We made the most crazily delicious peanut snack ever - the Spicy Mala Peanuts 麻辣花生 - fried peanuts flavored with a mouthwatering mix of spices and fired up with hot chilies and tongue numbing Sichuan pepper. This snack has been all the rage in recent years, rising in popularity along with the Sichuan Spicy Stews that have become ubiquitous. (Psst...check out our Sichuan Spicy Fish Stew 水煮魚 recipe.)
OMgosh but these peanuts are soooo additive! Once you start eating these luscious spice coated, tongue numbing bits of peanut crunchiness you just can't stop! So aromatic! So yummilicious! Now you can enjoy making Spicy Mala Peanuts 麻辣花生 at home for a fraction of the cost of buying them from the store!
Start with raw peanuts. You can get these at the wet market in Hong Kong. Or you can a get a big ol bag of these raw peanuts online.
The first thing to do is to get the skins off. You could keep them on if you prefer but we like ours without the skin. It lets the peanuts absorb the spices better, I think.
To get the skins off you gotta soak em overnight in cool water. The next day the skins should just slide right off. It takes a bit of time to get all the skins off, so it's good to get someone to help out here.
Pssst: the raw peanuts here are already deskinned!
Here are the whole spices that are used in Spicy Mala Peanuts: dried whole chilies and sichuan peppers. For half the dried chilies we used scissors to cut in half, letting loose all the seeds inside to really heat up the peanut mix. The other half we left alone.
For the sichuan pepper we used a mix of two types. There is the red sichuan pepper 紅花椒 (photo left) is more strongly aromatic while the green sichuan pepper 青花椒 (photo right) gives more of the tongue numbing effect. A combination of both is a lot of alright!
The chilies and peppers are stir fried over a low heat to bring out their aromatics. Careful with the heat, as the chilies burn quite easily.
Time to deep fry the peanuts. You might be saying at this point: wait a minute, can these peanuts be baked or dry fried in a wok? The answer is no, not for this snack. The particular crispy crunch of the Spicy Mala Peanut is only achieved by deep frying. Also the fragrant residual oil on the peanuts allows the spice mix to completely coat the peanuts, thus achieving maximum yumminess.
The secret to the perfect frying is to start with the oil at room temperature and let the oil and the peanuts heat up together over low heat. This will give you beautifully golden, crisp and crunchy nuts.
For maximum peanutiness we naturally use cold pressed peanut oil to fry.
When the peanuts turn golden they're ready. I think that we cooked our peanuts a wee bit too long this time. Tiny bit on the brown side. Next time we gonna scoop the peanuts out right when they're nice and golden.
When the peanuts cool down they become crispy crunchy.
Here's what we used for our Spicy Mala Peanuts ground spice mix: ground sichuan pepper powder, five spice powder 五香粉, white pepper powder 胡椒粉, sugar and salt.
Ground sichuan pepper powder 花椒粉 is a new addition to our spice cupboard and we love it! A sprinkle of this spice will give your meat, vegetables or peanuts an aromatic, floral, spicy and tongue numbing flavor. Mix up this spice mix and then mix the peanuts with it. You'll see that the spice mix clings lovingly to the peanuts.
Now...drumrolls please...the ancient Chinese secret to finish off the perfect Spicy Mala Peanuts. You'll find that the spice mix makes these spiced peanuts pretty good already. But we discovered that even with the spice mix our peanuts didn't taste as good as the store bought mala peanuts. What was missing?
Most fortuitously I had recently bought my first bottle of sichuan pepper oil 花椒油. I had seen it many times in Chinese food specialty stores and had wanted to try it. Finally I went for it and WOW. I'm never gonna be without this baby in my pantry. It's delirious! Sichuan pepper spicy floral aromatics condensed into one magical tantalizingly fragrant oil.
A good drizzle of this sichuan pepper oil over our Spicy Mala Peanuts did the trick! Just like store bought, our peanuts were crisp crunchy, deliciously flavored with spice and heat, and tinged all over with the deliciously tongue numbing hint of citrusy fragrant sichuan pepper.
Spicy Mala Peanuts Recipe 麻辣花生
(makes 4 cups) Soak: overnight Prep:10 mins Cook Time: 30 mins
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1/2 tbsp red Sichuan peppercorns 紅花椒
- 1/2 tbsp green Sichuan peppercorns 青花椒
- 20 dried red chilies
- 4 cups raw peanuts, 550g
- 2 cups oil, 436g
- 2 tsp five spice powder 五香粉
- 2 tsp Sichuan pepper powder 花椒粉
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1/8 tsp white pepper powder 胡椒粉
- 1 tbsp Sichuan pepper oil 花椒油
Directions:
Let peanuts soak in water overnight. Remove skins and let the peanuts air dry until dry.
Slice half of the dried chilies in half lengthwise. In a small pot add 1-2 tsp of oil and stir fry the all the chilies (both sliced and whole) and two types of Szechuan peppercorns until fragrant. Remove from pot and set aside.
Add peanuts to a small pot. Add in oil to just cover. Let the oil heat up from cold until it is bubbling. Turn down heat to a simmer and let cook for. mins or until the peanuts are golden brown. Remove peanuts from oil into a mixing bowl, saving the cooked oil for other uses. Note that the peanuts will harden as they cool.
Add the chilies and peppercorns to the peanuts. Add the five spice, Szechuan pepper powder, salt and sugar to the peanuts while they are hot, stirring gently as you do so. Taste and adjust salt and sugar as needed.
Once spices are mixed to your liking add the Szechuan pepper oil and stir to incorporate. Enjoy the nuttiness!
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