I make this on a normal weeknight. All you need is a cabbage, a heavy pan, a jar of tahini and some flatbread, and it tastes like far more work than it is.
In Lebanese and Levantine cooking, vegetables are often charred hard and eaten with tahini and lemon. The tahini does the job butter or cream would do in a lot of European kitchens. This is not a traditional recipe, just a very good way to cook cabbage: sear the wedges in a hot pan, finish them in the oven, then pour the sauce over.
The pan gives the cabbage its dark, slightly bitter patches, and the oven makes the inside soft and sweet. That mix is what makes it so good. You stir the tahini with lemon, garlic and cold water until it pours. The chili oil goes on at the very end so it stays hot, and the cumin gets a quick toast in the leftover fat before you warm the bread in it.
Ingredients
Steps
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What to drink
Cold dry white wine
Pour something with acid and not much oak, a Grüner Veltliner or a plain Chablis, and serve it colder than usual. Sesame needs acid. A light beer is fine too.
Variations
With chickpeas
Tip a drained can of chickpeas into the pan for the last 10 minutes in the oven. They crisp up a little and make it more filling.
Red cabbage
Cook it the same way, just give it a few extra minutes in the oven. The tahini turns pink and the cabbage tastes a little fruitier.
Yogurt instead of tahini
Stir Greek yogurt with lemon, garlic and salt instead. It needs no water and is quicker.