Sunday, January 9, 2011

Kung Pao Walnuts

The New Snacking Craze!
kungpao walnuts

I stumbled upon this technique while making a classic gongbao chicken. I was frying my ingredients separately and decided to deglaze the pan of nuts with a teriyaki sauce; the sauce vaporized as it hit the pan, the nuts were almost instantly glazed, and they went on to become the highlight of the meal. Afterwards, I decided that these nuts were actually one heck of a snack, and now I make them fairly regularly. So should you!

KUNG PAO WALNUTS RECIPE
1 cup walnuts
1/4 cup arbol chiles
2 TBS veg oil

Sauce:
2 TBS brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon corn starch (optional)
3 tbs soy
1 tbs sesame (optional)
1 tbs rice vinegar (optional)
1 clove grated garlic

METHOD
Preheat the oil in a pan at medium high heat and then add the chiles. Fry the chiles until they become aromatic and toasted. Add the walnuts and fry them until they, too, have become aromatic and toasted.

Kung Pao walnuts

Turn the heat up to high and add the sauce; it should immediately caramelize and vaporize, and so, stirring quickly, make sure that all of the nuts and chiles get evenly coated. Then, remove the nuts and chiles to aluminum foil lined cookie sheet or bowl.

Allow to cool and eat them in one sitting! Or store in the fridge for optimum yumminess!

caramel noodles

They are also quite tasty sprinkled over noodles or rice!