Homemade toum Lebanese garlic sauce
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This Lebanese garlic sauce is pretty easy to make and can be whipped in just a few minutes. With just 4 ingredients, your toum will be ready in no time.
Ask any Lebanese folk about their favorite dip with shawarma, meat skewers, or chicken tawook and you will get one single answer: the one and only Lebanese toum aka Lebanese garlic sauce. And our home is not an exception. Whenever we are in for healthy dinner ideas such as a Lebanese barbecue, toum or Lebanese garlic sauce must be the staple on the dining table.
This Lebanese garlic sauce is pretty easy to make and can be whipped in just a few minutes. Although you may have heard that you will wear your meticulous gloves while turning your garlic cloves into delicious toum, this recipe of Lebanese garlic sauce is one of the easy food recipes that you can finish off in no time.
With just 4 ingredients, your toum will be ready and most importantly will sit fresh in your fridge for over a month. How spectacular is that! Although it is best enjoyed next to many quick easy recipes barbecue platter, you can always add garlic sauce to many marinades and plates such as chicken marinade, roasted vegetables, sandwiches, and so on.
So, in a nutshell, what is toum or Lebanese garlic sauce?
Toum or Lebanese garlic sauce is a sort of white thick sauce made essentially with garlic cloves.
Added to garlic are salt, lemon or lemon salt, and vegetable oil. The oil, while being slowly drizzled, is what will make garlic a thick white sauce.
On the other hand, if you are using lemon salt, this will thicken the sauce once added. If you do not feel like your sauce needs to be thickened, then you can add lemon salt toward the end.
How to make garlic sauce?
The essential step in the process of making garlic sauce is drizzling the vegetable oil very slowly so that the garlic emulsifies.
For a successful garlic sauce, follow these steps:
- Place the garlic heads in the freezer for 24 hours.
- Peel the cloves the second day.
- Remove the stem and transfer the cloves along with salt to the food processor.
- Start processing the garlic until they turn out into very small chunks.
- Start drizzling the vegetable oil while processing. If you feel the paste is too liquid, you can add lemon or lemon salt at this stage.
- Once you end up with the sauce with the desired thickness, add the lemon salt if you have added neither lemon nor lemon salt in the middle of the process.
You can always replace lemon salt with lemon juice. However, if you do so, drizzle lemon juice alternatively with vegetable oil.
Do not lose your temper, the whole process may take up to 10 minutes. If your food processor gets tired, give her a few seconds to rest.
Some FAQs about making homemade garlic sauce:
How to prevent garlic sauce from breaking?
Many factors intervene in protecting your garlic sauce from breaking. First, the garlic. The secret is to put the garlic heads with the skin on in the freezer for 24 hours. The cloves will not be dry and will work better during the emulsification process.
The second is the vegetable oil. You need to make sure that you are drizzling the vegetable oil very slowly.
Do you have to remove the stem from inside the garlic?
Not really. This is not an essential task. The stem is the oldest part of the garlic clove. So, when you remove it, you end up with fresh garlic at the end.
Can I substitute lemon salt with lemon juice?
Yes, sure you can. However, avoid adding the lemon juice in bulk at the end of the process. You will end up with watery sauce. Add the lemon juice alternatively with vegetable oil, one spoon at a time. Just make sure you start adding lemon juice after the garlic is emulsified.
What type of food processors do you need?
Avoid using a food processor with a large bowl. Use a bowl of adequate size so that the blade can mince well the garlic.
How long does this sauce last?
Try storing your toum in an air-tight container in the fridge. They will last for 3 to 4 months.
What type of oil is best to use?
Do not use olive oil. It is very strong in flavor and will affect the taste of the toum. Try using canola, corn, or sunflower oil.
Looking for more recipes for dips and sauces? Check out these recipes:
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This Lebanese garlic sauce is pretty easy to make and can be whipped in just a few minutes. With just 4 ingredients, your toum will be ready in no time.
Ingredients
- 3 heads of garlic
- 1/2 tsp of salt
- 1 cup of vegetable oil
- 1/8 tsp of lemon salt or 30ml of lemon juice
Instructions
- Place the garlic heads in the freezer for 24 hours.
- Remove the garlic from the freezer on the second day.
- Peel the garlic. If you want to remove the stem, slice the cloves in half and remove the sprout.
- Transfer the garlic cloves and salt to a food processor.
- Process the garlic until it becomes finely minced
- Once the garlic is minced, start drizzling slowly the vegetable oil, as you continue processing.
- Now lemon or lemon salt:
- If you feel like the sauce is liquid, add the lemon salt at this stage. Otherwise, keep it till the end.
- If you prefer adding lemon juice instead of lemon salt, wait until the garlic starts to become fluffy, then start alternating between vegetable oil and lemon juice, adding one tablespoon of juice at a time.
- Continue processing until you reach the desired consistency.
- Add then lemon salt at the end if you haven’t added lemon juice along with vegetable oil.
- Transfer to an air-tight container and store in the fridge.
Notes
- 3 garlic heads make one cup of toum.
- Make sure to store the garlic sauce in an air-tight container in the fridge for a longer lifetime.
