[ID: A small glass bowl of a rust-colored dip; a granite mortar and pestle and a copper tajine are in the background. End ID]
طحينة الاحمر / Tahina al-hmr (Gazan red tahina)
Red tahina (tahini) is a variety of sesame paste originating in Gaza; it gives color and rich, nutty flavor to regional stews, salads, and dips. Red tahina is made with sesame seeds that have been roasted over direct heat to a rich golden brown—a lengthier process and one that produces a deeper, toastier flavor than the steaming or brief toasting that sesame seeds undergo to produce white tahina.
This Palestinian speciality is disappearing in Gaza, as Israel has for decades issued punitive import laws controlling the movement of food, medicine, and other necessary supplies into Gaza and Palestinian occupied territory. Cheaper and more accessible white tahina, an import from Israel, is usually used; the sesame seeds to create red tahina must be illegally smuggled into Gaza from Egypt.
Other sources overstate the impossibility of accessing tahina al-hmr. If you have sesame seeds, a source of heat, and a grinding method (such as a blender or mortar and pestle), you can easily make it yourself.
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