Hi there!
Thanks for checking out. :)
This is officially my first Larder Letter wherein I would be sharing recipes for ingredients that you may have at home (or not, but I’m sure your local store does) and that which you can make a condiment (or sauce and any other kind of preserves) to make your meals delicious-ready all the time.
Today, we give light to the lowly and somewhat underrated legume, that is Peanuts.
Chili Garlic Peanuts will save your snacks, your pasta, your fried rice, your stir-fried vegetables
You probably have a bag of raw peanuts somewhere in your pantry. So now is probably the time to treat yourself (or the peanuts themselves) to this wonderful bath of flavors that would add depth and dimension to your favorite standby snack. The sublime combination of chili, garlic and soy sauce rounded off by some sweetness gives this peanut a definitive Asian vibe.
This is a pretty straightforward recipe.
You can definitely whip this up in 30 minutes or less.
You will only need a saucepan for this (or a slope-sided saute pan)
The Recipe
Ingredients
300gms peanuts (raw, unsalted, skinned)
70ml neutral oil (corn, rapeseed, canola)
30gms garlic, sliced (6 cloves ~)
30ml soy sauce
3pcs. bay leaves
15gms. Brown sugar (you can use white)
10gms Korean chili flakes
a few turns of black pepper
Procedures
get your handy dandy pan for this. I like using a medium-sized stainless steel saucepan but it would definitely work out with any kind of pan (ceramic, non-stick and even a mini wok or cast-iron). Heat up your oil on medium-low heat (around 150 Celsius if you’re being precise).
toss in your peanuts and cook for at least 10 minutes or up until you’re starting to smell your nuts and its color starts to change into a light golden brown color. lower the heat to medium.
add in your bay leaves, further cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
now add in your garlic slices and give it a good stir to evenly distribute the pieces (and try to get all the pieces drenched in oil). at this point, what you're trying to do is gently cook the garlic (and not brown them too quickly). this will take about 3 to 5 minutes.
once your garlic slices have been giving off its I’m-good-now scent (a.k.a pleasantly cooked garlicky aroma), go ahead and add in your chili flakes and some freshly cracked pepper and your sugar. you are at this point infusing the oil with the chili and black pepper flavor while at the same time heating up your sugar to melt. this will take about 2 minutes.
lastly, add in your soy sauce to deglaze the whole pan, making sure to scrape off the garlic-peanut-sugar bits that got stuck at the bottom. stir well until your brown sugar is fully dissolved and continue simmering your liquid until almost dried up (you’d notice this part will happen fast since the sugar will aid in turning the soy sauce into soy syrup. you are done. allow to cool fully before storing in your jars or alternatively snack in one go. lol.
The Video
If reading six steps ain’t your thing, here’s the video.
I may haven’t mentioned yet that you can also do this exact recipe with cashews or other fancier nuts like almond and walnut.
that’s it for now!
I hope you give this hybrid snack-topping a try.