The look pretty appetizing

Time: 50 minutes

Ingredient Availability: 4/5

Difficulty:1/5

In recent years, I’ve really come to enjoy walnuts as a snack. More specifically, I like the Diamond brand Himalayan Pink Salt Walnuts. When I got the Zaytinya cookbook and saw this recipe, I was immediately intrigued. I’m not really familiar with candied or sweetened walnuts, but I know that pecans and peanuts are often sweetened up. Lets see how these turn out.

Key Ingredients and Omissions:

The only ingredient I couldn’t find was fenugreek seeds. I used garam masala instead, as I found it listed as a substitute online. I used some chopped walnuts I had instead of walnut halves just to use them up. Everything else was done by the book.

Tools:

• Medium Pot

• Spider/slotted spoon

Cooking Review:

Golden Baharat: 17 minutes

To start off, this is a recipe that has another recipe as one of its ingredients, so that’s where I had to start. After mixing together the ground spices in a bowl, I toasted the whole spices over medium heat for about 3 minutes. I transferred the whole spices to a blender to grind them into a powder before mixing them into the ground spices.

Boil Walnuts: 15 minutes

I added the sugar and water to a medium pot and brought it to a boil. Once boiling, I added the walnuts and let them boil for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a parchment lined baking sheet, spreading them out so they don’t stick together.

Fry Walnuts: 8 minutes + time to heat oil

I drained the excess syrup (there will be a lot) into a bowl and cleaned out the pot before adding the canola oil and bringing to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Once at temp, I added the walnuts in batches, frying them for 1-2 minutes each. I had a total of 3 batches. After each batch, I sprinkled the Golden Baharat and sea salt over the walnuts. After letting the walnuts cool, there were done.

Analysis:

These walnuts are very crisp and crunchy, which I really like. They also have a nice light sweetness that is balanced by some light savoriness from the Golden Baharat. I wasn’t sure how the flavors would work together, but they actually work very well together. It’s a great crave-able snack thanks to its excellent crunch and sweet and saltiness. It’s very easy to make, and once you have the seasoning already made, it doesn’t take every long to make. I’m going to give this recipe a 8/10. Yes, it’s good, but all of the flavors are fairly light. The flavors build the more you eat, but thanks to being walnuts at the end of the day, you shouldn’t eat too many at once (lots of fat). In any case, I would definitely recommended you give these a try.