Sunday, March 18, 2012

Chile Cashews

Cashews never last very long around the house. Santa used to leave a large bucket under the tree, but they always seemed to disappear in the next day or so. Especially when uncles and cousins started showing up.

On their own, cashews are great. It is one of the nuts I can eat. Salty. Fatty. Crunchy. A great snack. Easy to take in a bag on the airplane. Then I found Trader Joe's Chili-Lime cashews. Holy cow! those are good when you can find them. An open bag around my house or office is gone in no time. I started thinking that perhaps I could work on making my own cashews. This recipe works really well with 1.5 - 2 pounds peanuts as well.

UnclePhool's Chile Cashews

  • 1.5 or 2 pounds whole roasted salted cashews or peanuts
  • 1   egg white beaten until frothy (about a minute with a hand whisk)
  • 1 T.   water
  • 2 T.   fresh lime juice (the juice from both halves of a small lime)
  • 1 T.   sugar
  • 2 t.   kosher salt
  • 1 t.   cumin
  • 1 t.   chili powder
  • 1 t.   paprkia
  • 1/2 t.  cayenne
Preheat oven to 250F. In a large bowl whip the egg white. Add all the liquids and spices and mix to combine. Add the cashews and mix to evenly coat. Spread evenly in one layer on a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone pad. Bake for 60 or so minutes (or until they are dry and loose) stirring every 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven and let fully cool. The flavors take a little while to set up. Store in airtight zipbag or other sealing container.
whisk until the egg white is frothy

add the spices and liquids
add the cashews (or peanuts)
mix until evenly coated
spread out on parchment or a silpad in a single layer and bake
I usually use one tray per pound of nuts.



Friday, March 16, 2012

Spicy Ketchup

French Fries, Chicken Nuggets, and even Fish Sticks have long been known as vehicles for kids to transport ketchup to their mouths. Heck, it was even considered a vegetable during a previous Presidential administration. I have usually been a mustard guy, but do love the sweet and slightly tangy taste that ketchup provides.

Ketchup, or catsup, or Tchuppy, or whatever else you call it has been a staple for more than 100 years. During college in Pittsburgh, it was hard to ignore who the king of the tomato sauce is. Heinz everywhere. At least I was never turned off by their product. I just think that could be easy ways to give it a little lift.

I think most folks know that I really like spicy stuff. Sriracha (aka Rooster Sauce) is one of my favorite sauce additives. I add it to soy sauce for dipping my gyoza. It is great in Florence Hsu's pot sticker sticky buns. I even squirt some into ground beef for burgers.
If you are not familiar with it, your should be!! Originally from Vietnam, I saw it in nearly every restaurant I ate at in Hanoi and Saigon. I can usually find it in my local supermarket and certainly you can find it in any Asian grocery.
Here is an easy way to add a little spice to your ketchup and change the taste of fries and nuggets forever.

Spicy Ketchup

  • 4 parts Ketchup
  • 1-4 parts Srirachi (Rooster) Sauce

start mixing it 4:1 and keep adding Sriracha until you get the heat and taste level you like. Have the kids try a little bit and have them help decide how much.


See I told you it was easy. You could even go to the local Bed Bath or other kitchen store and get a small squeeze bottle to store your mix in to have at anytime. Or I wait until my ketchup bottle is down to 1/2 full, then go get a new bottle of Sriracha and mix it in with the remaining ketchup. Easy! Just make sure that you label it. Keep it in the fridge and it will last as long as regular ketchup does.