What can I do with an unecpected, 4 lb. bag of Sesame Seeds?

February 25, 2011 7:44 PM

Through a bizarre set of circumstances, I have come into possession of an extremely large bag of sesame seeds. What interesting or appetizing things can I do with these seeds?

Through a course of events that would feel right at home in a Jane Austen novel, I am now the proud owner of a 4 lb. (1.8kg) bag of sesame seeds. Apparently, they are the "Cadillac of Sesame Seeds". They do look and smell wonderful. Prior to this, my only experience with sesame seeds is on bagels, and eating at Thai and Chinese restaurants.

What can I do with them? Mainly, what can a person do with a LOT of sesame seeds, that is not possible with a small amount. I'm a vegeterian, and a fairly terrible cook.

Thank you in advance, Hive Mind.

posted by EvilPRGuy to food & drink (22 answers total)

Make tahini!
posted by BitterOldPunk at 7:47 PM on February 25, 2011 [7 favorites]

Tahini and halvah.
posted by cmgonzalez at 7:54 PM on February 25, 2011

So, it's like this, but with sesame seeds?

I'm gonna second the halvah recommendation. Halvah is ridiculously tasty.
posted by XerxesQados at 7:57 PM on February 25, 2011 [2 favorites]

sesame brittle. Which is addictive. Now you've reminded me that I have lots of sesame seeds and I'm going to have to make some sesame brittle tomorrow.
posted by sciencegeek at 7:59 PM on February 25, 2011 [2 favorites]

I go through tons of toasted sesame seeds. I put a good layer of them on my morning scrambled eggs, on my salad, in my oatmeal, and on my pasta. They pretty much go with everything.
posted by holterbarbour at 8:03 PM on February 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Make benne wafers.

Gomasio is delicious and easy to make, as is dukkah.

They make a delicious coating on meat--I do sesame-crusted garlic-ginger pork and chicken with some regularity, and though I can't eat seafood, I'm told that this is even better on fish.

Use them instead of croutons or nuts on salads and in recipes.

Make granola--the best granola I ever had was about 2 parts oats, 1 part sesame seeds, and 1 part pecans. (Plus orange, salt, and cranberry. I could eat that stuff forever, which is why I don't make it more often.)

Also, sesame seeds will keep for over a year in the freezer, so you don't have to power through all of them now.
posted by MeghanC at 8:08 PM on February 25, 2011 [8 favorites]

Cookies!
(I have never made these, only eaten them, so I can't recommend a specific recipe.)
posted by artychoke at 8:08 PM on February 25, 2011

Make tiny sesame cookies! Toast the seeds first. The cookies are delicious and taste a little like peanut butter cookies, only they're not.
posted by bewilderbeast at 8:14 PM on February 25, 2011

Make a loaf of bread. Add 1/2 cup sesame seeds and 1/2 cup millet. Or use 3/4 cup sesame seeds and 1/4 cup sunflower seeds. No pre-toasting of the seeds necessary.

Cookies.

Dukkah.
posted by zinfandel at 8:40 PM on February 25, 2011

You can make sciencegeek's sesame brittle without the almonds. Something like this (sesame candy)
posted by prenominal at 9:14 PM on February 25, 2011

you can toast them in a pan until they turn black for a different, nuttier flavor...i like mixing the black and white and liberally apllying them to some pan-fried gyoza...also, ask around your local japanese food market for a sesame seed grinder (similar to a pepper grinder) for even more sesame flavor...
posted by sexyrobot at 9:49 PM on February 25, 2011

Try sprouting them.
posted by leigh1 at 10:13 PM on February 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Bird food?
posted by otherwordlyglow at 11:06 PM on February 25, 2011

My favorite crackers are poppy and sesame. If you can also get ahold of poppy seeds, you could try making them. (n.b. I haven't tried making them myself.)
posted by bibliophibianj at 12:23 AM on February 26, 2011

Sesame cookies using jaggery you find in Indian store.

Melt jaggery slowly (on slow heat) in small amount of butter. Add slightly (really) fried sesame seeds into it. Mix it. Mixing becomes really heavy. Spread the mixture thinly on butter paper and cut before it dries out. Your cookies are ready. The mixture dries fairly quickly so you need to be fast.
posted by zaxour at 2:22 AM on February 26, 2011

You could make some seed bells to hang around your garden or a local park.

Looking online, there seems to be two recommended binding methods: egg white, which requires a low temperature oven to set, or flour + corn syrup, which air dries.

I've never used either of these methods but I remember making seed bells in primary school. I think we used watered-down PVA glue. Goodness knows how healthy that is for birds.
posted by Georgina at 2:40 AM on February 26, 2011

If you happen to have an ice-cream maker, you could make sesame ice-cream. It's delicious.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 3:19 AM on February 26, 2011

If you have a food processor or blender, blend up sesame seeds with some miso paste to make a wicked good base for any kind of stir fry. Mix it in on some sauteed green beans, in particular, them before serving, sprinkle with a bunch of whole sesame seeds.

Sprinkle liberally over anything with a teriyaki sauce.

Sprinkle over noodles for a bit of crunch, and into salads in lieu of croutons. Sprinkle over soups for nice flavor. For any of these applications, you should toast the sesame seeds first in a dry frying pan for a couple of minutes to deepen the flavor.
posted by shazzam! at 5:44 AM on February 26, 2011

Yes, freeze what you do not use soon, they will keep for a while. Yum!
posted by teragram at 6:06 AM on February 26, 2011

Make a sesame cake. My recipe (2 oz toasted sesame oil, 2 oz butter, 2 oz canola oil, 1 oz tahini (optional, makes a less sweet cake), 1 c sugar, 1 c flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt, 2 eggs, 1/2 c apple cider, 1 tbsp sesame seeds to top, 20 minutes @ 350) calls for more toasted sesame oil than real seeds, but you could easily just replace some of the sesame oil & flour with ground sesame seeds.

If you had the right equipment (I have no idea what that is), you could make your own sesame oil.
posted by novalis_dt at 7:27 AM on February 26, 2011

Seconding benne wafers. I made a batch of this recipe for my office and they loved it.
posted by pmdboi at 11:34 AM on February 26, 2011

I like to put some in a pepper grinder for salads and stuff.
posted by effluvia at 2:33 PM on February 26, 2011