The Best Sesame Seeds Recipes

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The humble sesame seed appears as a flavouring, garnish and central ingredient across many cuisines – we’ve picked the recipes guaranteed to have you crying ‘open sesame’ .

These super seeds are a source of B vitamins which are good for keeping our metabolism healthy, and they contain phosphorus, which helps to maintain our bones and teeth. Seeds are also high in unsaturated fat, which helps to lower cholesterol. Replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats, such as the kinds found in sesame seeds, could therefore help protect against coronary heart disease.

Black Sesame Macarons

Ingredients for 20 macarons:
60g black sesame seeds
120g icing sugar
40g caster sugar
2 egg whites
¼ tsp salt
A few drops of black gel food colouring

For the peanut butter filling
60g smooth salted peanut butter
100g icing sugar
50g butter, room temperature
A pinch of salt

Preparation:

1 Preheat your oven to 160C/325F/gas mark 3. Line two baking sheets with baking paper.

2 Grind the sesame seeds and icing sugar in a food processor until fine – about 3 minutes, as the sesame seeds are harder to grind up

– then sift the mixture into a bowl. Most of it should go through, but if a lot doesn’t, put it back in the food processor and grind for another minute or so.

3 Put the caster sugar in a bowl with the egg whites, then whisk with a stand mixer or electric whisk at a medium speed for 3 minutes. Increase the speed, then whisk for a further 3-5 minutes. By now, there should be a stiff meringue in the bowl. Stop the mixer, add a few drops of colouring then turn it back on to the highest speed, whisking for an additional minute to incorporate the colour. Knock the meringue that’s trapped in the whisk back into the bowl.

4 Now, add the sesame seed mixture into the bowl all at once and fold in, until incorporated, being careful to not knock all the air out of the mix.

5 Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain nozzle with the mix, then pipe discs on to a tray lined with baking paper. Bake for about 15 minutes, at which point the shells should be able to be cleanly picked off the baking paper. Let them cool.

6 To make the filling, mix all the ingredients together until smooth, then use to sandwich the macaroons.

2. Sticky Sesame Prawns

“Prawns and Asian flavours go so insanely well together, and the miso, ginger, sesame and chilli combo is super-tasty. Just looking at this list of ingredients, you know it’s going to taste incredible! ”

Ingredients:

  • 2 carrots
  • ½ a cucumber
  • 100 g snow peas
  • 200 g tenderstem broccoli
  • 300 g fine rice noodles
  • 3 limes
  • 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
  • vegetable oil
  • 16 large raw shell-on green banana king prawns, from sustainable sources
  • 2 spring onions
  • 1 fresh red chilli
  • 1 bunch of fresh coriander
  • SAUCE
  • 5cm piece of ginger
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 2 spring onions
  • 2 tablespoons hot chilli sauce
  • 200 ml fresh cloudy apple juice
  • 2 tablespoons runny honey
  • 1 tablespoon sweet miso

Preparation:

  1. For the sauce, peel and finely grate the ginger and garlic into a medium pan. Trim and finely slice the spring onions and add to the pan.
  2. Add the chilli sauce, apple juice, honey and miso, then place over a medium heat and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes, or until syrupy and it coats the back of a spoon.
  3. Peel and matchstick the carrots and cucumber, then finely slice the snow peas and halve each stem of broccoli along the stalk.
  4. Cook the rice noodles according to the packet instructions, adding the broccoli to blanch with the rice noodles. Drain and toss in 3 tablespoons of the sauce and the juice of 2 limes.
  5. Toast the sesame seeds in a small pan over a medium heat for 3 minutes, or until golden.
  6. Heat a splash of oil in a large frying pan over a high heat, then add the whole prawns and stir-fry for 3 minutes, or until pink all over.
  7. Pour in the remaining sauce and continue to cook for a further 2 minutes, or until the prawns are sticky and caramelised and the sauce is thick and glossy, then tip over the noodle salad.
  8. Trim and finely slice the spring onions and chilli, and pick the coriander leaves. Scatter everything over the top of the salad, serve with lime wedges for squeezing over and tuck in.

3. Sesame coconut fish with chilli spinach

Ingredients for 4 servings:

4 x 175g pieces of white fish fillet, skinned (or 4 chicken breasts, skinned)
3 tbsp sunflower oil

For the crust
1 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp oyster sauce
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tbsp desiccated coconut
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tbsp chopped coriander

For the spinach
300g spinach, stalks removed
1-2 red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
2cm piece of fresh ginger, finely grated

Preparation

1 Mix all the ingredients for the crust together and spread them over the fish fillets. Chill for a few hours to firm up.

2 Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Heat 2 tbsp of the sunflower oil in a large, ovenproof frying pan. Put the fish in the hot oil, crust-side down, and cook over a medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. Carefully turn the fish over with a spatula, transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 4–5 minutes (10 minutes for chicken), until cooked through.

3 Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp sunflower oil in a frying pan, add the chilli and ginger and cook for 2 minutes. Turn up the heat, add the spinach and cook, stirring vigorously, until wilted. Season to taste. Serve the fish on the spinach.

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