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Recipes with unsalted peanuts

5 recipes that use unsalted peanuts, with photos, step-by-step instructions and cook times. The quickest, Torito de cacahuate, takes 15 minutes. It is most often cooked with garlic, black peppercorns and cinnamon stick.

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Mole negro con pollo

Of Oaxaca's seven moles, mole negro is the one brought out for weddings, christenings and the Day of the Dead, when families cook it in huge clay pots and send guests home with containers of it. Its near-black colour comes from chillies toasted very dark and from seeds and tortilla charred on purpose, balanced by fried plantain, raisins, sesame and a little Mexican chocolate, so the sauce tastes smoky, bittersweet and deeply savoury rather than sweet. The true base is the Oaxacan chilhuacle negro, which is hard to find outside the region; this version uses a practical mix of pasilla, mulato, ancho and guajillo, which gets very close. Serve it over the poached chicken with white rice and warm corn tortillas. Oaxacan cooks often fry the sauce in pork lard; vegetable oil works just as well and keeps the dish pork-free. Chef's tip: make the sauce a day ahead; like most moles it rounds out and deepens overnight in the fridge.

210 minMexicanChicken
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Puca picante

Puca means red in Quechua, and Ayacucho's puca picante is as red as a stew gets, thanks to ají panca and a little beetroot. Cubes of pork and potato simmer in a sauce thickened with ground toasted peanuts until creamy, nutty and mildly hot; it is served at Ayacucho's Sunday lunches and during Semana Santa with white rice, a fried pork chunk on top and a sharp salsa criolla. A frequent error is too much beetroot, which makes it earthy and sweet; you only need enough for the colour. Chef's tip: toast the peanuts in a dry pan before grinding them, and the sauce tastes twice as deep.

75 minPeruvianCurriesGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Caruru

Every 27 September, homes across Salvador and the Recôncavo cook huge pots of caruru for the feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian, and children are fed first; the rest of the year it turns up at acarajé stalls and on Bahian Sunday tables next to vatapá, rice and xinxim. Okra is chopped very small and cooked down with a paste of dried shrimp, toasted cashews and peanuts, ginger and onion, then finished with dendê oil until it is thick, glossy and gently sticky, nutty and faintly of the sea. Serve it with white rice, farofa de dendê and acarajé or abará. Most people make the mistake of slicing the okra into big rounds; cut tiny it melts into the sauce instead of sitting in slimy chunks. For a vegetarian caruru, skip the shrimp and use 40 g more of each nut. Chef's tip: toast the cashews and peanuts in a dry pan until they smell of popcorn before grinding them; it makes the stew taste deeper and less green.

65 minBrazilianCurriesGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Torito de cacahuate

Torito is the party drink of the port of Veracruz and the Sotavento, poured at weddings, saints' days and the Tlacotalpan Candelaria fair: a thick, cold, milkshake-like blend of peanuts, condensed and evaporated milk and cinnamon. The traditional version is spiked with aguardiente, the local cane spirit. This recipe is the alcohol-free version, so children can drink it too; adults who want the original add a measure of cane spirit to each glass. It contains peanuts, so check for allergies. Chef's tip: toast the peanuts until just golden before blending; raw ones taste flat and beany.

15 minMexicanDrinksGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Mole poblano with chicken

In the city of Puebla, mole poblano is the dish for weddings, baptisms and saints' days, and families often make it together over a whole afternoon. Three dried chillies (mulato, ancho and pasilla) are fried and ground with almonds, peanuts, sesame, raisins, spices, toasted tortilla and a little chocolate into a sauce that is deep, glossy and only gently sweet. It is spooned over poached chicken and scattered with sesame, with Mexican rice and warm tortillas to mop it up. Making it a day ahead lets the flavours settle. Chef's tip: fry the blended sauce in hot fat before adding stock; that sizzling stage is what turns it from a purée into mole.

180 minMexicanChickenGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Goes well with unsalted peanuts