Wandering the crowded streets of Jayanagar and hovering over the guava seller or getting frothy hot cup of filter coffee was my carefree time at Bengaluru. In the colder months, I could never ever skip getting a paper cone filled with the steaming boiled peanuts, the perfect street eats at Bengaluru. The street vendors had towering stacks of steaming peanuts with a few red or green chillies sticking out like horns. This image actually stuck on to me from when I was 5 years old. Appa (my dad) used to take us on a short holiday to the then garden city, Bangalore. Being colder that humid coastal Kozhikode, the Deccan heights chill surely called for the warm simple street eats. Boiled peanuts were surely the first one of the street eats at Bengaluru that I began to enjoy.
Appa used to hand a small pack of these steamed whole peanuts to amma and we used to walk munching in these along Cubbon park. Once the peanuts are over we get a ride on the toy train. These were the simple childhood pleasures. Never minded the salty sticky hands and thankfully there were no wet wipes.. Just the “good old hanky” on the side of ammas well-tucked saree. These are my precious memories and so I love to have these little treasures to share with my kids.
The memories of Bengaluru or the peanuts are never going to be the same for my kids, nevertheless, they will make their own.
The right kind of peanut
Peanuts or groundnuts are legumes and the pods carry the dicot seeds. Though highly allergic to some people, the peanut is a highly valued seed. Nutritious and often relied as a snack, dried, roasted or salted peanuts are a handful of good nutrition.
For a whole pod boiled peanut the peanut should not be fully mature and dry. The tender raw one right when in season is the best as it does have milky juiciness rather than the hard nutty flavour. If the pods are mature it also takes an awful long cooking time… Not worth that patience. So save this recipe till when you find the raw pods in season. In India that will be around Oct or Nov. Since the pods are slightly immature, it really does not stay that long if you want to keep the product. So best enjoyed fresh … And it really is as simple as boiling them.
Hope you like this simple recipe and enjoy it as much as I do.
When you feel like upgrading it to an appetizer, have a side platter of finely chopped red onions, grated carrots and green chillies tossed with salt and a generous amount of lemon juice. As you pop the pods top some of this fresh salad mix onto the open pod and tip it in with the peanuts. Ooo that is simple but heavenly. Enjoy with friends and family.
Here is another appetizer leaning on street eats at Bengaluru to share
When you are done tag us @mildlyindian at your social media ports to say if you enjoyed it or not.
See you soon again
Boiled whole peanut pods
Ingredients
- 1 kg fresh peanuts whole pods
- 3 tbsp Sea salt
- drinking water
Instructions
- Purchase raw green peanut pods
- Wash and clean the peanut as they may have some mud/ dirt on the whole pods.
- Add salt to the pods and toss them around
- Add necessary water to the pressure cooker and bring it to a gentle bubble
- Add the peanuts to the pot.
- On medium heat allow the steamer to cook the peanuts for about half an hour
- Drain and serve the peanut hot with a bowl on the side for the pods.
- Keep ready the quick toss-up salad as described in the post if you like it a bit more dressed up.
Notes
You can do the recipe in the instant pot as well, follow the same procedure, but bring it up for steam for 40 and allow natural pressure release. If you desire a softer peanut increase the timing to 5-6 whistles, in the Indian pressure cooker or up to 70 minutes in instant pot.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
