Practically humming with energy, sesame seeds will deliver a fleet of minerals to service your mojo. These seeds are also crammed with B vitamins to nourish frayed nerves and low batteries at a fraction of the price of a marriage counselor. You’re welcome!
I learned how to do a fancy version of this at Katie Sanderson’s wholefoods workshop. This chef is peerless. If you haven’t joined Katie’s mailing list, you are doing your kitchen a grave disservice.
1 cup (135g) raw cashews (I use Lidl)
3-4 cups water (750ml+)
Pinch of fine sea salt
1 teaspoon your preferred sweetener
4 tablespoons sesame seeds
1. Soak your cashew nuts in cold filtered water for 4 hours or overnight. Cashews are much cheaper than almonds at the moment, and require less soaking time. Nice one.
2. In the morning, drain and discard the soak liquid, rinsing the cashews under running water. Tumble the wet nuts into your blender (mine’s an Omniblend, the poor man’s Vitamix). Add fresh water, a touch of sweetener (we like using 1 Medjool date) and a pinch of sea salt.
3. At this stage you can just add the sesame seeds, but toasting them will bring out their extraordinary rhythm. Toss them onto a scorching-hot, dry frying pan for 30 seconds. That’s it. You can toast them on a dry baking tray in the oven too, but preheating the oven will take much longer.
4. Blend on high for 30 seconds or until the neighbours start shouting. Place a nut-milk bag or muslin cloth over a bowl. Pour the contents of your blender into the cloth, and strain it. A fabulous creamy milk will collect in the bowl underneath. You’ll need to use your hands to squeeze everything through, not forgetting to secure the top by twisting the cloth or bag. Regular nut milk is much easier to make than sesame seed milk. The tiny seeds do take a while to squish. Forgive me. It’s worth it!
5. Discard or compost the leftover dry pulp, as most of the nutrition has been transferred to the milk at this stage. Pour your sesame milk into a scrupulously clean bottle with a screw-top lid. Refrigerate for up to 3 days.
We trickle it over granola and porridge, and use it in baking. But it’s also criminally good with coffee.
In other news, we are in the middle of shooting my next cookbook, The Virtuous Tart. This one will be demystifying all the ‘natural’ sugars on the market, with emphasis on the ones I dig. You can follow Team Tart on Instagram at @JoMurphyPhotographer and @oneligan
