Tarator Sauce substitute

Substitutes for Tarator Sauce with ratios

1. 2Bottled tahini sauce or tahini dressing

   Different taste

   Use the same amount plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice per half cup

   Ready-made tahini sauce from the chilled or condiment aisle.

   What changes

   Best for

   convenience, falafel wraps, salad dressing, when you have no tahini jar to work from

   Structurally right and instantly available. Commercial versions are tuned mild: much less lemon, often a little sugar, sometimes yogurt or oil to soften the bitterness, so straight from the bottle they taste flat and slightly sweet next to a proper tarator. A tablespoon of lemon juice and a grated garlic clove per half cup pulls it back sharply. Check the label for added sweeteners, which are the main reason a bottled sauce can taste wrong on fried fish.

2. 3Smooth cashew or sunflower seed butter with lemon and garlic

   Different taste

   Use the same amount in place of the tahini

   Unsweetened cashew butter or sunflower seed butter treated exactly like tahini, with lemon, garlic, salt and water.

   What changes

   Best for

   sesame allergies, fried fish and vegetables, when tahini is unavailable, milder palates

   Behaves the same way, seizing then loosening, and produces a sauce with the same creamy pourable body. The flavour is milder and sweeter: cashew is rounder and slightly milky, sunflower is grassier and can be a touch bitter in its own way, and neither has tahini's distinctive toasted sesame edge. Because both are less bitter, they need less lemon to balance, so start with three tablespoons of lemon per half cup and taste. Choose a version with no added sugar or the sauce will taste like a dessert.

3. 4Garlic yogurt sauce with a spoonful of tahini

   Taste and texture differ

   Use the same amount

   Thick yogurt or labneh with grated garlic, lemon, salt and one tablespoon of tahini stirred in per half cup.

   What changes

   Best for

   falafel and kafta, grilled meat and vegetables, lighter plates, stretching a nearly empty tahini jar

   A legitimate Levantine sauce for the same food, lighter and much lower in fat. What changes is the kind of sourness: yogurt is lactic and creamy-tangy, where tarator is sharp and citrusy, and the sauce is thinner and whiter. The single spoon of tahini matters more than its quantity suggests, because it restores the sesame note that makes the sauce recognisable. On fried fish, where you want the richness of sesame, this is the weaker choice.

4. 5Toum or garlic lemon mayonnaise

   Different taste

   Use the same amount

   Lebanese garlic emulsion, or mayonnaise with grated garlic and lemon beaten in.

   What changes

   Best for

   fried fish, shawarma and chicken, fries, when you want richness rather than nuttiness

   Does tarator's structural job precisely, supplying fat and acid in a spoonable sauce, and it is a normal thing to eat with the same dishes. It tastes clearly different: aggressively garlicky and rich, with none of tahini's earthy bitterness, so the plate reads as garlicky rather than nutty. Excellent with fried fish and chips, less appropriate with falafel where the chickpeas want sesame beside them. If you use toum, ease off any additional garlic in the recipe.

5. 6Hummus thinned with lemon and water

   Taste and texture differ

   ¼ cup hummus plus 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 2 tablespoons water

   Plain hummus loosened into a pourable sauce, the pantry emergency version.

   What changes

   Best for

   genuine emergencies, falafel plates, wraps, when hummus is the only sesame product in the fridge

   It contains tahini, lemon and garlic already, which is why this works at all. What you get is noticeably beany and slightly grainy, thicker and duller than tarator, with a starchy texture that coats the tongue rather than running off the fork. Blitz it in a small processor with the lemon and water rather than stirring, which smooths it considerably, and add extra salt because most hummus is under-seasoned for use as a sauce.