When did tamari almonds start appearing in health food shops? A few years ago, I’d say, was the first time I spied them and couldn’t stop eating the smoky, salty little suckers once I started.
Trouble is, the ones I’ve bought at those fancy macro lahdidah shops – you know the kind, staffed by those elegant yoga belle types with sparkly eyes and perfect skin, the sort of gals who study Sanskrit while doing headstands and munching down on a bit of millet for kicks – are bloody expensive. But once I bought some cheaper ones in the grocers – staffed by normal-looking, bored and pudgy middle-aged women like Oneself – and they were absolutely vile, tasting of some icky preservative-ish lemony stuff, and with a horrible powdery texture.
It just couldn’t be that hard to make ’em, I decided. So thanks to a combination of recipes found on the interwebs, I made some tamari almonds of my own the other day, with excellent results. I must point out, though, that it can be that hard, because the first time I made them I burnt the buggers, and they were horrid. Senor, who, you may remember, is a food waste fundamentalist and in possession of cast iron guts, decided they were perfectly edible and chowed down on charcoal almonds for about a week. But they were ghastly.
Second time around, nearly half a kilo of almonds turned out perfectly, and I’ve been scoffing them by the fistful for days. Yum.
- 400g raw almonds
- 3 tablespoons tamari sauce
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- salt
1. Chuck em all together, mix well and leave for about an hour, stirring now and then to make sure the almonds are well coated.
2. Spread almonds out on baking paper in a tray, then roast in a moderate oven for about 15 minutes, removing the tray every five minutes to check and turn the nuts.
3. Leave to cool – they grow crunchier as they cool and dry.
4. Store in an airtight container when thoroughly cooled, and try not to eat too many at once.
PS: Just back from ten days in Shanghai and Hong Kong, hence the recent silence, and this post I prepared earlier … stand by to be bored witless by some obsessing about Shanghainese street food …
How to shuck an oyster 