Dudhi/ Lauki sabzi ~ Bottlegourd in peanut gravy curry ~ With Stepwise Pictures

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Here's the thing I like most about bottle gourd/ calabash or lauki/ dudhi , it is a great veggie to consume when counting calories. This gourd has one of the lowest calorie counts,  100 gms of the vegetable only has about 14 calories or so. It is one of those veggies that contains mostly water, yet it is also rich in vitamins and minerals. This vegetable is also said to be heart healthy,  benefits in weight loss and is supposed to be good for aiding digestion.

If all the above reasons aren't enough, here is one more reason to like dudhi....it's very versatile. It works well in a good range of recipes. Usually I make this kootu with it if I am planning for a south Indian menu or if I am planning to make dudhi to go with phulka I make a curry that is somewhat similar to this curry. But recently I wanted some kind of "different" curry to make with dudhi, but was not in the mood for something elaborate like kofta. So I decided to make a curry with a gravy that is similar to the one I used in this capsicum/ bell pepper masala.  We loved this curry, it was rich, creamy and tasted amazing with phulkas. It is really quick and easy to make too, so that's an added bonus. So if you have dudhi on your menu this week or weekend, give this recipe a try and enjoy it with some phulkas/  flat bread or even plain steamed rice:)

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Ingredients and Method to make Dudhi/ Lauki sabzi
5 and 1/2 cups Bottlegourd pieces of about 3/4 inch each (lauki/ dudhi/ sorakkai) (about 2 small bottlegourds)
2 medium tomatoes cut fine (tamatar/ thakkali)
1 Tbsp oil
3/4 tsp cumin seeds (jeera/ jeeragam)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder (haldi/ manjal podi)
1/4 tsp red chili powder (optional, or to taste) (lal mirch/ thani molaga podi) 
salt to taste

Garnish
2 Tbsp finely cut cilantro (coriander leaves/ hara dhania/ kothamalli)

For the masala ( dry roast each ingredient separately and grind into smooth paste)
3 Tbsp raw peanuts (groundnuts/mungphali/verkadalai)
1 Tbsp sesame seeds (til/ ellu)
1/2 Tbsp coriander seeds (dhania)
3 dry red chilies (or to taste) (lal mirch/ molagai vathal)
3 Tbsp grated coconut (nariyal/ thengai poo)

Peel and cut bottle gourd into 3/4 inch pieces and keep aside. Prep all other veggies and keep aside.

Dry roast each of the items mentioned under masala separately and keep aside to cool. The peanuts until light pinkish, sesame seeds until it splutters a little, coriander seeds until aromatic, red chilies for just a few seconds until it is warm and coconut until it turns lightly creamy golden. Coriander seeds and red chilies can be roasted together. Cool to room temperature and grind together with a little water until it is a smooth paste.

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan, add cumin seeds. When the seeds splutter, add tomatoes and stir until tomatoes are cooked and soft.

Add turmeric powder and stir a couple of times. Add bottle gourd pieces, salt to taste, chili powder if using and a little water and allow the bottle gourd to cook until it is soft but retains its shape.

Add masala paste, water as needed to achieve required consistency and simmer for a few minutes until the flavones mingle. Garnish with cilantro.

Remove from heat and serve hot with phulkas/ rotis/ chapathis/ Indian flat bread. 

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Vegan Peanut Salad

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As I mentioned in this post, peanuts are very, very nutritious. Peanuts are known for being good sources of monounsaturated fats which make peanuts great for heart health. But I was surprised to learn that peanuts are also a great source of antioxidants. The antioxidants in peanuts rival the antioxidants found in fruits like blackberries and strawberries and surprisingly enough the antioxidant content of peanuts is actually greater than the antioxidants content found in apples, carrots and beets.

When I read the article about peanuts being a good source of antioxidants, I thought "good, here's another reason to munch on peanuts" :) Not that I need many reasons to munch on peanuts, since peanuts are one of my favorite snacks. I always keep some roasted peanuts at home and love to grab a handful of peanuts whenever the mood to munch on something hits me:) My friend Akila regularly makes peanut salad for our get together's and I enjoy her version every single time. Since I like it so much I have begun to make peanut salad at home more often. Over time my salad has evolved a little and my version now also included cooked corn and carrots in it.

