Roasted Chilli Pepper Nuts

Roasted Chilli Pepper Nuts

from Red Hot and Green, Janet Hazen, Chronicle Books, 1996.

I read the name of this dish and wanted it straightaway. The book it comes from has lots of interesting items in it all nicely hot to taste. I previously had made peppery cheddar cheese crisps from it and they were delicious. So I looked forward to tasting these chillied nuts.

A look at the ingredient list gave me pause. There were five different chillies in it: ancho, chiltepe, cascabel, guajillo and chipotle. These dried chillies are not readily available here, but I did manage to get hold of the last two. I added dried chillies to these and decided that would have to be it.

After that it was a matter of grinding up all the dried ingredients to make a powder, mixing this with the nuts and adding olive oil and melted butter. Then it went in the oven.

It all turned out to be very tasty, however, if I made it again I would possibly change the way I cooked it. I think the macadamia nuts needed less roasting time that the other nuts so would cook them separately and then mix them in with the others later. They came out a little overcooked. Or I could choose a different nut to add to the mix.

Oddly, with all the chillies in the recipe it was not overly hot, just chilli tasty. And as you picked up the nuts your fingers were coated with the same mixture as the nuts, so obviously you had to lick your fingers.

As some of these books may be out of print if anyone would like a particular recipe, email me (alfcooksvege@ozemail.com.au) and I’ll send an abbreviated version. Of course, the whole book would be better; it’s loaded with other goodies.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