Attention, Tahini lovers!
This is the dish my mom would make me whenever I’m feeling down. I love how warm it is, and I usually like it with less “solids”, and just mainly Tahini sauce. To make it more nutritious though, the chickpeas are important !
This is usually served with meatballs, or Kebbé. When in Lebanon, I have it with Pumpkin Kebbé.
This one’s close to my heart; let me know if you try it, tweak it, hate it or love it in the comments below!
In Lebanon we use “bou sfeir” juice, which is bitter orange juice. If you’re in Lebanon, use that instead, quantity varying to taste.
🍁 Ingredients(4 servings) 🍁
- 1 cup of brown rice
- 1 cup Tahini
- 240g (drained) canned Chickpeas
- 3 oranges (juiced)
- 5 medium to large lemons (juiced)
- 1 large onion
- 1 cube vegetable stock
- 2 tbsps vegetable oil
- roasted pine nuts optional: for the rice
- Salt to taste
For the Meatballs
- 1/2 cup oat bran/grounded oats
- 1/2 cup dry minced soy (brown)
- 2 flax/seed eggs (2 tbsps of seed mix or flax seeds, 6 tbsps of water)
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/2 tsp of each: all-ground spice, garlic powder, cinnamon
You can use black beans instead of soy. I haven’t tried it myself, but there are plenty of recipes online that do!
🌱 Preparation 🌱
Rice and Sauce
- Cook the rice
- Peel and cut the onion in long pieces (like half-moons)
- Fry the onion in a pot with the vegetable oil on low heat until translucent and soft
- Strain the chickpeas from the can-water
- In a different pot, add chickpeas, 2 cups of water, and vegetable broth. Mix, and bring to high heat and let it boil until chickpeas are soft enough. Take off heat.
- In a bowl, add Tahini, and gradually pour the lemons’ and orange juice while stirring. The Tahini will solidify at one point, just keep adding the liquid and stirring.
- Salt to taste.
- Add Tahini mix to the pot with the onions and chickpeas, keep on very low heat.
- Salt/pepper to taste.
stay close to the pot; if the temperature is too high, the Tahini will start to solidify again.
If you feel there’s not enough liquid, just add more Tahini/Lemon/Orange juice accordingly.
Meatballs
Prepare Flax/seeds eggs: Add warm water to seeds, and let sit for 15 min
- Soak soy in boiling water for 5-10 min
- Drain soy, and fry in a pan with the vegetable oil
- Add spices while frying
- Once the pieces become brown, stop frying.
- Mix cooked soy, oats, and seed eggs in a bowl.
- Keep kneading and form your soy-balls!
- Refrigerate for at least 30 min.
👩🍳How to serve 👩🍳
- Fry Soy balls in a pan with some vegetable oil. Keep moving them around until brown all over.
- Serve warm, with rice as a base. Option to top with roasted pine nuts!
🤓 Student Scheduling 🤓
While the rice and sauce don’t take much time, frying up the soy and making sure the onions/chickpeas are well cooked can take up to 20-30 min.
Therefore I’d only recommend you try this on a day off, and keep the rest as a hearty dish for around 4 days.
💸 Going Green all the way to the Wallet? 💸
Lose the pine nuts!
🐄🐔No animal was hurt preparing this dish, stay safe, stay home, and let’s survive this one recipe at a time!
The Vegan Whisper 
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