A lot of the versions of peanut salad that I see online specify that peanuts have to be added just before serving but I like my peanuts a little soft and a little crunchy, so I mix the peanuts with the rest of the ingredients and allow the peanuts to absorb a little of the moisture released by the other veggies so that it attains that slightly juicy, soft and crunchy texture that I love so much :) This salad can also be pretty filling since it has the protein from peanuts too making it ideal for a light lunch or dinner :)



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Ingredients and Method to make Peanut Salad
2 cups cooked corn
2 cups dry roasted unsalted peanuts without skin
2 large carrots grated
2 to 3 mini cucumbers with skin cut into small pieces
salt to taste
2 jalapenos cut fine (or to taste) (see notes)
1 tsp oil (see notes)
juice of half a lemon ( or to taste)
2 to 3 tbsp finely cut cilantro (coriander leaves) for garnish.

In a large bowl assemble cooked corn, cut cucumbers and grated carrots and mix well. 

Heat oil in a small pan and add jalapenos to it, when the jalapenos sizzle a little remove and pour this oil+jalapenos on the assembled vegetables.

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Add peanuts, salt to taste and mix well. Garnish with lemon juice and cilantro leaves and mix well.

Keep the salad covered for about 30 minutes or so. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Notes:
Jalapenos can be substituted with  Thai or Indian variety of green chilies. If using green chilies, one might be sufficient in place of two jalapenos since jalapenos tend to have less heat (spiciness) as compared to green chilies. Adjust the use of green chilies/ jalapenos to taste to achieve required level of heat. My salad is a bit mild since we like it that way:)

If completely avoiding the use of jalapenos/ green chilies the use of oil can also be excluded

Suggested variation:
Finely cut red / yellow onions can be added to this salad too :) 

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Peanut and Flax ladoo

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Ever wished your day had a few more hours in it so that you could get more done each day. I have to admit that thought crosses my mind routinely.  With so many things vying for my time, usually things that have to be done win over things that I want to do, making me yearn for more time each day. Blogging is one of those things that falls in the latter category for me, I want to devote more time to it but I am not able to devote as much time to it as I want...... sigh !!

If you were given a choice of being able to forget about one mundane task or chore each day in favor of doing something you enjoy more, what task would you choose? For me, the choice would easily be either cleaning or doing the dishes :-) Both these tasks seem never ending and sometimes I  wish I could just be done with these tasks so that I can do something more interesting :-( 

Anyway here is something that did not  take too much of my time, it was quick, simple and delicious.One day when I was thinking about flax, I realized that I have never used it in a sweet yet. I immediately decided to try it in one, I added peanuts and almonds along with the flax for additional nutrition and shredded coconut for added flavor.  This really was a very sweet and delicious way to include some flax in our diet and I plan to make this again really soon :-)



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Ingredients and Method to make Peanut and Flax Ladoo
1/2 cup skinless raw peanuts (mungphali/kadalai) dry roasted (see notes)
1/2 cup whole raw almonds (badam) dry roasted
heaped 1/4 cup flax seed meal dry roasted (powdered flax seeds/ alsi/ ali virai)
1 cup shredded coconut (nariyal/thengai) roasted lightly
1 cup sugar (shakkar/sakkarai)
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp cardamom seed powder (elaichi/elakkai)

Dry roast skinless raw peanuts and whole almonds separately, very lightly until it loses its raw taste. Remove from heat and spread on a plate to cool.
Dry roast shredded coconut until it turns a little creamy pinkish kind of color. Remove and keep aside.
Dry roast flax seed meal very very slightly, just for a few seconds until it is a bit warm. Remove and keep aside.

When the roasted nuts have cooled to room temperature, powder in a spice grinder/ blender/mixer using short bursts of power until the nuts become fine powder.

In a large heavy bottomed pan, add sugar and water and place on heat. Allow the mixture to come to a boil, then lower the heat and allow the mixture to simmer for a few minutes. Pour a drop of the syrup on a plate and allow to cool a little. Take the syrup between thumb and first finger and check to see if it forms a very light thread. If a light thread is formed, then add powdered nuts, flax seed meal, shredded coconut and cardamom seed powder and mix well.
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Remove from heat, allow to cool until touchable and make small balls of desired size. When completely cool store in an airtight container. It stays fine for a few days without refrigeration, if you plan to keep this longer do refrigerate it. Enjoy the snack with your tea/ coffee or as an anytime snack.

Notes:
This ladoo has a very soft and fudgy consistency, if you like your ladoo harder then allow the sugar syrup to achieve a stronger one string consistency.

