Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Microwave Low Fat Masala Peanuts

One of my fondest childhood memories is of my father taking us all to a nearby canteen to buy us Masala Peanuts. Those were the crispy, spicy, gram flour coated deep fried ones. We used to enjoy eating them out of small paper cones. 
I was delighted to find this recipe for the masala peanuts in Tarla Dalal's Microwave Cooking book. These taste so good and you can make a cupful of these with just one tablespoon of oil. Isn't that great! It takes time and effort to make these, but hey you get this lovely snack with relatively so few calories and fat(from oil) to go with your evening coffee. Makes approximately one cup.

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted peanuts, unskinned
1/2 cup gram flour
2 teaspoons chilli powder
A pinch of Ajwain seeds( you could use fennel seeds or hing here)
1 tablespoon oil
2-3 tablespoons water
Salt to taste

Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the water and oil. Be careful not to add more water. Avoid eyeballing measures for this recipe. I have tried eye-balling and the results were not so good. Ensure the batter coats the peanuts evenly.

Drop the peanuts one by one or in clusters of 2-3 peanuts max on wax paper. These would need to be arranged in a circle near the outer edge of the paper, no circles within the outer circle, no peanuts in the middle. (I know I may be sounding ambiguous,hope you get what I mean to say)  You could also drop on the peanuts on the microwave plate, but using wax paper is quicker and less mess later to clean up. Microwave on HIGH for 1 1/2 minutes. Remove from the wax paper, cool and store in an air tight container. Enjoy with your coffee!!

Please Note: As goes with a lot of microwave recipes, even a few seconds extra can cause the peanuts to harden too much or burn.

Do not reuse the same wax paper more than twice as it may burn.

17 comments:

Parita said...

Perfect snack for tea time munching :)

Nithya said...

This is a lovely snack that I have enjoyed during school time too. Looks fantastic and yummy :)

TREAT AND TRICK said...

What a yummy and healthy snack, thanks for sharing dear...

Bombay Foodie said...

I've made them many times and totally love them!

Priya Suresh said...

I can munch them anytime, guilt free peanuts, looks fantastic..

Sneha said...

YUMMYYYY!! I used to binge on the ones from Haldirams all the time. I really should give these a try. :0)

Deepti said...

One of my favs too...Loved the microwave version...Sure 2 try soon

Simplyfood said...

Wow guilt free indulgence.Nice recipe.

SathyaSridhar said...

wooow,,,perfect spicy peanut for all time i can have it anytime crunchy munching..

Anonymous said...

Lip-smacking! Isnt this what they call "Bonda Kadalekai"?? :)
Im positive it is!!

JP Nagarakke, 200 gms parcel please!!

Lakshmi Navaneeth said...

First time here ... you have a lovely blog!

Suma Rowjee said...

@Madhuri- Am not sure about the other name, but will send the parcel for sure:-))

tracieMoo said...

Wow, you've got a nice blog!
the peanut sounds so good. Never had it before. Low fat is just a bonus!

Veggie Hut said...

hey..Suma..loved these nutty goodie..i am a peanut fan.. feel like grabbing a few right now.. u hv a lovely space..exploring it.. will be here often..added u in my list..

M D said...

Hey Suma, I am late on ur blog this time. I LOVED the Kitchen Time Savers post and so much like the examples u gave. These peanuts remind me of our train journeys when we would often carry them as it's an easy take away lasting long. What's good abt ur recipe is that it's promisingly healthy than the fried version.

Anonymous said...

mom,i could'nt get to taste it!

Unknown said...

Hi Suma,
It sounds great and I love peanuts.
Please could you be able to mention how mant calories are there in a cup of peanuts roasted using your recipe. There are so many out here who love peanuts but cannot eat them because they are too calorific.
Thanks
cK