Zhima-jiang — toasted-then-stone-ground sesame, thicker than tahini. The base for Beijing hotpot dipping and Sichuan cold noodles.
North China baseline since the Han, when sesame (huma, 'foreign hemp') arrived via the Silk Road. The Beijing hotpot use is Qing-court — the Qing court's grand banquets (the qiansou yan and Manchu-Han feast) featured shuan yangrou, and Beijing later perfected its dipping-sauce formula of sesame paste, chive-flower paste and fermented tofu.
Liushijia in Beijing's Niu Jie Muslim quarter is the reference shop, grinding daily since 1955; their paste is the standard against which a shuan-yangrou bowl is judged. Most Beijingers add a splash of sesame oil and chao zhi (preserved tofu paste) before serving.
Caramel-brown, oil separates on top in the jar, paste underneath — stir down before scooping. Toasted-nut perfume, dry-mouthfeel from the high oil-to-water ratio (only fat, no water in pure paste). Looser when thinned with sesame oil + water; clay-thick straight from the jar.
Sesame seeds toasted to ~180°C (any hotter and the paste turns bitter), then stone-ground for 30+ minutes — the slow grind keeps friction heat low, which preserves the toast aromatics. Industrial colloid mills produce a finer paste but lose half the perfume.
Variations
Beijing-style (pure sesame, dense, for shuan yangrou); Sichuan/Wuhan-style (often blended ~80/20 with peanut paste (the 'er-ba' / 8:2 sesame-to-peanut ratio) for cold noodles, runnier); Tianjin-style (sweeter, used as filling in mahua fried-dough sticks).
On the Palate
Where Sesame Paste sits in the Chinese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6How it's made
4 steps · 30 min active + 5 min waiting
- 112 min
Toast 500 g hulled sesame in dry wok over medium-low until deep golden, 12 min.
Watch outPull the sesame at deep golden the instant it smells nutty — a shade past and the whole paste goes bitter, so keep it moving in the pan.
- 25 min
Cool 5 min; transfer to stone mill or high-power blender.
- 315 min
Grind 15 min with 30 ml sesame oil added gradually until thick smooth paste.
Watch outDrizzle the oil in slowly as you grind — add it all at once and the paste seizes instead of turning silky.
- 43 min
Jar; oil separates over time — stir before each use.