Skinless peanuts can be substituted with peanuts with skin, when ground the difference is not very obvious.

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Coconut and Peanut flavored Mixed Vegetable Rice and information about a food recall

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Phew, what a long title to this post...... seemed unavoidable though, mainly because I could not think of any other name for this dish that described it as well. Anyway first about the recall,  I heard yesterday that there is a recall of products from Trader Joes that contain cilantro. Luckily for me I haven't purchased anything on the recall list from them, but if any of you have purchased any products from them, do check the link here for details of this recall.

Moving on to the mixed vegetable rice.......I love one dish meals because they are so convenient and quick. This coconut and peanut flavored rice is something that I came up with when I wanted something "different". I just kind of made up the dish and the masala for it as I went and had no real plans on posting the recipe on this site. But when we tasted it, the rice was so flavorful and delicious that we both loved it. I had to make it one more time, so that I could take pictures and write down the recipe, not that I am complaining about it............ Anyway if you too are looking for something "different" and flavorful you might want to consider this one dish meal :-)



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Ingredients and Method to make the Peanut and coconut flavored mixed vegetable rice

1 1/2 cup brown basmati rice (see notes) cooked in 2 1/4 cups of water
1 green bell pepper (capsicum/ koda molagai)
2 cups of mixed vegetables (any combination of cauliflower, beans, peas, carrots and such other veggies)

For the seasoning
1 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 Thai or Indian variety green chili (or to taste) (optional)
1/4 tsp asafoetida powder (hing/perungayam)

Roast in
1 tsp of oil
1 1/2 tbsp split yellow chick pea lentil (chana dhal/ kadalai parappu)
1 1/2 tbsp split black gram lentil (udad dhal/ ulatham parappu)
3 tbsp brown sesame seeds
5 tbsp raw unsalted peanuts
1/4 cup of fresh or frozen grated coconut (if frozen then thaw to room temperature)
3 dry red chilies (or to taste) (I used byadgi variety of red chilies)

Dry roast each of the ingredients mentioned under roast separately until each of them turns reddish and aromatic and keep aside to cool. In case of dry red chilies it changes color and looks a little dark red and brown sesame seeds begin to pop a little, then it is done and can be removed from heat. Keep these roasted ingredients aside separately to cool.

In a spice grinder powder the lentils + red chilies first, does not have to be very fine can be a little coarse. Then add sesame seeds and peanuts and powder in short bursts of powder, since over grinding can cause clumping. Finally add the roasted coconut and give it a couple of turns with the rest of the powder. Keep this powdered masala aside.

In a small pan heat oil, add mustard seeds. When the seeds begin to splutter add green chili and asafoetida powder and stir it a couple of times. Add bell pepper to it and saute until the bell pepper is cooked yet retains a little crunch. Keep this seasoning and bell pepper aside.
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If you are using brown rice, then place it along with water in a rice cooker, and set it to cook on the brown rice setting. At around halfway point, add the vegetables and allow it to cook along with the rice as well.

When done, add salt, mix well then add powdered masala, and seasoning + bell pepper and mix well. Serve hot with pappad and raita on the side or with any other curry of choice.

Notes:

You can substitute white basmati rice or even short grained white rice instead of brown in this recipe.

If you plan to make this with white rice, cook the rice in the pressure cooker or rice cooker with water as required so that the grains of the rice do not get mushy but retain their shape, cool this rice a little by spreading on a plate. Steam cook all the vegetables except bell pepper until soft yet firm and keep aside. 

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat oil and proceed with the seasoning and sauteing the bell pepper as above. Then add the vegetables, stir a couple of times, then the cooked and cooled rice, salt to taste and the masala. Mix well, heat on low to medium low heat without stirring it often, and serve hot with pappad and raita or with any other curry of choice.

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Raita with peanut powder and the answer to the food riddle....

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First the answer to the food riddle I had asked in this post, it is....................an ear of corn. So far, the first and only person who got this answer is Ana. Congratulations Ana, you guessed the answer perfectly.  A lot of you guessed jackfruit and mango. Now I have to admit that although the answer for this riddle is an ear of corn, I can see how easily this riddle fits both jackfruit and mango, so I have to concede that the readers who guessed either mango/ jackfruit are also correct...........see I always knew my readers are super smart:-)

Moving on to raita, raita refers to a salad made with different vegetables and whisked yogurt. As I mentioned earlier, raita is an integral part of Indian cuisine. When there is pulao, biryani or any other type of flavored rice dish on the menu, I cannot imagine serving it without some type of raita.

