Spring time Green Almond Salad

I've been trying to get my hands on these almonds forever! Ever since I've moved from Northern Iraq to Canada I haven't seen them here.  When I was little in Kurdistan (the northern region of Iraq) these fleshy fresh pale green almonds would show up in the market place at spring time... they weren't something we grew up with and my mother had no idea what they were but our guards would lay them on a flat tray and serve them with a heaping pile of salt which you'd then dip them into.

That's a lot of salt! We ate many other green foods like this, tiny little sour green plums and other rhubarb like stalks which were dipped in salt. As an adult now I can feel my blood pressure elevating as I think about the pile of salt, no doubt it's not healthy at all to be eating that much salt (and for children too!)

Salt balances out the sour taste and makes it palatable and delectable incase you were wondering why... so now when I got my hands on these (found them by surprise at T&T Asian supermarket in Markham) I was puzzled just looking at them and trying to figure out what I'm suposed to do with them.

I suppose you could enjoy them like Edamames and wash, dry and sprinkle with a bit of salt, just enough to season.

After a lot of searching I happened upon a blog post from Israel mentioning a salad with just a little bit of salt, good olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice, even a few shavings of red onion if desired! The recipe seemed so perfect so I busted out my mandolin and began shaving these guys (a medium slice is good, nothing too paper thin because you want to keep the delicate almond in tact in the middle)

Spring time Green almond Salad

- A handful fresh green almonds 

- Sprinkling salt

- Drizzle of olive oil

- Squeeze of lemon juice

- Thinly sliced red onion (optional) 

Shave the almonds using a mandolin - careful of your fingers! I shaved a bit of my thumb :(( 

Add the almonds to your serving bowl and drizzle lemon juice over (these almonds oxidizer and go brown very quickly so work as quick as you can and as close to serving time as possible) 

Add olive oil and sprinkle a good sea salt overtop

Toss and enjoy!