Thoom - Arabic Garlic Sauce

Total Time: 15 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins

Ingredients

• 1 cup canola oil
• 1 head garlic, cleaned
• 1 egg (optional)
• 1/8 cup lemon juice, plus
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• water
• salt

Recipe

• 1 use a blender as the well on a food processor is too big for this. try a wand blender, i havent, but if you have a strong one, i bet it's just the ticket.
• 2 drop into the blender: cleaned garlic, egg- and a few teaspoons oil. blend and add remaining oil by the teaspoon whilst continually blending. expect to spend a little time now, dribbling in the canola oil (don't break the sauce!).
• 3 you are creating an emulsion, like mayonnaise. at first it will look runny, but keep dripping the oil in gradually, and it will begin to thicken when about 1/3 - 1/2 cup is blended. make it as stiff or as relaxed as you like, but if you add oil or lemon too much at a time, it will separate into plain oil & puree'd garlic, not an emulsion.
• 4 if the emulsion is too thick to blend, dilute it with the lemon-juice and later w/ water (when you have the level of flavor you want from the lemon but you want to thin the sauce). conversely, thicken it by adding more oil -- i have scared myself w/ an emulsion that was very fluid till i realized i had added too much lemon juice. so, more garlic, more oil, more blending and voila, problem solved.
• 5 i like to keep this quite stiff as i use it like mayo, but it's harder to blend that way: it gets so thick you have to use a spatula to knock down the top so it will keep blending.
• 6 when most of the oil is emulsified, salt to taste.
• 7 i have seen americanized versions of this sauce calling for everything from yogurt to mashed potatoes(!) you not need a dairy product in this. or potatoes, lol!
• 8 made this way, this will keep a long time, like mayo (the egg is optional). if it's too garlicky for you, add another 1/2 c oil like you did the first cup. this is the real deal, promise!