Peri Peri Makhana

Now my version of roasted Makhanas are way different than the traditional ones.

Here I have used Peri -Peri spice to flavour the Makhanas. Honestly, for me, I like my Makhanas with salt and pepper(or sometimes with chaat masala )crunchy with my Tea. I love the simple flavours. But I really wanted to introduce this healthy snack to my boys who are always hungry for something crunchy in between meals.

Makhana Is rich in calcium, protein, carbohydrates, phosphorus, iron, thiamine and zinc. They have a neutral taste. You can spice it up the way you want. Just roast these and when they are cool, store them in an air-tight container. Perfect when you want a light and nutritious snack, these roasted Makhanas are just for you.

Indians generally use makhana during fasting as it makes for a good fasting food. It’s easily digestible and nutritious too. In the below pic are the unroasted makhana and straight from the jar.

Peri Pei comes from the word ‘Pepper’ from Native Africa,which means these are hot and spicy.

Now before you jump to any conclusion of making children eat spicy food my boys are teenagers who are totally in love with anything and everything spicy. So these Makhana are spicy and only if can handle the heat.

Adjusting the spiciness is definitely a choice but Peri-Peri Fox Nut without some heat is a failed idea.!!

Spices

Paprika-To make things spicy and really ‘Peri Peri’ we have used 3 spices. Crushed pepper, paprika /smoked paprika to make it smoking hot and chilli powder/paprika for the colour and spice. A Secret Tip from an Indian blogger for using spices is to use Kashmiri chilli powder in place of paprika. Kashmiri chilli powder stains and impart a lovely red colour to the food but is not really that spicy to put your tongue on fire.

Garlic Powder-Much against the wishes of my mom I added garlic powder to the recipe. For some reason, she treats foxnuts as fasting food and the addition of garlic powder is not the done thing. Skip if you are team mom.

Brown sugar-The addition of brown sugar is to balance the flavour .Moreover the melted sugar helps to make it crunchy and acts as a glue for the spices.

Oregano-This dried herbs for extra flavour but if you wish feel free to add other dried herbs of your choice.

Nuts -Almond for extra bite,protein and fibre.

Keeps well for days on the countertop in airtight glass jars though I store these refrigerated which retains its crunch and flavour.