This raita recipe with peanut powder was inspired by a similar raita that my friend Akila made for this salad event. Funnily enough, she says her salad was inspired by another salad on this very site. Pretty strange evolution for this salad, huh?  Unlike Akila's salad I did not go with the mustard seeds and fenugreek seed seasoning, instead I skipped the seasoning entirely and flavored the salad with a simple combination of cumin and chili powder. The peanut adds a touch of creaminess in addition to a wonderful flavor to the raita, it tasted perfect with the peas pulao that I served it with......If you are looking for a little twist to your usual raita and love peanut flavor, then this raita might be something you may be interested in....


 
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Ingredients and Method to make Raita with peanut powder
2 large tomatoes cut into small pieces (yielded 2 cups of tomato pieces)
5 small cucumbers peeled and chopped (yielded 1 1/2 cups of cucumber pieces)
3 tbsp unsalted, dry roasted and skinned peanuts
salt to taste approx 1/2 tsp
1/2 tsp red chili powder (or to taste)
1/2 tsp cumin powder
pinch of garam masala (optional)
1 1/2 cups cold yogurt whisked until smooth

Powder the unsalted, dry roasted peanuts in a spice grinder in short bursts of power until it turns to a fine powder. Avoid over grinding since the nut butters will cause clumping.

In a large bowl, add cucumbers, tomatoes, salt to taste, red chili powder, cumin powder and garam masala and mix well.
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Just before serving, add whisked yogurt and powdered peanuts, mix well and serve with pulao, jeera rice or peas pulao.

Suggested variations
If you like the taste of raw onions, you can use one medium onion cut fine along with the other two vegetables.
Also this raita can be garnished with cilantro (coriander) leaves cut fine just before serving.

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Verkadalai Sundal ~ Savory Seasoned Snack Made With Peanuts

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One of the things that terrifies me, is to find that food items I routinely buy and use in my cooking, have some problems with it and have been recalled. Yesterday I heard that some types of frozen peas and mixed vegetables have been recalled because they have glass fragments in them. How scary......I always keep some frozen peas and mixed veggies in my freezer for emergencies, luckily I did not get this brand, but if any of you want more information on this recall, check out the link here ...........

Back to the peanut sundal..............as I mentioned in this post, sundal is a type of snack from south Indian cuisine, that is simple, quick, healthy and tasty. Among the many, many varieties of sundal, peanut sundal quite easily ranks at the top of my favorite list. Probably because I love all things peanut, whether it is this type of curry with a peanut base or this type of pitla with peanuts in them, peanuts always add such an interesting taste and flavor to dishes. If you are into peanuts too, and are in the mood for an easy snack, give this sundal a try, you really cannot go wrong with this :-)

 

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Ingredients and Method to make Peanut sundal
1/2 cup raw peanuts (mungphali/verkadalai) (with skin) soaked in  sufficient water for an hour and cooked until soft
salt to taste (I needed less than 1/2 a tsp, just a tad bit more than 1/4 tsp for this quantity)
2 to 4 tbsp Fresh or frozen grated coconut (nariyal/thengai) (according to taste) (if frozen thaw to room temperature)

Seasoning
2 tsp oil (preferably coconut oil)
1/2  tsp split black gram lentil (udad dhal/ ulatham parappu)
1/2  tsp mustard seeds (rai/ kadagu)
1 Thai or Indian variety green chilies cut very fine(hara mirch/ pachai molagai)(or to taste)
4 to 5 curry leaves broken into small pieces (optional) (karipatha/ karvapillai)
pinch of asafoetida powder (hing/ perungayam)

Soak raw peanuts in sufficient water for about 30 minutes to an hour. Cook the peanuts using the pressure cooker, or on the stove top or in the microwave until soft. (see notes)

If there is any excess water, drain the peanuts, add a little salt, mix well and keep aside.

In a small pan heat oil, add mustard seeds, when the seeds begin to splutter, add black gram lentil/ udad dhal and stir a few times. When the black gram lentil begins to turn reddish, add green chilies and pinch of asafoetida. Add curry leaves if using, stir once or twice and pour the entire mixture on the cooked peanuts and mix well.
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Garnish with coconut, mix well and serve hot or at room temperature as a snack.

