Show the Working

Noghl

Roasted almonds are turned in boiling rose syrup until a white shell builds up on them.

Vegan.

Ingredients

Method

  1. ROASTED ALMONDS ARE TURNED IN BOILING ROSE SYRUP UNTIL A WHITE SHELL BUILDS UP ON THEM. Its article gives the method in one sentence -- it is made by boiling sugar with water and rose water and then coating roasted almonds in the mixture -- and the word doing the work is coating. This is not almonds dipped once. The nuts go into the pan and are stirred while the syrup dries onto them in successive thin layers, each one crystallising white as the water goes, until each almond carries a hard opaque shell a millimetre or two thick. It takes fifteen or twenty minutes of constant movement and the sound changes as it works: wet and quiet at first, then a dry rattle.
  2. THE ALMONDS ARE ROASTED BEFORE THEY ARE COATED. Its article says roasted almonds. Ten minutes at 170C until they just colour, then cooled. A raw almond inside a sugar shell tastes of nothing and is soft.
  3. THE SYRUP IS BROUGHT TO 115C, WHICH IS LOWER THAN YOU THINK. Soft ball. Taken hotter, the sugar sets on the nuts as clear glass rather than a white shell, which is a different sweet. The whiteness is crystallised sugar.
  4. THE NUTS GO IN AND THE PAN COMES OFF THE HEAT TO START. Stir off the heat until the syrup turns cloudy and powdery around the nuts, then back on a low heat to dry what remains, then off again. Alternating like this is what builds layers; held on the heat throughout, the sugar caramelises instead.
  5. IT IS STIRRED CONSTANTLY OR THEY WELD TOGETHER. The one failure mode. Keep them moving and separate the whole time.
  6. THE ROSE WATER GOES IN WITH THE SYRUP, NOT AT THE END. Its article has it boiled with the sugar and water. Some of its aroma is lost, which is why four tablespoons rather than two.
  7. OTHER NUTS WORK AND ITS ARTICLE SAYS SO. Walnuts among others. Walnuts are oilier and the shell grips them less well, so they want an extra layer.
  8. IT IS A WEDDING SWEET AND IT GETS THROWN. Its article describes it among the sweets laid out at the bride's home and paid for by the groom, and records that in many places it is showered over the couple like confetti. It is otherwise eaten with tea, and is one of the seven new year sweets.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Iran · All recipes