Baked Masala Peanuts

By Pavani @napavani
Blogging Marathon# 30: Week 4/ Day 2
Theme: Tea Kadai Menu
Dish: Baked Masala Peanuts/ Ver Kadalai
Day 2 of BM# 30 under the the theme 'Tea Kadai' menu , I made Baked masala peanuts from Valli's list. I wanted to make either ellu urundai (sesame balls) or por urundai (murmure balls), but after making 2 desserts for last week's theme, I wanted to something savory. But I wasn't sure what Ver Kadalai or Pattani Kadalai meant. 'Google' only returned kurma or curry recipes and I bothered Sandhya to get some clarification.
Sandhya was very extremely helpful and she emailed me back saying that they are actually roasted peas and peanuts. So I went ahead and baked some masala peanuts. I remember seeing them on Jugalbandi's site quite sometime back and followed their recipe to make mine. Our own Valli also made these a while back :-)
These are probably the easiest snack to make, takes about 5 minutes of hands on time and the baked peanuts are crispy, crunchy and yummy. Since there is no added fat in the recipe, these roasted peanuts are almost guilt free. I can't stop myself from snacking on these throughout the day. I used raw peanuts with skin and my husband commented that the inside of the peanuts were a little soft, so may be next time I will roast the peanuts a little bit before baking them. They are very very addictive, no matter how they are made. They make for great accompaniment with a cup of coffee. Ingredients: Peanuts - 1½cups
Besan (Chickpea powder) - 1½cups
Rice Flour - 2tbsp (I used brown rice powder)
Red chili powder - 1tsp (or to taste)
Ajwain - 1tsp
Kasuri Methi - 1tsp, crushed
Salt - to taste

Method:
  • Preheat the oven to 400°F.
  • Combine besan, rice flour, red chili powder, ajwain, kasuri methi and salt in a bowl. Divide the mixture into half. 
  • Add ½cup of water to half of the besan mixture and whisk to make sure that there are no lumps. Add this to the peanuts and mix well.
  • Now add the remaining dry besan mixture to the peanuts and mix well. I found using my hands worked well here. There will be some dry besan still on the peanuts which is OK, but if there is a lot of dry mixture, then barely wet your hand and mix the peanuts to wet them.
  • Spread the peanuts on the baking sheet. I used my fingers to break up the clusters almost like dropping onion pakodis in oil. Bake for 15 minutes, then stir them around and bake for 10 more minutes, so for a total of 25 minutes. Remove from the baking sheet and store in an airtight container. Start MUNCHING!!
Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 30.