Notes
To cook the peanuts I used the microwave. I just added the soaked peanuts along with some water to a microwave safe glass dish, placed it in the microwave and cooked 4 to 6 minutes at full powder. Stir every minute or two and add more water if the peanuts are not yet cooked and continue.

You can also add a enough water to submerge the peanuts and place in pressure cooker and cook until soft.

This recipe can easily be doubled if you need to make larger quantities. 

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Vaal Beans aka Hyacinth beans in peanut gravy curry

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For some time now, I have been wanting to try some type of curry with whole vaal beans aka hyacinth beans. To know more about this bean, check out this wiki entry. Usually, this microwave curry made with split vaal lentil graces my table in regular frequency. But whole vaal beans that I recently purchased had been relegated to a corner of my pantry waiting its turn.

When I came across this recipe on ISG's Daily musings, I was instantly intrigued and knew I would not be able to resist trying it out very soon. I changed a few things from her version of this dish, skipped the coconut in favor of coconut oil, skipped the tamarind in favor of dry mango powder and increased the quantity of peanuts in the gravy to give this dish a more curry like feel. We thoroughly enjoyed this curry, it was perfect with both plain steamed rice and plain phulkas (Indian flat bread) 


 

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Ingredients and Method to make whole val beans curry
2 cups whole val beans( mochai) soaked for 6 to 8 hours
1 medium onion cut fine
2 medium tomatoes cut fine
2 tbsp grated jaggery (or to taste)
1/2 tsp dry mango ( amchur ) powder (optional see notes)
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
salt to taste

Dry roast and grind the following
1 1/2 tbsp coriander seeds
2 dry red chilies ( I used byadgi variety) (or to taste)
1/3 cup unsalted skinned peanuts
along with
1 inch piece of ginger and
2 Thai or Indian variety green chilies (or to taste)

Drain the soaked val beans and keep aside.

Dry roast coriander seeds, dry red chilies and unsalted skinned peanuts separately   until it changes color and is aromatic. Remove from heat, cool to room temperature and powder in a spice grinder or blender until fine. Once powdered, add ginger, green chilies, a few drops of water as required and grind again to a smooth paste. Keep this paste aside.

Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed pan, add mustard seeds to it. When the seeds begin to splutter add onions and saute until onions are transparent. Add tomatoes, stir and allow tomatoes to cook until soft and mushy.

Add to this drained val beans and some water and allow the beans to simmer and cook until soft yet not mushy. You can also pressure cook the val beans ahead of time and add just after cooking the tomatoes.
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Once the val beans are cooked, add salt to taste, amchur powder, grated jaggery, ground paste and water as needed to achieve required consistency. Allow the val beans to simmer in this gravy for a few minutes for the flavors to blend.

Remove from heat and serve hot with plain steamed rice or rotis/ phulkas (Indian flat bread)


Notes:
In case you want to avoid the dry mango powder (amchur) you can increase the quantity of tomatoes to give this dish a little more tang/tartness.

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Bittergourd in lentil gravy curry with Peanuts (Pahakai Pitla Kozhambu with Kadalai)

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Pahakai pitla kozhambu or bittergourd in lentil gravy curry is a traditional curry type preparation originating from south Indian cuisine. I posted one recipe of this kozhambu along with a more detailed introduction to the dish here.  Sometime back when I was on the phone with my mother in law she mentioned that her sister made her this new variation of pitla with peanuts in it that she really liked. Just the mention of peanuts was enough for me and I was completely sold on the idea.

I could almost imagine the taste of the soft and juicy peanuts in lentil gravy even before I made it. Needless to say that this variation appeared in my kitchen very quickly after that conversation. The taste of this pitla was just as I imagined, delicious and the peanuts added a very unique texture and crunch to the kozhambu. Before I go on to the recipe here is a small tip on storing bittergourd that I discovered recently, some of you may already be knowing this.....In case you end up buying a lot of bittergourd that you are not able to use up immediately, cut lengthwise, remove the seeds and slice the bittergourd into 1/4 inch pieces. Place these pieces in a freezer safe plastic bag and place the bag in a freezer, the bittergourd stays for a good long while this way.



