This simple delicious tangy appetizer is one of the many essential dishes that are part of Middle Eastern Mezza. Perhaps not as popular as hummus or mutabal (baba ghanoush) but it is as delicious. It only contains two ingredients, parsley, and tahini sauce. The name Ba’dounsiyeh comes from the word Ba’dounis, which is the Arabic word for Parsley.
Ba’dounsiyeh also can be used as a dip with your veggies, it’s commonly served next to any seafood dishes especially fried fish, more like a tartar sauce. I also love to have it with cauliflower fritters (mshaat).
Parsley has a lot of health benefits, and we use it often fresh and cooked in so many Palestinian dishes. Tabouleh, for instance, is one of the most popular and parsley considered one of its main ingredients. Check out my Tabouleh with Quinoa recipe here.
How to Make Ba’dounsieyh
Make sure you are using Italian parsley versus American parsley, there is a big difference in the taste. Pick stems out and wash parsley well, rinse from water. I usually lay it on a kitchen towel for few minutes before chopping so it’s fully dried from water.
Then chop the parsley finely either by hand using a sharp knife, or if you have a food processer, you can use it which is less time consuming. In this case, we are only using about one and a half bunches so chopping by hand for this small quantity won’t take much time.
In the meantime, make the tahini sauce separately, start by pouring about 1/3 cup of tahini sauce in a bowl, start by gradually adding half of that amount water and start stirring, initially tahini will thicken and the color will start becoming lighter, pour more water and continue to stir until it turns softer and more liquidy, then add lemon juice and salt, adjust to taste.
The tahini sauce mustn’t be thick since it needs to be added to the parsley and it should be more like a dip or a dressing. Then pour over the parsley and mix well. And there you have it a very easy appetizer that you can prepare in less than 15 minutes.
Serve as an appetizer or a dip. It goes well next to seafood dishes especially fried fish.
Ba’dounsiyeh – Parsley with Tahini Sauce
Description
This simple delicious tangy appetizer is one of the many essential dishes that are part of Middle Eastern Mezza, perhaps not as popular as hummus or mutabal (baba ghanoush) but it is as delicious. It only contains two ingredients, parsley, and tahini sauce. The name Ba’dounsiyeh comes from the word Ba’dounis, which is the Arabic word for Parsley.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces’ Italian parsley finely chopped (about 1.5 bunches)
- 1/3 Tahini sauce
- 1/3 Water
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Salt
Instructions
- Pick stems out and wash parsley well, rinse from water.
- Chop parsley finely either by hand using a sharp knife or if you have a food processor.
- Make the tahini sauce separately, start by pouring about 1/3 cup of tahini sauce in a bowl, add half of that amount water and start stirring until it becomes soft and liquid, continue to add the rest of the water, then add lemon juice and salt adjust to taste.
- Pour tahini sauce over the parsley, mix well together.
