Happy Holidays to all! With Christmas just being around the corner, sweet treats begin to surface everywhere. You see them at holiday parties, on food network, on instagram and also in all newspapers and magazines! There is no harm in making sweet treats once in a while – especially during the festive season and I will be doing the same …baking a few cakes and cookies. I will try to use healthy ingredients as much as I can for example replacing sugar with coconut sugar and / maple syrup or honey etc.
Before embarking on the sweet bakes brigade though, I thought of making some kind of savory nuts. My brother who lives in Singapore paid us a visit last week and being a foodie that he is, our dinner chats invariably revolved around food! Oh his descriptions of all the variety of food available in Singapore – thai, malayan, indonesian, chinese etc etc made me drool and made me and my husband want to add Singapore to our list of future vacation destinations! And I hope and pray to God that the future happens to be ‘near future’ 🙂
My brother himself is a good cook too and one evening as I was making my chicken biryani with cashew nut and coconut and got the cashew nuts out, he told me an easy way to make a really tasty snack – spiced cashew nuts kerala style! Since cashew nuts are grown abundantly in Kerala, they also have different recipes to eat them! The recipe seemed so simple and yet I knew this would taste awesome with the curry leaves and the cayenne kick. Cashew nuts are the only nuts that I have been able to re-introduce successfully into my diet after being on strict AIP this past year. So I couldn’t wait to try this recipe! Plus my husband being a cashew nut lover too, I just had to make this soon!
Came out so yum! This is one recipe you should try this holiday season! It is sure to wow your guests plus it is so easy to make! Actually these would make great holiday gifts for your friends and family too!
- 1½ cups cashew nuts
- 1 tsp coconut oil
- 1 sprig of fresh curry leaves (8-10 leaves), separate stems and tear the curry leaves into smaller pieces
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper (I used Kashmiri chilli powder to keep it mild)
- ½ tsp garam masala
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- Heat a frying pan and when hot, lower heat to low and add the cashew nuts. Roast the nuts on low heat for about 4-5 mins stirring frequently until the cashew nuts have one or two brownish spots on them. Transfer the cashew nuts onto a tray. Keep aside.
- In the same pan, add the coconut oil. When hot, turn heat to low and add the fresh curry leaves and the stems and stir fry for about 30 secs. (Make sure to stand away as the curry leaves will spurt in the oil if they have any moisture in them). Add the cayenne pepper and the garam masala and stir fry on low for about 15 secs.
- Now add the already roasted cashew nuts to the pan and stir fry everything to mix well and again toast in the pan for about 4-5 mins stirring frequently until the cashew nuts are well toasted and crispy. Turn heat off. Let cool and transfer to an airtight dish.
Made these cashews 3 times already! I love them! Didn’t have curry leaves, substituted with 1/2 teaspoon curry powder in with the other spices and liked the results.
These look delcious and perfect for festive nibbles!
Thank you Cat. Yes they are perfect for nibbling anytime – festive or not! 🙂