Remember growing up in Nigeria when visitors came to your house and you were asked to pour some peanuts into a plate to serve them. These visitors somehow always wanted peanuts with Fanta or Malt drinks. Oh the memories! My mum however used to take it a step further and serve the nuts as pre-appetizers with a mix of chin chin. Then she would serve goat meat pepper-soup as the proper appetizer. Ugh such an oppressor! I mean who has pre-appetizer?Fast forward a few years and I discovered another interesting spin to peanuts which I think somehow the Cameroonians caught on to? Correct me If I’m wrong. Honey Roasted Peanuts! This is my most favourite way of eating peanuts. That last sentence may not be grammatically correct but I’m munching away too much to care. I always buy honey roasted peanuts from the store but I try to limit my consumption as much as possible in a month as the sweet factor/oil content in the ingredients are not acne favourable. Nevertheless, it’s a nice way of serving peanuts to guests when you have them. The store peanuts have more of a coating especially with butter and some other ingredients. Super Yum! However, I decided to go with the basic version first. It is important to note that you can start with raw peanuts especially if you do not want that almost burnt flavour that will come with already roasted peanuts. However, if you watch it closely in the oven then you should be fine. It also sticks together a lot so you would have to separate it multiple times when letting it cool before you store it in a jar. Enjoy this simple honey roasted peanuts recipe!
Ingredients
1 cup Peanuts
1/2 cup of honey (Substitute : sugar)
1/4 cup of water (60 ml)
A pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
Method
Pre-heat your oven to 295F
In a pot, pour in your honey and water and stir on medium heat till it’s thick and forms a syrup.
Pour in your peanuts and salt and stir properly till all the syrup is incorporated.
On an oiled baking sheet or parchment paper, spread your peanuts and place in the oven to dry. If you do not have an oven, do not pour all your syrup into the pan, just place your coated peanuts on the baking sheet and drizzle a bit more syrup and leave it out in the sun to dry. Note I have never tried the sun drying method but I imagine that would be a good enough alternative as the logic is the same of drying it.
Stir continuously while drying in the oven or the sun as the honey would make the peanuts sticky. Serve cool and sprinkle the sugar lastly for garnishing.
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