The market · Nuts and seeds · Southern Europe, The Middle East, South Asia
Almonds
The kernel of a stone fruit related to the peach — mild and milky, and the backbone of marzipan, romesco and korma.
nutty · sweet · milky
What to do with it
PunjabiGajar ka halwaGrated red carrots cooked slowly in milk until it's gone, then fried in ghee with sugar, cardamom and nuts.No one here has made it yetKashmiriKahwaGreen tea brewed with saffron, cardamom and cinnamon, sweetened and poured over slivered almonds.No one here has made it yetKashmiriModur pulavRice cooked in ghee and milk with saffron, sugar, cinnamon and cardamom, studded with dried fruit and nuts.No one here has made it yetLevantineMansafLamb cooked in a sauce of jameed — dried, fermented yoghurt — piled on rice over thin bread, with toasted almonds and pine nuts.No one here has made it yetMoroccanPastillaA round pie of paper-thin warqa pastry filled with spiced pigeon or chicken, eggs and sugared almonds, dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon.No one here has made it yetCape MalayBobotieSpiced minced meat with dried fruit and soaked bread, baked under a thin savoury egg custard, with bay leaves on top.No one here has made it yetCatalanSuquet de peixA fishermen's stew of white fish and potatoes in a saffron-tinted broth, thickened at the end with a picada of garlic, almonds and fried bread.No one here has made it yetCatalanCalçots amb romescoLong, sweet onion shoots charred black over a fierce fire, peeled with the fingers and dipped in romesco, a sauce of dried peppers, roasted tomato, garlic and nuts.No one here has made it yetValencianAll i pebreEels from the Albufera lagoon stewed with potatoes in a sauce of garlic, pimentón and chilli — the name means garlic and pepper.No one here has made it yetValencianTurrónA Christmas sweet of almonds and honey — hard and crunchy in the Alicante style, soft and ground to a paste in the Xixona style.No one here has made it yetAndalusianAjoblancoA cold white soup of almonds, bread, garlic, olive oil and vinegar, blended smooth and served with green grapes or melon.No one here has made it yetAlsatianKougelhopfA tall, fluted ring of buttery yeasted dough with raisins soaked in kirsch, an almond set in each fold, dusted with icing sugar.No one here has made it yetMexicanMole negroOaxaca's black mole: chilhuacle and other dried chillies toasted almost to char, ground with nuts, seeds, fruit, spice and chocolate into a near-black sauce.No one here has made it yetMexicanChiles en nogadaRoasted poblano chillies stuffed with a picadillo of meat and fruit, under a cold walnut cream and scattered with pomegranate and parsley.No one here has made it yet
Kinds
- Blanched
- Skinned; whiter, for sauces and baking.
- Ground
- For cakes, frangipane and thickening.
- Marcona
- Spanish, round and rich; usually fried and salted.
Goes with
Knowing it
- Where to buy
- Anywhere; Spanish delis for Marcona.
- A little history
- Bitter almonds — or apricot kernels — give amaretti and almond extract their flavour. Raw, they're toxic in quantity.
- Worth knowing
- Toast them in a low oven until they smell of marzipan — the difference is enormous.
Kitchens that keep it in
Catalonia — north-eastern Spain, from the Pyrenees to the Ebro deltaCatalanA Mediterranean kitchen of sauces — a slow sofregit to begin, a pounded picada to finish — with bread rubbed with tomato, vegetables charred in the embers, and sea and mountain on the same plate.7 classicsThe Valencian Community — Spain's eastern coast, from Castellón to AlicanteValencianRice country: rice cooked dry in wide pans, soupy in pots and baked in the oven, beside the oranges, almonds, tiger nuts and turrón of Spain's orchard coast.7 classicsAndalucía — the south of Spain, from the Atlantic at Cádiz to the Mediterranean at AlmeríaAndalusianThe hot south: cold soups pounded from bread, oil and garlic, fish fried crisp in olive oil, sherry from Jerez, and a little something to eat with every drink.7 classicsGalicia — Spain's green, rainy north-west corner, on the Atlantic above PortugalGalicianSpain's great seafood coast — octopus, mussels, scallops and barnacles — with a green, rainy inland of pork, turnip tops, soft cows' milk cheeses and pies baked to share.6 classicsAlsace — north-eastern France, between the Vosges and the RhineAlsatianFrench and German at once: sauerkraut and pork, yeasted cakes and bread, fresh cheese and cream, cooked with the dry white wines of the Vosges foothills.9 classics
