www.botanikus.de Sweet almonds are much used in Middle Eastern cuisine; in Northern Indian cooking style, which was heavily influenced by Persia, they are widely used, besides poppy seeds, as a sauce thickener (in whole India, wheat flour is never taken for this purpose). Typically, almonds are fried together with several spices (mace, cinnamon, cumin and garlic or ginger) and then quenched with yoghurt.
Almond pieces browned in butter fat (ghi) are a popular, aromatic decoration for fragrant biriyanis or other dishes of meat with dried fruits. Some Indian desserts also contain almonds, e. g. badaami kheer [बादामी खीर], a rather liquid almond custard flavoured with saffron or rose water. Other types of kheer may contain rice, semolina or thin noodles (vermicelli). For a fuller account of the Persia-influenced cuisine of Northern India (Moghul cooking), see black cumin.
The most famous product of Western cuisine containing almonds is marzipan (also spelled marchpane). This confection is basically an intensively kneaded mixture of ground almonds, sugar and aromatic essences, frequently rose water. For this recipe, sweet almonds are either used alone or flavoured with one or two bitter almonds per 100 g of sweet almond; you might also try just a hint of bitter almond essence.
Since bitter almonds are toxic, they are sometimes hard to get in Western countries, owing to paternalistic laws; bitter almond essence is, then, the only way to achieve bitter almond aroma. This essence is made by distilling a mixture of ground bitter almonds and water; it is more or less pure benzaldehyde, containing no hydrocyanic acid. Almond essence is well-suited to flavour cookies, cakes and marzipan. Since it is very strong, care must be taken not to overdose. If not available, kernels of peach or apricot can also be tried. Another possible substitute for bitter almonds is the tonka bean in small dosage; yet also this spice may be not altogether harmless.
Bitter almonds’ usage in kitchen is mostly limited to sweets. They can,
though, be used to flavour spicy dishes, thus giving a very exotic taste.
Careful dosage is essential and requires a lot of skill or practice. You may
try them, for example, for Chinese fried pork (that’s not my idea, but Stobart’s).
- Table of Contents
- Alphabetical Index (index by names)
- Botanical Index (index by plant families)
- Geographical Index (index by country of origin)
- Morphological Index (index by plant part)
- Spice Mixture Index
- German version of this text
- Back to my home page