Roasted Nuts or Melon Seeds
Toasted Nuts or Melon Seeds
Mamta Gupta
A simple and easy way to make savoury nuts at home. They are a lot cheaper and tastier than the ready-made nuts.
Ingredients
1 cup of nuts like almonds, cashew nuts or mixed melon seeds of your choice.
Salt
Pepper
Chat Masala (optional). You can buy ready made Chat masala from all Indian grocers.
Instructions
Spread out seeds evenly on a microwave proof plate.
Cook on high for two minutes, stirring half way through. If they look very lightly brown, stop, they are ready. Keep aside to cool.
Now spread out the nuts on the microwave tray evenly and cook on high for 2 minutes
Stir, cook for 1 minute, stir, cook for 1 minute. It is better to cook for 2 minutes at a time, rather than giving it too long to cook and have some of them burn. They continue to cook for a minute or so after you turn microwave off.
They look lightly browned/darker.
Take out of the microwave and allow to cool completely.
Add salt and pepper or chat masala and 1/4 tsp. olive oil. Olive oil helps to make the spices stick. You can use 1 tsp. water instead of oil, sprinkled and mixed quickly, while the nuts are still very hot. It will evaporate very quickly, leaving the nuts still crisp.
Cool and dry completely and store in a jar with an air tight lid. In summer, they remain fresh longer if you place the jar in the fridge.
If you do not have a microwave, cook in hot oven for 7-10 minutes. Ovens vary, as do nuts, so judge by your eye. Keep a close eye or they might burn.
