How to Make Garlic Sauces, Aioli, Toum - Best Sauce Recipes, Tips, Variations
Garlic sauce is ideal for many different dishes, including meat, vegetable, fish dishes, vegetables dishes, kebabs and pasta dishes. Garlic sauces are also very popular as a dip with potato wedges, crackers and for barbecue as a sauce for steak, lamb and sausages and for kebabs.
Garlic sauces come in many forms, a delicate an thin pouring sauce, garlic butter for dipping seafood, a creamy pasta sauce, a sauce for barbecue meats or a sauce that can be drizzled over salad or over toasted bread. Garlic sauce is an easy way to enjoy the many health benefits of garlic.
There are many variations popular in many countries throughout the work and this article introduces you to some that you can try with lots of tips and recipes. Aioli is a French and European traditional sauce made of garlic, olive oil, and (typically) egg and mustard. Toum is a traditional garlic sauce popular in Lebanon and Egypt, made from garlic, salt, (often mint), olive oil or vegetable oil and lemon juice crushed using a wooden mortar and pestle. Other variations are popular in Greece, China, Thailand, Romania and many other countries.
Homemade garlic sauces are far healthier and better or you than the commercial varieties for a number of reasons.
Firstly, you can choose and work out which kind of garlic to use and the other ingredients.
Secondly, you can use various species of fresh garlic cloves, crushed garlic in jars, garlic powder and garlic oil.
Just read the labels for the commercial varieties and see the extent of artificial flavours, colours and processed ingredients they contain. Many have high levels of oil and sugar. With homemade recipes you can decide what you want to include. You can adjust the taste according to your preference and include all sorts of herbs that add to the nutrients in the sauces. Homemade garlic sauces taste far better.
Below are a variety of Garlic Sauce Recipes to try
Simple Garlic Sauce Recipes
Below are three simple garlic sauce recipes to get you started. Fresh garlic ultimately provides a stronger and more complete taste, but crushed garlic, garlic powder and even garlic oil is convenient to use if fresh garlic is not available and good for milder sauces. Take care to choose good quality fresh garlic.
Simplest Garlic Sauce (using a food processor or blender)
1 head of garlic
vegetable oil
1 egg
- Peel and crush the garlic and transfer to a food processor or blender
- Add the oil very, very gradually (in a tiny a trickle) while blending slowly until the mixture takes on a smooth, creamy consistency.
- If the mixture separates, remove it from the machine. Clean and dry the mixing chamber. Re-assemble the processor or blender. Add an additional egg and beat. Gradually blend in the original mixture.
Garlic Dipping Sauce
1/2 cup of your favorite mayonnaise
2 teaspoons fresh finely chopped parsley, sage or chives
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Cracked pepper and salt to taste
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly.
- Season it with salt and pepper, and add extra dried herbs and spices.
- The sauce can be well ahead of time. Transfer to a container, cover it and put in the fridge until serving. It can be warmed by placing in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.
Creamy Garlic Sauce
2 cups of heavy cream
1/2 cup water
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon garlic powder
6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 tablespoon corn starch
- Pour about 1/4 cup of water in to a saucepan and bring to the boil.
- Add the garlic powder and chopped garlic cloves and keep boiling until almost of the water has evaporated.
- Reduce the heat and add the 2 cups of heavy cream, pepper, 1 tablespoon of freshly chopped parsley and salt to the saucepan.
- In a separate small bowl, mix the corn starch with about 1/4 cup water.
- Add this mixture, which will thicken the sauce, to the saucepan.
- Stir and cook the sauce until it heats and thickens.
Simple Yogurt Garlic Sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
16 oz. plain cold yogurt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
(finely diced cucumber - optional)
- Combine all ingredients a small mixing bowl and mix well.
Toum
Toum is the Lebanese word for garlic and it also refers to the fluffy white garlic sauce that is served in restaurants with chicken, lamb an other dishes. Making toum is easy, but you will require a food processor, or a lot of time and patience with a whisk. However the time is worthwhile. The first recipe is a 'cheat' method that is quicker than the traditional method.
Tips for making Toum
- Always use a neutral flavored oil like grape seed, canola or some other light vegetable oil. Olive old has too strong a flavor and produces a heavier sauce.
- The aim of the mixing is to create an emulsion with the garlic, vegetable oil and lemon juice. Be patient as it may take about 10 minutes to create a smooth and velvet sauce. If you rush it the sauce will split and go out of emulsion
- Use high quality fresh garlic and peel it yourself. Choose firm tight bulbs and avoid those with green shoot.
