Masala Peanuts

Masala peanuts is probably the snack I have eaten the most in my life, I am not kidding!

While growing up, we always stocked up on raw peanuts at my home. If we ever ran out of raw peanuts (which was very rare anyways), I would just take my bicycle and go to the nearby Oil Mill and buy one or two kgs of freshly shelled raw peanuts. And my mom would then make either this spicy masala peanuts or peanut pakoda and my brother and I would enjoy munching them before sitting down for evening studies.

I do not buy the masala peanuts from the Indian stores in the US as they generally are not fresh because they sit on the shelves for long and often turn rancid; they give me a bloated tummy, as if my tummy is not big enough already!!!  But this is not the case in India as the shops make the masala peanuts daily and they get sold the same day (you also have the luxury to sample and buy in India…).

Please try my simple, yet delicious masala peanuts once and I bet this will become a staple in your home. My son loves this masala peanuts!  We eat this as an evening or a movie snack, or simply as a side dish to meals. This recipe is very easy to make and only takes a few mins.

I have noticed that this dish tastes better when made with small sized raw peanuts vs the jumbo ones.

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Masala Peanuts

Simple and spicy and finger licking Masala Peanuts recipe from Senthil's Kitchen!

Course Snack

Cuisine Indian

Keyword Masala Peanuts, Peanut, Peanuts

Prep Time 10 minutes

Servings 4 people

Author Senthil Sadasivam

Ingredients

• 1 cup Raw peanuts
• 2 tsp Chili powder to taste
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
• Popcorn salt to taste
• 1/2 tbsp Oil

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a pan and fry the raw peanuts in medium heat for about 5 mins till they turn golden brown.

2. Quickly transfer to a bowl (to avoid overcooking) and then add chili powder, turmeric powder and popcorn salt and mix well.  If you do not have popcorn salt, you can grind regular salt to a super fine consistency in a mixie and use.

3. Let it cool for about 10 mins and then enjoy.

4. You can also use garam masala, curry leaves etc when making this dish.  One of our friends posted that version and it looked very good, I need to try that variation one day!

Recipe Notes

• Take care not to over fry/ blacken the peanuts.  Stop cooking when they start to turn golden brown and quickly transfer to a bowl.
• Masala peanuts will be chewy to taste when hot; they will become crunchy when they cool down in about 10 mins.
• Please do not give up if this does not turn up the way you want the very first time (ie., peanuts or under/ or over cooked).  You will get perfection after few trials.