Yasodhara Memories: Sweet Almond Pâté

September 12, 2011 By Leanne Vogel March 29, 2017

Among all the food we enjoyed at Yasodhara ashram, the almond spread was everyone’s favorite and quickly became a popular topic of conversation during my stay. When I got home and tried to recreate it I found it quite challenging to replicate. I knew there was:

almonds
basil
honey
lemon juice?

Along with it’s characteristics:

sweet
slight zing at the end
earthy

After 4 tries over a two week period and a life filled with dull tasting almond spread in every meal I had, I finally nailed the recipe. (the secret’s in the apple cider vinegar)

Soaked almonds are also a must for this recipe. Soaking the almonds increases the enzyme content, and makes them easier to work with. I didn’t want to end up with a nut butter and soaking prevented that from happening.

Just look at how BIG that garlic bulb is. Holy moly. Had to share. PS: I used a regular sized clove for the recipe.

Raw Sweet Almond Pâté

Author: Leanne Vogel

Recipe type: Vegan (option), Gluten free, Dairy free, Refined sugar free, Yeast free, Corn free

Prep time: 10 mins

Total time: 10 mins

Serves: 1.5 cups

Easily my favorite recipe on the blog. Eat it with a spoon, stir it around with pasta, or use as a cracker or vegetable dip. Any way you enjoy it will change the way you look at almonds.

Ingredients

2 cups fresh basil – worked out to be about 3 (40g) packs of basil
¾ cup raw almonds, soaked over night, drained and rinsed
¾ cup fresh parsley
1 garlic clove
3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoon raw honey
¼ teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

Place all ingredients in the bowl of your processor and pulse with the “S” blade just until chunky. You can either continue processing for a smoother spread; similar to pesto, or stop while there’s still chunks of almonds. I like it a bit chunky.
The spread is thick, still relatively chunky, and served best with crackers, a slice of fresh bread, or combined with a simple warm bowl of quinoa and fresh herbs.

View Nutritional Information (once on page scroll down)

This recipe makes quite a bit of spread, so I kept 1/2 of it in a mason jar in the fridge and the other half in a plastic bag for ~~2 days from then when I’d realize I polished off the fridge batch~~ safe keeping.