Sesame Carrots

If you've been following my Instagram page you know how much I love techina. The funny thing is I didn't eat techina until I moved to Israel. When I lived in America my only knowledge of techina is the watery stuff in a squeeze bottle at the falafel and pizza place. Then I moved to Israel and I was a madricha at a seminary in Jerusalem. My co-madricha who would soon become one of my closest friends, would put techina on everything and I thought it was so weird because techina goes on falafel and that's it. She convinced me to give it a try and my life was changed for the better.
Fun fact - the summer after we were madrichot we were counselors on a summer program together and the two of us along with the other two female counselors loved techina so much that we were actually known as the techinis.
I learned from her how to properly make techina (you can too check out this blog post).
I now drizzle techina on pretty much everything.

The other day I was thinking techina is just ground sesame seeds and sesame is a big flavor in some Asian cuisines so why not give techina a try in an Asian inspired dish.

Sesame Carrots

1/4 cup techina paste
3 Tbs soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 - 1 tsp sriracha
1 Tbs silan
1 tsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp orange zest
1 inch of ginger
1 clove garlic
1 green onion
6-8 medium carrots
1 Tbs sesame seeds - for garnish

Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper

In a large bowl mix together the techina, soy sauce, sesame oil, sriracha, silan, and vinegar. With a microplane, grate in the orange zest, ginger, and garlic. Cut the white and light green part off of the green onion (set the dark green part aside for later), finely chop, and add to the techina mixture. Peel the carrots and cut them into sticks by cutting them in half horizontally then vertically then each of those pieces into three or four sticks. Place the carrots in the techina mixture and toss until everything is well coated. Spread out in an even layer on the prepared cookie sheet and roast for 20-25 minutes.

In the meantime toast the sesame seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat until lightly golden - watch them closely they burn easily. Slice the reserved dark green part of the green onion on a bias.
Arrange the carrots on a platter and top with the toasted sesame seeds and green onions.

This dish can be served warm, cold, or at room temperature.