flipTahini Halva with Pistachios
Tahini Halva with Pistachios
Why this dish? Tahini, the signature of this table, becomes a dessert here: halva is a dense confection that keeps for weeks without refrigeration and slips into a bag. For a researcher always between Rehovot, Hamburg, and Grenoble, it is the quintessential nomadic sweet — a square of sugar and sesame to hold you between two trains and two diffraction images.
A crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth confection made from sesame cream bound with a cooked sugar syrup, studded with pistachios. It keeps well and is cut into diamonds.
When I left for Germany with my precious crystals, I always carried a piece of halva in my luggage — it doesn't spoil, it doesn't melt like chocolate, and a single square restores your spirit. It's still my sesame, you see, but dressed in sugar this time: the same humble seed as in hummus, turned into a treat. The delicate gesture is to marry the tahini with the hot syrup without overworking it, otherwise it hardens like stone — a bit like a protein you denature by insisting. Cut yourself a diamond, take your coffee, and watch the night pass.
- •Tahini (sesame cream) — a large measure (base and signature)
- •Sugar or honey — half the weight of tahini (sweet structure)
- •Water — a little (syrup)
- •Pistachios — a handful (garnish)
- •Orange blossom water — a few drops (flavoring)
Tahini Halva with Pistachios
A crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth confection made from sesame cream bound with a cooked sugar syrup, studded with pistachios. It keeps well and is cut into diamonds.
Why this dish? Tahini, the signature of this table, becomes a dessert here: halva is a dense confection that keeps for weeks without refrigeration and slips into a bag. For a researcher always between Rehovot, Hamburg, and Grenoble, it is the quintessential nomadic sweet — a square of sugar and sesame to hold you between two trains and two diffraction images.
When I left for Germany with my precious crystals, I always carried a piece of halva in my luggage — it doesn't spoil, it doesn't melt like chocolate, and a single square restores your spirit. It's still my sesame, you see, but dressed in sugar this time: the same humble seed as in hummus, turned into a treat. The delicate gesture is to marry the tahini with the hot syrup without overworking it, otherwise it hardens like stone — a bit like a protein you denature by insisting. Cut yourself a diamond, take your coffee, and watch the night pass.
Ingredients (period version)
- Tahini (sesame cream) — a large measure (base and signature)
- Sugar or honey — half the weight of tahini (sweet structure)
- Water — a little (syrup)
- Pistachios — a handful (garnish)
- Orange blossom water — a few drops (flavoring)
Ingredients
- Good quality tahini — 200 g (base and signature)
- Sugar — 150 g (sweet structure)
- Water — 50 ml (syrup)
- Chopped pistachios — 50 g (garnish)
- Orange blossom water — 1/2 tsp (flavoring)
Method
- Line a small mold with parchment paper.
- Gently warm the tahini in a double boiler until warm and fluid.
- In a saucepan, bring sugar and water to 120 °C (soft-ball stage) — a drop of syrup forms a soft ball in cold water.
- Pour hot syrup over warm tahini with orange blossom water, mix just enough to combine (do not overwork, or it will harden).
- Pour into the mold, sprinkle with pistachios, pressing lightly.
- Let set 24 h in a cool place before unmolding and cutting into diamonds.
How it was made : Sesame halva is attested throughout the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean for centuries; its fibrous texture comes from the meeting of tahini and a cooked sugar syrup (formerly often honey or grape syrup). Its low water content made it an energy reserve that traveled well, from caravans to students' pockets.
The contemporary twist : Marbled with a spoonful of unsweetened cocoa tahini just before pouring — spiral veins like the helices revealed by diffraction.
Ada Yonath · Charactorium
