With a Knife
Place the nuts in a compact mound on a cutting board before chopping them with a knife. Keep your non-cutting hand in the shape of a claw over the pile and the cutting board with the blade's tip on it.
Slice downward through the pile of nuts, chopping them with the blade's butt end and advancing your hand backward as you go. After one pass over the nuts, make a second pass by rotating the pile 90 degrees. The nuts will now have been roughly chopped. Place your non-cutting hand over the top of the blade and slowly rock it back and forth to finely chop the nuts until they are the proper size.
In a Bowl
Chopping nuts on a flat cutting board can make a bit of a mess, especially when you’re chopping round nuts like hazelnuts. Instead, put the nuts in a bowl and put pressure on them using a pastry cutter, the back of a measuring cup or a small bowl.
The nuts will crack under the pressure, producing coarsely chopped nuts. To finely chop the nuts, move them to the cutting board and proceed to chop them using the knife method above.
With a Nut Chopper
A nut chopper is a perfect investment if you use a lot of chopped nuts. The design varies depending on the manufacturer, as some are able to chop both vegetables and nuts while others are specifically designed for nuts only. Load the nuts into the gadget before turning the grinder handle or pushing down on the chopper until the nuts reach the desired size.
With a Food Processor
If you need to chop a large quantity of nuts for a recipe, the food processor is the way to go. Working in batches (about 1 cup of nuts at a time), pulse the nuts in the food processor until they reach the desired size. They will go from perfectly chopped to dust very quickly, so keep a close eye on them as you pulse.
Try whichever method works best for you with our Sausage and Sage Arancini Recipe.
If you want to start using pearl couscous in your cooking, check out the what is couscous? section on our website.