Garlic Sauce
If you're looking for something to give any dish a hit of flavor, then this Garlic Sauce aka Toum will be right up your street. A traditional middle eastern condiment, Lebanese Garlic Sauce Recipe is basically an amazing garlic sauce that adds flavor to so many dishes.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup garlic cloves packed and overflowing! peeled, trimmed, whole fresh garlic
- 1/2 Tablespoon salt kosher or sea salt
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1 cup oil neutral tasting
Instructions
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Start by placing the garlic, salt and a tablespoon of oil in a food processor or mortar and pestle. See notes and troubleshooting for the correct size food processor and more info.
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Process the garlic until fine and pulpy. Make sure to scrape down the sides as you go.
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Start by streaming in the lemon juice and oil through the feed of the food processor while the machine is running.
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Alternate but always end with the oil.
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make sure not to rush this process. A slow thin steady stream is best for the emulsion to be thick.
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Serve the toum or garlic sauce in a bowl or use endlessly as per the section in the post on how to use the garlic sauce.
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Enjoy!
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
Cooking tips for creamy garlic sauce
- The mincing of the garlic before starting the oil drizzle is crucial. For that you need to make sure of a few things.
- First of all, use fresh garlic. Don't use the store peeled garlic, frozen garlic or old garlic.
- If your food processor isn't strong enough to mince the garlic well before adding in the oil, you can use a mortar and pestle.
- Make sure you use the correct size food processor as this will affect the sauce as well. For todays recipe, you can use a 7-9 cup food processor. If doubling the recipe, you'll need the 10-13cup.
- Make sure you constantly scrape down the sides of the food processor when you are processing the fresh garlic. Your fresh garlic needs to be broken down into a pulp-like consistency. It will keep sticking to the sides of your food processor before it gets to this stage. If you don’t do this, you won’t get your garlic into a paste.
- Ensure you add your oil to the food processor slowly. If you do it too fast, then you will risk the sauce not coming together properly.
- Always alternate the lemon juice during the oil streaming, this will thicken the garlic sauce.
- It's better to avoid olive oil in this recipe as it can give your Toum garlic sauce a strong flavor. A mild oil such as sunflower oil works great with this recipe.
- Make sure you read the troubleshooting section!
Toum sauce FAQ's
How long will my Toum recipe last?
Your Toum sauce can last weeks so long as you keep it stored in the fridge with a lid on. I love that you can make it, and you can have it when you need it for weeks afterward.
However, if you used eggs to fix a Toum recipe that didn't go to plan, it won't last anywhere near as long. You've got about three days to enjoy it before you'd need to throw it away.
How should I store my Toum sauce?
To ensure your Toum sauce stays nice and fresh, you should store it in an airtight container in the fridge.
What can I use Toum sauce with?
What's so great about Toum garlic sauce is that it is so versatile. It goes with so many dishes to enhance them. It's great on sandwiches and meats. Perfect for shwarma, kebabs, or falafels to give them some spice and sauce. It's also great used in salad dressings, on pizza, or even to saute vegetables in.
There really is no end to the foods you can enjoy it with, so experimenting using it with the things you like could go a long way.
Is Toum recipe gluten-free?
Yes, Toum is gluten-free. It contains no ingredients that have gluten in it. It's also dairy-free.
Do I need a food processor to make Toum?
Using a food processor is definitely needed with this garlic sauce recipe. Especially for the part where you add the oil as the sauce won't come together without one. You can use a mortar and pestle to pulp the garlic, but this would take quite a lot of effort on your part.