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Ingredients and Method to make Pahakai pitla with peanuts
3/4 cup split pigeon peas (tur dhal) rinsed, drained and soaked in 1 cup of water for 30 minutes

1/2 cup raw peanuts
small lime sized tamarind soaked in sufficient water to submerge it.
1 1/2 cups sliced deseeded bittergourd
salt to taste
2 to 3 tbsp grated jaggery (can be replaced with 1 to 2  tbsp sugar)

Dry roast the following until reddish and aromatic
2 tbsp split yellow chick pea lentil (chana dhal/ kadalai parappu)
2 tbsp split black gram lentil (udad dhal/ ulatham parappu)
4 tbsp coriander seeds (dhania )
4 to 5 dry red chillies (or according to taste) to be dry roasted until it turns darkish.
grind (see notes below)  all of the above along with
8 tbsp fresh or frozen grated coconut (if frozen thaw to room temperature)

Seasoning
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/8 tsp asafoetida powder (hing)

Extract juice from tamarind and discard the pulp and seeds. Yielded me about 2 1/2 cups of tamarind juice. (For a note on how to extract tamarind read this post )

Cook the lentils until soft and keep aside. I used the pressure cooker for this, and on a plate above the container I used to cook the lentils, I spread the raw peanuts and allowed it to cook in the steam too. ( you can use the stove top or m/w to cook lentils too, for a note on different styles of cooking lentils read this post)

In case you do not use the pressure cooker to cook lentils, then cook raw peanut on a stove top adding water as required until it is soft yet firm.

Make spice paste and keep aside. (see note below)

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan, add mustard seeds to it, when mustard seeds start to splutter add asafoetida powder, give it a stir.

Then quickly add tamarind juice, cut pieces of bittergourd and salt to taste and allow to cook until the raw smell of tamarind disappears.
The copyright of this content belongs to Veginspirations.comAdd cooked peanuts and allow it to simmer in this tamarind juice for a few minutes.

Mash the cooked lentils and add to the tamarind juice. Add spice paste to the tamarind juice too. Add jaggery to this mixture and  allow this mixture to simmer for a few minutes for the flavors to blend.

Serve hot on a bed of plain steamed rice with chips/ papad/ vadam on the side.

Notes
While grinding the spice mixture, first cool all the dry roasted lentil and red chilies to room temperature, then place in spice grinder and grind the dry ingredients first until they are powdered fine. Then add grated coconut, grind once, then add water as required and grind again until it forms a smooth paste.

Suggested variation:
In case you do not want to use bittergourd, you can substitute with small Indian eggplants cut into 1/2 inch pieces

I came across this hilarious piece of humor that I have posted here , check it out if you have a minute.

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Microwave Masala peanuts revisited....

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When I run out of snacks at home and the mood for munchies strikes me, one of my favorite snacks is this version of microwave masala peanuts. This is really a simple, quick and tasty treat that makes a great tv time/ movie time snack.



The very first post on this blog, I had posted another version of these masala peanuts. This version just uses chickpea flour (besan) and rice flour (chawal ka atta) Traditionally these snacks are deep fried, but I have been making this in the microwave for a long time now and find that it tastes just as good and is just as crunchy as the deep fried ones without the guilt associated with frying and the calories of course :-)



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Ingredients and Method to make Masala peanuts

1 3/4 cup Raw peanuts (mungphali/kadalai/verkadalai)

1/4 cup rice flour (chawal ka atta/ arisi maavu)

1/4 cup chick pea flour (besan/kadalai maavu)

1 1/4 tsp salt (or according to taste)

1/2 tsp red chili powder (or according to taste)

1/8 tsp asafoetida (hing) (optional)

1/2 tsp garam masala (can be substituted with any other kind of curry powder) or to taste

To know how to make your own garam masala check out this post

3 tbsp oil (any flavorless oil is fine)

scant 1/4 cup water


In a large wide glass dish or any other microwave safe dish, mix together all the dry ingredients.

 

 
Add oil to this and mix well.

Add water one tbsp at a time and mix well.

 
Place the dish in the microwave and heat for 2 mins initially.
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Remove, break lumps and stir the peanuts and place back in microwave and repeat this process in 1 minute increments until done.

The time in the microwave will depend on the wattage of the microwave, it took me approximately about 7 minutes.

When the peanuts turn darker, into a deep rosy/red color it means it is done, it may still seem soft when you taste it while hot,but when it cools, the peanuts are crunchy.

Suggested Variation:
Skip the garam masala and add 1 tsp of fennel seeds (saunf/sombu) for a different taste and flavor

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