I had bought a lot of fresh garlic and I was looking new recipes and new ways of using it. Someone mentioned a traditional Lebanese recipe for Toum. Toum can be used as a sauce or a dip. It can be kept in the fridge for a month an also used to add to curries and sauces.
What is traditional Toum?
Traditional Toum is a strong and creamy Middle Eastern garlic sauce made of garlic, oil, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt with just a little bit of water. The recipe for toum requires slow blending and the addition of a huge amount of cooking oil.
In my fast blender, I was able to add the salt, lemon and a very small amount of olive oil to get a lovely smooth, creamy and fluffy dip – which is not exactly toum but still very tasty.
How would you eat this dip?
The garlic dip is really pungent and you only needed a small amount to add to any dish. We like adding it to the traditional grilled aubergine dish called oro or baigan bharta. It’s great with grilled vegetables too. I also used some of this fluffy garlic paste to make garlic chutney which is very popular with Gujaratis.
Ingredients for the Garlic dip similar to Toum:
- 4 largish garlic pods.
- 2 tbls lemon juice
- 2 tbls olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
Ingredients for the Garlic Chutney:
- Half the paste from the above dip
- 1 tbls olive oil
- 3-4 tbls chili powder
- salt to taste
Method:
- Peel all the garlic and transfer it to the Blender and add the salt, Olive oil and lemon juice to it.
2. Use the pulse program to blend the garlic in 20 second blasts until it’s all blended.
3. My blender creates a vacuum when its blending. The vacuum and the speed of the blender really help to make this garlic dip white looking and very fluffy. It also retains the strong garlic taste so you don’t need to add a lot of it if you wish to use it in sauces or curries. You can also use it as a dip. As mentioned above – We like adding it to the traditional grilled aubergine dish called oro or baigan bharta. It’s great with grilled vegetables too. I also used some of this fluffy garlic paste to make garlic chutney which is very popular with Gujaratis. 
Method for the garlic chutney or lasan ni chutney as a lot of Gujaratis call it:
- Bottle half the garlic dip and keep half in a mixing bowl.
2. Add the chili powder and keep blending it until it gets firm. Taste and add salt if needed.
3. Finally add the olive oil, mix and bottle the chutney to use either as a condiment or to add to any Indian cooking. It’s great to add a tiny amount to yogurt and have it just as a dip. My recipe for making garlic chutney without using a blender is here.
Here are some more chutney recipes for you to try from my blog. Watch out as some of them may be very hot in taste:
- Coriander and Chili Chutney/Dip
- Garlic Dip and Garlic Chutney
- Pineapple, mango and passion fruit Chutney
- Peanut Onion and Tomato Chutney
- Tomato and Dates Chutney
- Fiery Green Tomato Chutney
- Mango Chutney in the Instant Pot
Garlic Dip and Garlic chutney
Equipment
- Blender
Ingredients
Ingredients for the Garlic dip similar to Toum:
- 4 largish garlic pods
- 2 tbls lemon juice
- 2 tbls olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
Ingredients For the Garlic Chutney:
- Half the paste from the above dip
- 1 tbls olive oil
- 3-4 tbls chili powder
- salt to taste
Instructions
For the Garlic Dip:
- Add the salt and lemon juice in the Blender. Start peeling the garlic and add the peeled garlic into the blender.
- Use the pulse program to blend the garlic in 20 second blasts until it’s all blended.
- My blender creates a vacuum when its blending. The vacuum and the speed of the blender really help to make this garlic dip white fluffy. It also retains the strong garlic taste so you don’t need to add a lot of it if you wish to use it in sauces or curries. You can also use it as a dip. We like adding it to the traditional grilled aubergine dish called oro or baigan bharta. It’s great with grilled vegetables too.
Method for the garlic chutney or lasan ni chutney
- Bottle half the garlic dip and keep half in a mixing bowl.
- Add the chili powder and keep blending it until it gets firm. Taste and add salt if needed.
- Finally add the olive oil, mix and bottle the chutney to use either as a condiment or to add to any Indian cooking. It’s great to add a tiny amount to yogurt and have it just as a dip. My recipe for making garlic chutney without the blender is here.
Notes
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