Garlic Sandwich
30 Min
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Garlic Sandwich

I inherited my love of condiments; chutneys, pickles, salsas, and such from my mother. At any given time, she had about ten to fifteen homemade condiments lining a shelf in her kitchen. Carrots and turnips fermenting in a mustard broth, salted green mangoes curing in the sun, or chilies in oil stuffed with tangy pickling masalas. While I am not quite as elaborate as my mother, I also have a rotating selection of 4 to 5 homemade condiments like cilantro chutney, mango pickle or salsa verde. However, a few months ago, I encountered a Middle Eastern garlic condiment called toum that I fell head over heels in love with. A condiment as old as the Ottoman empire, I’d had it before smeared in a shawarma however, this version was airy, fluffy, creamy, and perfectly balanced. Made by a Palestinian couple Sabrina and Ziad Taha and sold at the Urban Harvest Farmer’s Market, I could not get enough of it. I temporarily cast all my other condiments aside and ate the toum almost three times a day, with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. With scrambled eggs and toast, or as a dip for raw or roasted carrots, on a cracker with almond butter, or just straight out of the jar! While I have not attempted to make toum yet, I know that it’s made with four simple ingredients: garlic, lemon juice, salt, and oil. While talking with Ziad, I learnt that he was born and raised in Palestine, then came to Houston in the early 2000’s after living as a refugee in Jordan for over ten years. Since his mother passed away a few years ago, he vowed to keep her spirit alive by cooking the traditional foods of Palestine and this is how I discovered his table at the market. Here, I bring you a simple vegetable sandwich brought alive by the garlicky toum. While I love the traditional mayonnaise and cheese on sandwiches, with this garlicky spread, I missed neither. Do give it a try or at the very least, go buy the delicious Taha Toum at the farmers market or at Central Market, where it is now sold as well. I know my refrigerator will never be without it and when you taste it, you will understand why!

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Cook Time

30 Minutes

Serves

4

Step 1
Spread one tablespoon of toum on each slice of bread. On four slices of bread, pile the roasted carrots, cucumbers, tomato and top with microgreens. Top with the remainder slices of bread also with toum. Cut the sandwiches in half and enjoy immediately.
1/2 cup toum
8 slices of bread, toasted
4 medium carrots roasted and sliced lengthwise
2 Persian cucumbers, sliced lengthwise
1 large heirloom tomato, sliced thin
Small handful of microgreens or fresh herbs
Sprinkling of salt

Notes & Variations

  • To roast carrots, preheat the oven to 350F. Peel about 1 pound of carrots then combine with 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 teaspoon each salt and cumin seeds. Spread the marinated carrots onto a baking pan, cover tightly in foil and cook in the oven for 45 minutes or until the carrots have softened.
  • Instead of carrots, try using grilled sliced eggplant in this sandwich.
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30 Min
DF
NF
V

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