CASHEWS - TWO WAYS
I’m a big fan of snacking and nuts are a favourite. Filling and protein-packed they make a great snack or accompaniment to drinks. So I thought I’d share with you a couple of my favourite spiced nut recipes. Curry leaf and ginger and lime, salty-sweet cashews.
Spiced nuts are popular the world over, but I love the fresh fragrant leaves here. In Sri Lanka, you get red skin peanuts sold on trains and on the streets, cooked with dried chilli, fresh fried curry leaves and salt, and packed in writing paper. The addition of ginger here was something we had at a bar in Kandy, so good, good for you, and pretty addictive.
Then an old favourite of mine is kaffir lime leaf, chilli and the mix of salty and sweet, classic south-east Asian flavours. Instead of frying the nuts, I roasted them to make them healthier, you can also switch the cashews for peanuts if you like, but I’m not convinced any nut would work with these flavours.
These are great for serving guests with drinks, I always like it when you get given some kind of salty snack when you’re at a bar, it can be simple and inexpensive but I think it makes a difference and is basic hospitality in so many cultures.
If you can’t find fresh leaves you can use frozen. Most Asian supermarkets have frozen lime leaves, which work well. Curry leaves are also becoming more widely available. You can even order them online - buy more than you need as they freeze well.
So try these out, they’re both easy and will be sure to impress.
South-East Asian
200g cashews
1 teaspoon cold pressed rapeseed oil or olive oil
1 teaspoon coconut sugar
1 teaspoon Maldon salt
8 kaffir lime leaves, deveined and sliced
Preheat oven 160 Celsius. Mix all ingredients together. Spread on a parchment lined baking sheet. Roast the cashews for about 15-20 minutes until the cashews are deep golden. Remove from oven, and cool before serving. You can store these in an airtight jar for a few months, but most likely they’ll get eaten before then..
Sri Lankan
200g cashews
1 tablespoon cold pressed rapeseed oil or olive oil
1 inch ginger, peeled & sliced, sliced again into small matchsticks
1 stem curry leaves, about 10
1 teaspoon Maldon salt
Pre heat oven 160 celsius. Mix the cashews with a teaspoon of the oil. Spread on a parchment-lined baking sheet and roast for about 15-20 minutes until the cashews are deep golden. While you’re roasting heat a small frying pan, add the rest of your oil and fry the ginger until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon, place on some kitchen paper, add the curry leaves to the pan and fry for about 30 seconds, until they start to crisp, remove with a slotted spoon onto the kitchen paper. Once the nuts are ready, transfer to a small mixing bowl with the ginger and curry leaves. These can also be stored in an airtight jar.