Gurd Loyal’s Masala-candied cocktail nuts
Gurd Loyal, our brilliant friend and food writer knows how to entertain. These perfectly spiced nuts feel like a celebration of British Indian cooking and are delicious with a cold beer or classic cocktail. Serve broken up into clusters and piled high in small bowls. Gurd recommends making a double batch, as they can be quite addictive.
His book, Mother Tongue is brimming with traditional Punjabi dishes and favourites from UK’s local curry houses. It explores second-generation British-Indian identity, with mouthwatering results.
From Gurd: Disney’s The Jungle Book was the first film I ever saw at the cinema. I was five and still remember being enraptured at the adventures of a boy in India (who looked a bit like me), projected on to a megaplex screen, while gorging on toffee-buttered popcorn and ‘blue flavour’ Slush Puppy. A thrilling sensory overload. But Leicester’s Odeon couldn’t prepare me for the raucous exhilaration of the Narinder Cinema in Jalandhar, India, a few years later, where the cornucopia of cinema snacks alone was mind-blowing: fresh-fried vada pav, mini samosas with imli (tamarind chutney), salty masalalime corn, paneer toasties, pista-malai kulfi and glass bottles of mango soda. Street-food celebrities, revered in those Indian movie theatres just as much as the Bollywood stars themselves. The paper cones of sugary-sour masala peanuts, roasted chana and crunchy dal are what I loved most. This moreish take on them is equally terrific with a grown-up cocktail, mango soda or blue slushie.
INGREDIENTS
Makes 350g
- 1 tablespoon amchoor
- ½ teaspoon ajwain, crushed
- 2 teaspoons nigella seeds, crushed
- 2 teaspoons fennel seeds, crushed
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1½ teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper
- 40 dried curry leaves, crushed to a powder
- 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
- 100g caster sugar
- 1 tablespoon Halen Môn Pure Sea Salt Smoked over Oak
- 35g unsalted butter
- 350g mixed shelled unsalted nuts, such as cashews, walnuts, brazils, macadamias, pecans, peanuts … handfuI of fresh curry leaves
- vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon Kashmiri chilli powder
METHOD
- Preheat the oven to 160°C fan. Prepare a silicon sheet, or line a baking sheet with foil, and keep it close to the hob.
- Mix together the amchoor, ajwain, nigella and fennel seeds, cumin, cayenne pepper, ginger, pepper, crushed dried curry leaves and turmeric in a small bowl, then set aside.
- Next, heat the sugar and smoked salt in a large saucepan with 50ml of water until the sugar and salt dissolve and the syrup thickens to a one-string consistency (see page 11). Add the butter, then whisk continuously for 3-4 minutes over a medium heat until you have a runny honey-like caramel.
- Tip in the spices from the small bowl all at once, mix well, then add the nuts. Stir thoroughly to coat everything in the sticky spiced caramel. Spread on to the silicon mat or prepared baking sheet, scraping the spiced sugar mixture over the nuts. Bake for 15-17 minutes, tossing with a spatula every 5 minutes to coat in the sugar and ensure they don’t burn. Remove from the oven, toss one last time and leave to cool completely; the sugar coating will harden around the nuts as they cool.
- Quickly fry the fresh curry leaves in hot vegetable oil for 30-45 seconds, until they crisp up.
- Sprinkle the cooled nuts with the Kashmiri chilli powder and the hot freshly fried curry leaves just before serving.
RECIPE: Gurd Loyal from his new book Mother Tongue
