Spicy Indian Peanuts

I know, you are asking yourself just what the heck does an Indian recipe have to do with Polynesia? Well, lots. Really.

This recipe comes from Fiji. Yes, I know that *technically* Fiji is Melanesia, not Polynesia. But if you look at the boundaries of Mela- and Polynesia, you'll see that geographically Fiji should be Poly. I quite understand the classification of Fiji as it is not only linguistically based but also based upon settling/migration waves.

But there has been so much Poly influence on the Fijians over the last few hundred years that their foods nowadays have a much more Polynesian tone to them than Melanesian. Especially during all their wars with Tonga in which prisoners from both sides would be taken as slaves and servants which vastly influenced the food.

But dave, what do the Indians have to do with all this?

Good question. It deserves a good answer!

In the late 1800's and early 1900's over 60,000 Indians (60,533 to be exact) came over to Fiji to escape economic bad times bad in India. The worked in the sugar cane fields and in the sugar refineries.

Needless to say, they've rather flourished lately and there are now more Indians than Native Fijians living in Fiji. They've also brought a lot of their cuisine with them. I think this'll be the only Indian/Fijian recipe I'll put up, all the other Fijian recipes will be much more traditional island goodies.

Oh, I do know that peanuts are not nuts. They are beans. Buuuuuuut since we all know them as nuts, I'm keeping them as nuts. Aw, nuts.


Spicy Indian Peanuts from Fiji

What you need:
1 pound of shelled, roasted peanuts --you know, the kind you buy in the store, ready to eat
1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter) OR coconut oil OR peanut oil OR olive oil --I use olive oil
2 crushed garlic cloves
2 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp to 2 tsp chili powder --just how hot do you want them?
sea salt


What you do:
This is pretty simple... Heat the oil or ghee in a frypan, then fry the garlic, curry powder and chilli powder for 30 to 45 seconds (DON'T BURN THE GARLIC!!!). Add the peanuts, turn the heat way down, toss to coat the nuts, and fry (while shaking those nuts) for a minute or two.

Put em in a bowl, sprinkle with your sea salt and enjoy with a crisp lager.

A note to all you Barkeeps, Taverners, Hoteliers, Publicans, etc. Make these nuts and also my spicy almonds in a large batches, keep em on the counter. You will be GUARANTEED to sell boatloads of cheap beer at highly inflated prices!

BTW; Barkeeps, Taverners, Hoteliers, Publicans translates to bloke or blokette who owns a bar, tavern, hotel, or pub.

Panforte

More holiday recipes! Woo-hoo!

This is one I've made for the last 3 holiday feasts, but this year it'll be substituted with my peanut butter cheesecake with hot fudge topping.

So, like *what* does panforte mean? Hmmmm, let's see... "forte" means "strong", and "pan" means "pan", which could be Peter Pan. Ahhh, *peter* is slang for penis, so I guess this would be a penis that's strong? Like an erection?

No, no, I'm joking! If you like nuts and chocolate, then this is for YOU.

One Continental Panforte

What you kneed:

130 gms (a bit over 1/2 cup) macadamia nuts --note: I use cashews since they are a LOT cheaper here
130 gms chopped walnuts
130 gms slivered (not silvered) almonds
150 gms (2/3 cup) chopped, pitted, dates
180 gms (3/4 cup) sultanas --raisins are dried red grapes, sultanas are dried white grapes; you can use raisins if you like
250 gms (1 cup) cooking chocolate --you know, the kind for melting
60 gms (1/4 cup) desiccated coconut
125 gms (1/2 cup) flour
125 gms (still 1/2 cup) cocoa powder
125 gms (really! still 1/2 cup) icing sugar
60 gms (1/4 cup) butter
125 gms (gosh, still 1/2 cup) apricot jam
75 mls (1/3 cup) cherry brandy (leave a shot or two for the cook)


What you due:

Chuck all the nuts, fruits (sultana counts as a fruit here), coconut, flour, cocoa, and icing sugar in a bowl. Mix it all together.

Melt the butter and chocolate in a double boiler. (If you don't have a double boiler, then here's a neat trick (came up with it myself): put the choc and butter in a metal bowl, place the bowl over the top of a pan of boiling water. Duh! One instant double boiler! You can paypal me whatever amount you'd like for that tip.) Add the apricot jam and cherry brandy to the melting mixture and stir well.

Once the double boiler stuff is melted, then add it to the bowl of dry stuff and mix thoroughly.

Grease (butter) and line* (wax paper or grease-proof paper) a deep cake dish (or pretty much anything that'll go in the oven) and bake for 30 mins in a 150 C (300 F) oven.

When you pull it out, it'll seem moist and sticky but will firm up upon cooling.

Once it's cooled (at least two hours), pop that baby out and slice it up! Oh, it'll keep for weeks if you so desire (yeah, right!).

*you really don't need to line the dish, once it's cooled, just float it in a sink of hot water for a minute and then it'll slide right out.

This sucker weighs over 3 and a half pounds! Chocolate, nuts, brandy, etc! Ahhhhh, I'm not responsible for any increased waistlines... You've been warned.

Spicy Roasted Almonds

Yes, it's that time of the year when everyone roasts nuts. Anyone remember the old joke about Chet's nuts? This post has nothing to do with Chet's nuts.

These almonds are spicy. If you don't like spicy, then just halve (or quarter) some of the seasonings.

Now, I've done this for a small amount of almonds (the cockatoos ate the rest before I got to the trees) so just double or ten-tuple everything if you've got a lot of almonds.

What you need:

1/2 cup of shelled almonds (with the skin on) --that's 50 grams or about 2 ounces.
3 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp chilli flakes
1 or 2 tbsp crushed garlic

What you do:

Add everything except the garlic to a steel saucepan or wok. Heat on low heat for 5 or 6 minutes (the almonds will have just started to plump up). Stir often and keep them nuts moving.

After 5 or six minutes, add the crushed garlic. Stir together. You can turn the heat off one or two minutes after adding the garlic. Keep it moving cus you don't want anything to burn.

Turn the whole mess onto a plate and let it cool.

Last thing... ummmmm, eat them! With a beer! While watching sports!

BTW, these are some of the most tasty treats to me.