Here's what you do:

Toast 1/2 cup sesame seeds in the oven until golden brown (watch carefully so they don't burn, it takes less than 10 min at 350F) [you can just use the same amount of tahini, but I like to grind it myself]

Soak 1 cup chick peas overnight, then simmer 2 hours with 1 bay leaf and ten peppercorns (to taste). I don't like draining the chick peas so I simmer without the lid and watch until the water has almost evaporated, but if you're pressed for time just simmer with plenty of water and drain.  Remove the bayleaf, but keep the peppercorns.

Or simply use canned, rinsed chickpeas.

First grind the sesame seeds in the food processor (otherwise they won't get ground, and what you want is to get a drier version of "tahini").

Add the drained chickpeas, two (or more) smashed garlic cloves, juice of half a lemon/lime, salt to taste and process. Keep adding olive oil until the desired consistency is achieved.

Bon apetit!

I'm posting this recipe as it is one of the few in my "vegetarian" category and since I am doing the Silent Retreat and trying to concentrate on meditating and the five ethical precepts today this seemed appropriate. My meat-eating western mind has a very hard time with the first "do not kill" precept, when you start thinking about it even chickpeas have feelings and we're killing a bunch of them in this recipe, not to mention the sesame seeds,  the garlic cloves (where we can even see the sprout of life) and even the peppercorns. But we can't survive on bay leaves alone... Grrr, there's no way around that one, at least for me!

I can't resist the temptation to justify myself, I don't kill the weeds on my lawn except for poison ivy, and I try to keep spiders and ants alive (there's a resident giant spider under the deck) and I let the squirrels eat my green tomatoes and the blue jays think they actually own the raspberry patch in the back, but I do draw the line at the sound of a single mosquito buzzing in my bedroom when I'm trying to sleep. 

Guilty as charged, my own presence kills. I guess I'll just have to borrow from the Native People's tradition and give thanks to Mother Nature for all Her Gifts. And to God for life, however strange and contradictory it may seem..

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