Indian Spiced Peanuts | Fried Masala Peanuts

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“What keeps me motivated is not the food itself but all the bonds and memories the food represents.”        ~ Michael Chiarello

Such is the case with me too.. 

Most of the recipes featured on this blog until now are associated with a certain reminiscence of the past.
For instance, the most popular recipe is Vegetable Biryani and Mixed Vegetable Korma. These two remind me of our leisurely, late-afternoon Sunday lunches when all four of us are at home, with no pressure of homework,  watching an old classic on Doordarshan. You see, we never had cable connection until I was 18 years old as my parents thought it would distract us from our studies :-). Atleast two times a week, my mother used to make  Khara Pongal for breakfast, which is a sumptuous meal in itself and fill our tummies until lunch time.

Every weekend we used to stay back at my grandmom's house. Very often, my uncle used to get fresh khoya from a nearby doodhwala and within an hour, each of us used to devour on these delicious sweet treats, at which my ammama is a pro - Khoya balls (Kova Billalu). If craving for something spicy, we always used to fall back on some Mirchi Fritters.

I could just go on and on linking recipes from this list :-)

spicy, crispy, crunchy peanuts - perfect for munching..

Today's recipe - "Spiced Peanuts" or simple said, desi-ishtyle "Fried Masala Peanuts" is one such easy recipe which falls perfectly under the "Munchies" category, for that time of the day - between lunch and dinner, when our stomachs grumble a little and crave for a spicy treat. It was just pure fun to dig our little hands into the jar and nibble on these while my mom is not watching. ;-)

Go on, make these for your loved ones too, gift them a jar-full and I promise, they will be super-duper happy!

Peanuts or Groundnuts

Spice mixture - chickpea flour, rice flour, salt, chilli powder, garam masala

Peanuts coated with spice-flour-oil mixture, ready to be fried.

Fry them until light golden. they gain a little more color once they reach room temperature.

these make an excellent gift to near and dear ones. :-)

{Recipe} Indian Spiced Peanuts  | Fried Masala Peanuts

Ingredients:

3 cups peanuts
1.5 cups besan (chickpea flour)
2 tbsp rice flour
1.5 tbsp chilli powder
1 tbsp garam masala
salt to taste
5 tbsp oil
vegetable or canola oil for frying

Preparation:

1. Dry roast peanuts. Keep aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl, add rest of ingredients with peanuts. Add water (little by little) and mix the nuts with spices so that its evenly coated with the mixture. (see pic above). It shouldn't be wet.

3. Heat oil in a kadai. Once hot, carefully drop a small batch of spiced peanuts and fry until golden brown. Drain them on paper towels (or newspaper works too!) to remove excess oil. Cool them to room temparature and then store in air tight container. Munch when you crave for some with hot tea or cool beverage on the side :-)

Variation(s) - the same recipe can be easily adapted to any kind of nuts like cashews, almonds, pistachios etc.

..or just grab some when hungry  or as snack with hot tea on side. Bliss!

 cya next time,