Garlic Sauce Recipe
You probably had this special sauce at your favorite Lebanese restaurant with grilled chicken. Or maybe got it in 2 small plastic containers as you ordered a Lebanese take-out. Good news, you can make this at home in a bigger quantity.! Toum is a condiment and a dip, the pungent and raw garlic in this sauce gives a real garlicky kick that makes your food taste amazing! When I cook, I always think of condiments and what goes well with my meal. Condiments are very important as they enhance and balance flavors, and I have a full recipe collection for just sauces, dressings, and homemade seasonings. So make sure to check it out! Speaking of condiments and Middle Eastern cuisine, you will love this homemade hummus recipe, my favorite baba ganoush, and this vibrant muhammara dip. And of course, this delicious toum sauce! There are many versions of this garlic sauce, some use milk powder, other use egg whites. But my recipe here is vegan, and it only requires 4 simple ingredients. The success of this recipe relies on the technique, but it’s super simple and I’ll explain it below.
What is Toum
Toum or Toom in Arabic means garlic. This garlic sauce is often referred to as toum, tawmeyeh, or mutawama depending on the country and the dialect. It’s common to the Levant region, and can usually be found at Shawarma shops and Levantine restaurants. It’s not something that you can buy at the grocery store though, so many people just make their own homemade garlic sauce. Sometimes Toum is confused with aioli, but it has a different flavor and texture. Toum garlic sauce is creamy but has a gel-like texture rather than a mayo-like creaminess. PS. The image above shows a double batch. You don’t need that much garlic to make a single batch of Toum.
What Goes in Garlic Sauce
You only need 4 simple ingredients! Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Garlic – go for garlic that is fresh, and firm. If you slice a clove of garlic, and there’s a green sprout or germ, make sure to remove it as it will add bitterness to the sauce. Lemon – you will need the juice of a lemon, about 3 tablespoons. Neutral tasting oil – I used sunflower oil for this recipe, but you can use corn oil, canola, safflower, vegetable, or any neutral-tasting oil that you have (avoid olive oil). For my recipe, you need a cup and a half and that’s around 350ml in total. Salt – just a teaspoon of table or sea salt to help break down the garlic and bring out the flavors. Use double of the amount if using kosher salt.
How to Make Toum Garlic Sauce
Traditionally garlic sauce was made using a pestle and mortar, but as we now have food processors, that is a much easier method that gives us consistent results. However, a blender or an immersion blender is not recommended. I also found that this garlic sauce works best when using a smaller food processor.
What to Serve Toum Garlic Sauce With?
If you haven’t had this garlic sauce before, you might be wondering what can you pair it with. I like to think of it as aioli or a flavorful mayonnaise. It has a different texture to mayo, but it’s still quite creamy and can be easily spread over flatbread or naan. Below are a few great ideas:
Shish tawook grilled chicken skewers Falafel Roast chicken or rotisserie chicken Roasted or grilled vegetable kabobs In sandwiches, or in hummus wraps Chicken shawarma Lamb koftas With pasta
Common Questions About Toum Garlic Sauce
More Homemade Sauces
Ginger sauce (Benihana copycat!) Yum yum sauce Tartar sauce Bang bang sauce Sweet and sour sauce Alfredo sauce
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