Toum is a popular ِLebanese garlic sauce used in shawarma wraps, falafel, and grilled meats. I've tried several recipes for this garlic dip but nothing satisfied me as this recipe. Easy, creamy with no raw eggs.
Toum (toummeyah)
Toum is a delicious garlic dip sometimes called toummeyeh as well. This garlic sauce is famous for being Lebanese, I am not sure about the origin though. It is a fabulous, garlicky dip with a texture like yogurt. Smooth and sleek to be served with almost anything.
Back then, in October 1997, I got my first salary. I was thrilled and so excited, my salary was big compared to others at this time as the IT industry was fairly new and booming in Egypt.
So, what to do with my first salary? I bought some stuff for myself as a way of thanking me for my hard work the last 6 years in college and after college studies, and I gave my family a big surprise by inviting them to this super expensive, super elegant restaurant in Egypt. It was a restaurant specialized in grilled meat.
And there, I was first introduced to this delicious garlic sauce. It is white, fluffy, garlicky, and super delicious with grilled meat. I was immediately hooked, I searched for the recipe and I found one that I have been using for years, it was an easy recipe and the outcome was very good, the only downside to this recipe is that it uses raw egg whites, which made me kind of uncomfortable at the time, add to that, this recipe would not last 6 hours even in a fridge so it cannot be prepared in big quantities.
Recently, we had a dear friend with severe egg allergy and although I knew that he will not touch it, I did not want to jeopardize his health or put him in danger in any way. So I had to come up with an egg-less recipe.
I've found a Lebanese recipe for toum that did not include raw eggs but it takes time to master as it was not easy to emulsify oil in a little amount of lime juice. Suddenly I remembered a recipe that my late father had told me about for this sauce using some kind of starch mixture. Finally I've reached the recipe that my dad was talking to me about. Here is a foolproof recipe -for lazy people like me - that is quick and easy but still delivers a nice delicious taste of toum.
The idea is simply to cook a soft paste of starch and water then in the blender add it to all the goodies that toum requires.. fair enough?
Try this one, I'm positive that you are going to love it.
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Garlic dip - Toomeyah
Ingredients
- 4 large garlic cloves.
- ¼ c oil.
- 2 teaspoon lime juice.
- ½ teaspoon salt - or to your liking.
- 2 Tbs corn starch.
- 1 c water.
Instructions
- In a pot over medium heat, add water and corn starch, stir vigorously until no lumps is there, keep stirring until the mixture is thick and creamy. Remove from heat and let it cool down.
- In a blender, add garlic,lime juice, salt and blend for a minute.
- Add the cornstarch mixture and blend until well combined. Slowly add the oil while the blender is running until until it is emulsified and smooth..
- You may serve immediately or chill until needed.*
Notes
Nutrition
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Athina
Hi Amira I will like to know for how long I can store it in the fridge? Thank you
Amira
Refrigerate in an airtight container for 3weeks to a month.
Brandi
What kind of oil is recommended?
Amira
I recommend any light tasting oil you have. Thanks Brandi.
Holly
Hi Amira,
For some reason mine would not emulsify. I used a Vitamix and ran the oil in a very slow stream. The cornstarch mix was cooled to room temp, should it be fridge cold? Should it be blended high or low speed? (I ran my blender at medium. Trying to figure out what when wrong.
Thanks so much.
Holly
Well, it seems after resting in the fridge it seems to have thickened to yogurt consistency...is that right?
Thanks again!
Fadi
Amira. you do complicate things with your Lebanese toum recipe. The secret is to keep it simple with no extra additions. This recipe is from Hotel Athenee Paris. Follow it to the letter and you won't regret it.
Lebanese Toum (Lebanese Garlic Mousse)
Hotel Athénné de Paris
Ingredients
18-20 cloves of garlic (100 g)
2 egg whites (about 60-70 g)
30 cl (240 g) grape seed oil
1 large teaspoon of mustard (about 12 g)
1 lemon (15 g juice)
6 g of salt
Method
• Peel the garlic cloves. Put them in a saucepan filled with cold water, and "blanch", that is, cook them for 30 seconds - 1-minute from the boiling point. Drain water and let cool
• In a blender, place the cooled garlic cloves, mustard and egg white and start blending for a little while
• Gather the mousse in the mixer
• Drip the grape seed oil until an emulsion forms completely in the blender
• Add salt and lemon and mix briefly
• Cool in the fridge before consuming.
Bonne Appétit
Amira
I am not Fadi, seriously this is how I've learned it. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Nem
Seriously Fadi? The way she made it was the same I know for years. Complicate? Your recipe was way more complicated than what we do. You do understand that there are different ways of doing things right? Respect and no need to say words that bring down other people.
Rima
Just made this, delicious and no fail - all other recipes never work for me or turn out too strong. Thank you so much, also has anyone tried freezing?
Amira
Thank you Rima, I am happy you liked it. Good point about freezing it, I will experiment with that and get back to you.
Oscar
This came out tasty and even better than the one I get from the restaurant here. I will be making this with chicken shawarma regularly. Thank you
Amira
Thank you Oscar for your feedback, I am happy you liked it.
Aya
I tried this recipe and I wasn’t sure how it’s gonna go. I’ve always thought that toumeyya has to have labaneh in it . That’s how I used to do it. For me it was a shock that how oil would solidify. I used hand blender to make it. I would just suggest to lower the salt a little May be use lemon juice in stead of lime because it’s less sour. I also thank this recipe because it’s the recipe that made me discover this really nice website. I was googling garlic sauce and it popped.
Amira
Thank you so much Aya for your sweet words, you made my day girl :). I agree with you lemon juice is less sour than lime, I am just used to using lime more than lemon as this is what we had the most in Egypt.
Umm Hamza
السلام عليكم
I love garlic sauce and this garlic dip looks so creamy, can't wait to try it! وجزاك الله الخيران for linking to my Algerian cookies recipe in your most recent post.
Amira
Wa Alaykom Assalam Wa Rahmatollah Wa Barakatoh, Jazana wa eyakom dear. I love those cookies A LOT.
Evelyne CulturEatz
I was just going to say it looks like the Lebanese sauce they give with y shish taouk lol, amazing stuff, glad to have a recipe now.
Amira
Yep it is so well known with grilled meat and chicken in the Middle East. If you need a fluffier version go for the one made with egg whites, although I do not like the risk. I hope you'll try it and tell me what do you think.
Shady
Yummy Yummy dip:)
Amira
Thanks a zillion ♥♥