Danyacha Koot – Roasted crushed peanuts

An absolute staple in any western Indian home. Traditionally, my Aji would go to the “bhatti” at the local market with a large steel container of peanuts or groundnuts and get it roasted over sand. This was followed by de-skinning the roasted peanuts and then grinding them in a stone mortar and pestle. She would then store it in large glass jars. She would do this maybe once every few months.

This recipe is obviously a quick version, but comes out quite nice actually. You can either roast the peanuts over flame in a large heavy bottom pan or use the microwave like I did or also roast in the oven. I specifically use the microwave because:

a. I like to get the deskinned peanuts, and they tend to not cook evenly on the stove top, and get burnt spots. I believe the skins distribute the heat evenly inside the peanut, so if you are suign skin-on peanuts and have an hour on hand, do it on the stove top

b. The peanuts you get here in the US are very large in size, so becomes challenging to toast them till that get crunchy to the core without over browning on the top. Microwaving or oven-roasting gives a better result.

So here’s the simple procedure:

1. Stove top method

• take a flat heavy bottom pan and fill it with less than half capacity with skin-on peanuts
• on low to medium flame, heat while stirring continuously ensuring even exposure of the hot bottom to all peanuts constantly.
• Once they start turning aromatic, the skins will start opening and you will start noticing golden brown spots on the peanuts, that’s when they are done
• transfer into a flat tray or plate and let cool. the core of the peanut stays hot for a longer time till it cools completely.
• Once completely cooled, test a peanut it should be crunchy to the core. scrub the peanuts between the palms of your hands and remove the skins.
• blow away the skins and coarse grind the de-skinned toatsed peanuts

2. Oven/ toaster method

• Preheat oven/ toaster to 350-400
• spread the peanuts in a single layer on a large tray
• heat for 5 minutes, then remove and shuffle and roast again for 5 more minutes. Continue shuffling and roasting at 5 minute intervals till they become aromatic and develop golden spots
• Takes about 15-20 minutes. depends on the strength and size of your oven.
• Once done, cool down completely, remove skins if needed and grind to a coarse powder

3. Microwave method

• Take peanuts in a microwave safe plate and spread out in a single layer.
• Microwave on 100% power for 20-30 seconds at a time. Remove and mix in between and continue microwaving until peanuts become aromatic and light golden.
• Note that they will continue heating and browning, so with this method, you need to remove them slightly before the stage you want to finally achieve.
• Let cool down colpletely and grind to a coarse powder usign a blender or food processor

Store in an airtight jar, preferably glass or stainless steel to prevent/ prolong oxidation (turning rancid). Keeps very good for up to a couple of months.

You can use this in many maharashtrian style curries, chutneys, ladoos, but my favorite dishes to use it in are the fasting menu items – sabudana vada, sabudana khichadi and danyachi amti