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Lebanese Garlic Sauce (aka Toum or Toom)

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Lebanese Garlic SauceIt’s no secret that I love garlic; on crackers, bread, or even when I sneak a bite from my jar of ever ready minced garlic #sorry #notsorry. And that’s exactly why I am obsessed with this easy 4 ingredient Lebanese Garlic Sauce!

Lebanese Garlic Sauce Ingredients

4 every day ingredients, including garlic, lemon juice, oil, and salt.

Also known as Toum or Toom (which happens to be the Lebanese word for garlic), this sauce traditionally accompanies sandwiches (like Shawarmas).  Personally, I love getting a heaping bowl full and eating it with pita, crackers, or even veggies like a dip.

Best part of all this recipe only requires four every day ingredients, a food processor, and patience!
Plus it’s vegan, gluten free, paleo and keto friendly.

Lebanese Garlic Sauce - 3 Stages in a Food Processor

A food processor works best for making this sauce.

The sauce gets its fluffiness from employing ‘the mayonnaise method.’ Essentially the lemon juice molecules will be trapped by the oil (giving it body), while the garlic will act as the emulsifier (like egg yolks would in mayonnaise). It’s science!

I also prefer a food processor for this recipe. The wide bowl allows the emulsion to occur evenly, but also allows enough air to incorporate into the sauce making it light, airy, and fluffy.

Lebanese Garlic Sauce - Alternating Liquid Ingredients

Slowly pour in your liquid ingredients in a thin stream, alternating between oil and lemon juice; don’t stop until you’ve finished all of your ingredients and the sauce can stay on the spoon as shown.

And the final piece is patience. We are creating an emulsion by suspending the water from the garlic and lemon juice in the oil – which means we have to take it slow and drizzle in our liquid ingredients, alternating 4 tablespoons of oil and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice repeatedly until all ingredients are finished.

You also want to stop to take frequent breaks. I own a top-of the line Cuisinart food processor, and even with a new machine the motor heats the sauce and creates condensation inside the bowl. As soon as you see water droplets collecting at the top, you should stop and remove the cover and let the motor cool for a few minutes before going back in – we don’t want to break the emulsion with pools of rogue water droplets. Control your garlic sauce – don’t let it control you.

Lebanese Garlic Sauce - and Flat Bread

I love using this sauce as a dip! Here I am using some Indian flat bread with the freshly made garlic sauce.

But that patience does pay off! In the end you are rewarded with the a rich yet delicate sauce that you will want to eat on everything – seriously EVERYTHING.

This Lebanese Garlic Sauce is a hit everywhere I take it, and anyone who tries it is simply amazed that it’s only 4 ingredients and vegan. Give it a try for your next potluck, party, or night in, and let me know how it goes in the comments below!

Lebanese Garlic Sauce (aka Toum or Toom)
 
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This super easy 4 ingredient Lebanese Garlic Sauce goes great on sandwiches, wraps, burgers, or even as a dip. Best of all, it's vegan, gluten free, paleo, and keto friendly!
Author:
Recipe type: Sauce
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Ingredients
  • 2 cups Avocado Oil (or any other neutral oil)*
  • ½ cup Lemon Juice, freshly squeezed
  • ½ cup Garlic, fresh**
  • 1 tsp. Salt
Instructions
  1. Place garlic and salt into the bowl of the food processor and blend until it becomes a fine paste, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed

  2. Once the garlic has become a paste, slowly pour in your oil by the spoonful while the machine is running; you want to pour it in a 'thin stream'

  3. Alternate pouring in the oil and lemon juice in the same manor (4 tablespoons of oil, followed by 1 tablespoon of lemon juice) until all ingredients have been finished (it's okay if the lemon juice finishes first, just continue on with the oil)

  4. Once the sauce has reached a thicker state, and you've finished incorporating all of the liquid ingredients, it should be able to cling to a spoon or spatula at which point you'll know it's done

  5. Transfer to a clean/dry glass bowl, and let it rest before covering it with a lid or plastic wrap
Notes
*I like to use Avocado Oil, but feel free to use Corn Oil or any other neutral oil - avoid using Olive Oil, which has a strong flavor (the oil should be there for volume, not flavor)

**When using garlic, use freshly peeled or fresh packaged pre-peeled garlic only (not frozen or pre-minced garlic). Depending on your garlic, this dip can have a kick to it - I've noticed that the older the garlic is, the milder it gets. Taste your garlic and adjust accordingly.

 

Lebanese Garlic Sauce | The Gentleman's Plate - This super easy 4 ingredient Lebanese Garlic Sauce takes only 20 minutes to prepare and is also Vegan, Gluten Free, Paleo, and Keto friendly!

