Give Your Fish Sandwich A Nutty Flavor With One Creamy Sauce

Sandwich lovers understand the necessity of a taste bud-stimulating sauce (because who wants to eat a dry sandwich?). If you want something new and exciting to complement your next fish sandwich, it comes down to one unlikely component: the right amount of nuttiness, which you can find in a creamy tahini sauce. Tahini, a quintessential and beloved ingredient in Middle Eastern and North African cuisine, is the bridge between an average fish sandwich and an unforgettable one.

Tahini, or tahina, is the perfect accomplice to savory dishes in need of a kick. It typically shows up in hummus and baba ghanoush, or as a topping for incredibly crispy falafel recipes. Tahini is made of hulled sesame seeds, salt, and oil. Its earthy taste is most prominent when the seeds are toasted, making for a delicate and unique pairing with any fish meal.

A dollop of tahini sauce is an underrated topping to add to your fish sandwich for sure, and it's well worth trying out. While it has a knack for grabbing everyone's attention with viral recipes, tahini has long been established as a must-have ingredient in the most flavorful kitchen pantries. For example, in Lebanese cooking, samke harra (or samkeh harra) is a traditional dish known for its serious spice and tahini-fish pairing. Tahini is such a versatile ingredient that it can even help improve your baked goods, but for now let's stick to the fish sandwiches.

Typically, tahini paste (or butter) is transformed into a thinner sauce to best accompany fish. Boosting the taste-factor in your fish sandwich with store-bought tahini sauce, like Whole Foods' 365 brand, is perfectly fine. But you can make your own sauce if you're on a DIY roll. The simplest way to create homemade sauce is by first making the tahini paste. You achieve this by toasting sesame seeds, grinding them down in a blender, and then adding sesame oil and salt while blending the mixture once more. Once the paste is made, lighten the texture by adding water, lemon juice, salt, and a dash of ground garlic to your preference.

For a twist, try adding tahini sauce and battered fried fish to the mix if you're a lover of crunchier sandwiches. Add your tahini sauce, rich in garlic and lemon, and blend it with a spicy harissa tomato jam to bring about a warm and tangy fish sandwich. This combination offers a hearty meal that keeps surprising (and dripping!) with every bite.

Another trick for taking your fish sandwich skills to the next level is to add herbs such as fresh parsley to your tahini sauce. Parsley and lemon make a winning combination that'll bring out the bright fishy flavors you're looking for. The slightly bitter parsley aftertaste and the hint of zesty lemon wrapped up with the deep garlic notes keep your tahini sauce firmly placed in the recipe equation for a fish sandwich worth recreating.