Asian - Thai, Indian, Vietnamese, Savory Snacks & Starters
Recipe:
Our division secretary, Ariana, brought these to a meeting once. I didn’t think roasted peanuts could be made better - but she did!
1.5 lbs raw peanuts - buy them without skins if you can
2 heads garlic
Salt (fine kosher or other flaky salt sticks particularly nicely)
1-2 c. oil for deep frying
If the peanuts still have the skins on them: Put them in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let sit 10 minutes. Drain and pour onto clean kitchen towel. Rub/roll them around until the skins come off. Pick out the skins. This can take a frustratingly long time. Personally, I probably wouldn’t have made them a second time if I had to do this again. Some recipes appear to leave the skins on... that wouldn’t work for me, but you could try it.
If the peanuts are skinned: Put them in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Let sit for 4 minutes, drain and dry on a clean kitchen towel.
Peel the garlic and slice it very thinly (#2 on the red slicer with ceramic blade... a bit less than 1/8”).
Heat oil to 250 F and dump in garlic. Fry garlic until it it lightly browned. Scoop out to paper towels. It’s a delicate balance... you want it to be crispy when cool, but too brown and it gets quite bitter. The relatively low frying temp gives you time to catch the sweet spot.
Turn up the temperature to 350 F. Put about 1/3 of the peanuts in to fry. Give them an occasional stir. When they get lightly browned (about 5 minutes in my tiny electric skillet), scoop them out to paper towels on a cooling rack. Repeat twice more. The peanuts will get a bit darker after they come out - a gorgeous deep brown with a lovely roasty flavor. (The first time I made them starting with skins on, the peanuts were wetter and took significantly longer to fry.)
Dump garlic and peanuts in a mixing bowl while still warm and salt to your taste. Let cool completely.