- Make sure your equipment is dry and free of water droplets as this could make the sauce split.
Simple Toum Garlic Sauce Recipe using a Blender
1 cup of neutral oil (sunflower, grape seed or similar oil with no domineering flavor)
Juice of 1 lemon
1 egg white
5 cloves of garlic
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 cup of iced water
- Add the garlic cloves, salt and 1/4 of the lemon juice to the blender bowl
- Blend using an intermediate setting, scraping the sides down with a spatula.
- Add the egg white and mix in
- Add half the oil a tiny bit at a time in a thin to medium continuous pour.
- The mixture should emulsify at this stage. If it splits, empty the mixture into a bowl, wash the blender container and dry. Then add another egg white, blend it and gradually pour in the original mixture while blending.
- Turn the speed to slow and gradually add the rest of the lemon juice in a small stream.
- Gradually add the remainder of the oil in a similar way.
- Finish by slowly adding 1 or 2 tablespoons of water which assists to create a silky, creamy texture.
Traditional Toum Recipe
1 cup of whole freshly peeled garlic cloves
1/2 cup lemon juice
4 cups of neutral tasting vegetable oil such as canola or grape seed oil
1 tablespoon salt
- Transfer the garlic cloves and salt into a dry food processor and pulse. Scrape the sides down and keep pulsing until the garlic is chopped into small pieces
- Run the food processor at medium speed and add 1/2 cup oil very gradually in a very thin stream. If you add the oil too quickly the sauce could separate. This takes experience to learn the technique.
- Gradually add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice.
- Repeat the process gradually adding more of the oil and more of the lemon juice until it has all been added. The mixture will form an emulsion if you do it gradually. If the sauce splits, abandon it and try again another time. Make an aioli sauce instead.
Aioli
Aioli is, like mayonnaise, a suspension or emulsion of small droplets of oil in water soluble ingredients. Egg yolk is generally used as an emulsifier to keep the oil in suspension. However, garlic and mustard both help with the suspension and you can omit the egg. The garlic, egg yolks, and Dijon mustard are initially blended together with a whisk. Then the oil and the lemon juice are gradually poured in, very slowly while whisking constantly to create the emulsion. You can add lots of herbs and spices to the basic Aioli, such as chopped fennel tops,lemon zest basil, dill or various roasted nuts.
1 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1 1/4 cup of olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 large egg yolk
1/2 a small clove of garlic, peeled
lemon juice, to taste
- Grind and pound the garlic with 1 teaspoon of salt in a pestle and mortar
- Transfer the mustard and egg yolk to a bowl and whisk thoroughly.
- Start adding the olive oils slowly a bit at a time.
- Once about 25% of the oil has been added you can increase the rate.
- Once all the oil has been incorporated, start adding the garlic and lemon juice and any other flavors.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Thai Chili-Garlic Basic Sauce
8 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 cups water
4 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons canola oil
4 tablespoons fish sauce
1 ounce sweet basil leaves
4 to 6 Thai finger peppers
1 tablespoon black bean sauce
- Grind the pepper and garlic using a mortar.
- Heat the canola oil in a hot wok.
- Stir-fry the chopped pepper and garlic mixture ( don't over-cook).
- Add fish sauce, oyster sauce, black bean sauce, soy sauce, sugar and water.
- Continue stir-frying until the sauce starts to boil.
- Add cornstarch and thicken the sauce.
- Add sweet basil leaves and cool before serving.
Chinese Garlic Sauce
1 tablespoon peanut oil or high-temperature vegetable oil such as grape seed oil
2 teaspoons dry sherry or Chinese rice wine
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
3 - 4 medium garlic cloves, chopped very finely
1/2 teaspoon chili sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
- Mix the soy sauces, rice wine (or sherry), chili sauce, rice vinegar, sugar and sesame oil in a small bowl.
- In a separate small bowl, fully dissolve the cornstarch in a tablespoon of water.
- In a saucepan heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat.
- Add the garlic to the saucepan and cook, stirring until just cooked (about 30 seconds - don't burn the garlic).
- Quickly stir the sauce in the bowl again and transfer to the saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring.
- Add the cornstarch mixture to the sauce, and stir to thicken and then cool before serving.
ENJOY!