Fijian Roro (stew of greens) + Boiled Cassava

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Fijian Roro Hero“Drums of the islands you’re beating in my heart, you’re with me no matter where I roam.
If ever I wander if ever we should part, I know that you will lead me home…”

I grew up listening this song (and am actually listening to it now). Not only because I am an Elvis fan (“Devil in Disguise,” come on!?), but also because my parents are proud expatriates of the island nation of Fiji. To them, and many other Pacific Islanders, this 1966 Elvis tune sort of became an unofficial anthem for island born travelers yearning for the comforts of home.

One of those comforts are the abundance of Polynesian foods, often hard to find here in the states. For example, dalo ke bhaji (taro leaves) in Hindi, or roro in native Fijian, are always hard to find and are even harder to grow here. That’s why growing up, my mother would prepare this traditional Fijian dish with a little cheat: frozen chopped spinach.

Fijian Roro Spinach

Yes, Roro actually just means taro leaves; but the traditional way of cooking it with coconut milk, onions, and salt, is what Indians (who were brought to the islands almost 150 years ago) have adopted in our staple diet. So technically the title of this post should be “Fijian Spinach,” but this post is more about the method than the ingredient.

Of course, there are myriad ways of cooking this simple 6 ingredient dish, such as making a tadka (tampering in oil) of the onions, garlic, and chili – but I find this method adopted from Indian cooking too harsh, making the dish slightly bitter; traditional Fijian cooking, before the arrival of the British or the Indians, consisted mostly of roasting in an earthern oven (aka a lovo, or underground oven) or boiling and steaming. This boiled method is the most authentic and flavorful way to make Roro, in my opinion.

Fijian Roro Cassava PackageFijian Roro Cassava Boiling

And then there are the sides. Roro is delicious all on its own (and keto/paleo friendly too!), but Indian households treat this dish as we would a curry, and we often serve it with chapatis or rice. Traditional Fijian households will almost always serve it with boiled/steamed dalo (taro root), and sometimes will serve it with cassera (cassava, tapioca root, or yuca). I prefer a nicely boiled cassava, myself

Fijian Roro Dipped Cassava

Now that I am married, and running a household of my own, I make this dish when I’m craving something warm, filling, and comforting. Not to mention, this is an amazing one pot meal with only 6 ingredients, so we nosh on the Roro more often than my wife would like.

So weather or not you can hear the drums of the island in your heart, there’s no reason not to give this rich and flavorful dish a try.  So what are you waiting for? Go go, make Roro – be on island time tonight!.Fijian Roro Hero 2

Fijian Roro (stew of greens) + Boiled Cassava
 
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This one pot stew from the Fiji Islands comes together quickly, and makes for a hearty soup best eaten with rice, taro, or cassava.
Author:
Recipe type: Stew
Cuisine: Fijian
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 10 oz (280 g) frozen chopped spinach
  • 14 oz can of coconut milk
  • 2 cups water
  • ½ cup (30 g) onions, chopped
  • 1 tsp garlic paste, or 4 small cloves chopped
  • ½ lime, to taste
  • 2-3 thai chilis, or to taste
  • 1 tsp salt, or to taste
  • *optional frozen cassava or taro for serving
Instructions
  1. Remove the frozen chopped spinach out of the wrapper, and place on a microwave safe plate and heat for 1½ minutes on high in your microwave oven, until it has mostly thawed.
  2. In a medium sauce pan, bring one cup of water to a boil; add in the chopped onion, garlic paste, chilis, and salt and simmer with the lid closed until tender (about 4 minutes).
  3. Add the spinach to the pot, adding more water if needed (it should be just covering the spinach). Let the spinach cook for an additional 4-5 minutes, until everything is tender.
  4. Reduce the heat to medium and add the entire can of coconut milk and stir. Let this boil for an additional 4-5 minutes, until the milk thickens and absorbs all of the flavor.
  5. Add an additional cup of water at this stage, to prevent the coconut milk from burning; boil until you reach a desired consistency (similar to a Thai curry).
  6. Season with the juice of half a lime, adding more lime and salt per your taste.
  7. If serving with cassava or taro, thaw the frozen rootcrop properly before boiling (countertop or microwave), otherwise find fresh rootcrop at your local ethnic grocer. Bring a quart of water to a boil and cook the cassava or taro the same way you would a potato, by boiling until tender in the center when poked with a fork or a knife; strain and let rest before serving.
Notes
Depending on how much water is added, the coconut milk will thicken as it cools making it more dippable.


The flavors will continue to marinate and develop overnight, and this stew can keep for a week if refrigerated.


This dish can be eaten on its own, but can also be served with rice or flatbread.