaspoon whilst continually blending. Expect to spend a little time now, dribbling in the canola oil (don't break the sauce!).
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You are creating an emulsion, like mayonaisse. Make it as stiff or as relaxed as you like, but if you add oil or lemon too much at a time, it'll 'break'. I like to keep this quite stiff as I use it like mayo. It is far harder to blend that way though.
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If the emulsion is too thick to blend, dilute it with the lemon-juice and later w/ water (when you have the level of flavor you want from the lemon but you want to thin the sauce).
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When most of the oil is emulsified, salt to taste.
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I have seen americanized versions of this sauce calling for everything from yoghurt to mashed potatoes(!) You not need a dairy product in this! Or potatoes, lol!
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Made this way, this will keep a long time, like mayo. If it's too garlicky for you, add another 1/2 C oil like you did the first cup. This is the real deal, promise!
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