Peanuts - Description
Peanuts are so familiar to everyone as a nut, actually belong to the legume family, and are related to beans, lentils and peas. This is an annual plant that produces fruits in the form of small seeds, the size of beans, which are two to four pieces in one shell, similar to an oblong, exaggerated, fragile shell. The homeland of peanut is Brazil, from where it spread throughout the world. There are about seventy of its species, but cultivated Peanuts are considered the most popular. It is cultivated in South America and Asia, Europe and Africa.
Cultivated peanuts have another name - peanuts. And it arose for a reason. Ripening, boxes with nuts, bend down to the ground, immersed in it, and ripen there. By the way, the fruits give only the lower flowers of the plant, which are closer to the soil. Those inflorescences that are located on the top of the bush - infertile.
It takes four to five months from planting the peanut to harvest time. Gathering a nut is very simple - they pull out a plant with a root. So that the shell of the beans does not rot, the bush is turned over, letting the roots dry out. On large plantations, the harvest is fully mechanized - the combine itself pulls out a bush, shakes off the ground from its roots and turns it over.
Peanuts - useful properties
This nut is an excellent antioxidant. It is useful to use for the prevention of diseases of the heart, blood vessels (atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease), tumors, as well as early aging, because it contains in large quantities not only B vitamins, PP vitamins, but youth vitamin E, and also copper, manganese, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, amino acids.
Eating peanuts is useful for gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, depression, stress, nervous disorders, it helps strengthen the immune system. The systematic use of nuts sharpens hearing, improves memory, concentrates attention. Peanuts contain a lot of fiber, and therefore, normalizes and regulates the work of the intestines, digestive organs, accelerates the elimination of toxins from the body. The iron contained in nuts has a beneficial effect on blood formation, improving blood quality. Walnut (especially red husk) is a strong allergen, so you need to use it with caution, and for the first time - start with small portions. Peanuts are not recommended for arthritis, gout, arthrosis. Do not eat raw peanuts in large doses - it can cause digestive upset.
Peanuts - calories
The caloric content of peanuts per 100 g is 551 kcal.
Peanuts - used in cooking
This nut is very popular in Asian, especially Southeast cuisine, where whole or crushed fruits are added to sauces, vegetables, meat, snacks.
Peanuts are quite widely used in cooking, especially in the manufacture of confectionery products - cakes, rolls, chocolate, halva, pasta. Roasted peanut nuts (salted and sweet) are a favorite treat all over the world for children and adults.
Peanuts are made into butter, milk, and added to the mix - nut, dried fruit, and muesli.
Recipe Examples with Peanuts
Recipe 1: Snack rolls with peanuts
These fancy ham rolls are a festive version of plain sandwiches. It is not necessary to wait for the holiday to try them, you can make rolls for breakfast or weekday dinner. The snack is a slice of bread, rolled into a thin layer, a layer of soft cheese, a slice of ham, and all of this is rolled up, smeared with mayonnaise and sprinkled with peanut crumb. Rolls served on lettuce, cut in half.
Ingredients: white bread (better for toast), soft cream cheese (processed), mayonnaise (as an option, savory yogurt or sour cream), ham, peanuts.
Method of preparation
For rolls, it is more convenient to use slices of special bread for toast (it is always soft and easier to roll out, and already cut into even slices), but you can also use plain white bread.
Bread cut into slices, cut the crust. Put it on film, also cover it with film and roll it on a thin flat layer with a rolling pin. Brush it with soft cheese (you can use any sauce), put a slice of ham on top and roll it up. To fix the form, it is necessary to wrap it in a film, like candy, and twist the edges like a candy wrapper. Let him lie down for a while, in the fridge. Make as many rolls as you need.
Peanuts, it is first necessary to slightly fry and clean the red husk, grind. This is easy to do if you fold it in a towel and beat it with a rolling pin.
Ready rolls to coat with mayonnaise, roll in nuts and serve.
Recipe 2: Chicken fillet with peanuts
A sharp, tasty and very fragrant dish. Russian version of the Chinese gongbao, or kung pao. It is a piece of fried chicken fillet in a spicy sauce with peanuts. This dish is fairly quick and easy to prepare, despite the large number of ingredients. Since We are not in China, some products can be replaced by Russian counterparts. For example, instead of mirin (sweet rice wine), you can use sherry, or any white wine, sweetening it with sugar. Instead of leek (if not the season), take the usual onions, and replace the peanut oil with olive or refined sunflower.
Ingredients: 500g chicken fillet, 2 pods of dried hot pepper (you can take 2-3 pinches of ground hot chili), a piece of ginger (about 4-5cm), 2 stalks of leek, 3 chives, half a cup of peanut (without red husks), peanut butter. Marinade: 1 egg white, 0.5 tea. lie salt, 1 table. lie mirin and soy sauce, 2 teaspoons of starch. Sauce: 1 table.lozh. Mirina, chili sauce, vinegar (9%) and sugar, 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 tea. starch, 1 / 2-1 / 3 cups of broth.
Method of preparation
Mix all the ingredients for the marinade and put coarsely chopped fillet in it. Let it brew for an hour or two. Also mix all the ingredients for the sauce and set it aside for a while.
Cut ginger into small cubes, garlic and leek into thin slices, and pepper (without seeds) into small pieces. Heat the butter - ideally in a wok, but a regular frying pan will do. Stew in it a few minutes at the same time garlic, ginger and pepper, add fillet, leek, fry for a few more minutes. The fire is pretty strong, above average. Pour the sauce, and cook until it thickens, adding peanuts at the very end. The perfect side dish is fresh boiled rice (without salt).
Recipe 3: Peanut Cake
It’s hard to imagine baking without a handful of nuts. Especially if we are going to bake cake snickers. Without peanuts here is simply not enough. Biscuit cakes are baked, and the dough rises perfectly, the cake is high. It is cut in half, and between the two layers are placed the most delicious stuffing in the world - boiled condensed milk with peanut nuts. And so that the cake looked like a real snickers, it is covered with a layer of melted chocolate. For baking, it is recommended to use a mold 22-24 cm in diameter.
Ingredients: 4 eggs, a glass of granulated sugar and flour, 1 tea. baking powder. Cream: 500 ml of boiled condensed milk, 200 g of butter cracker and butter, 200-300 g of peanuts. Frosting: 100-150g chocolate (milk, black), 3 table. lie milk
Method of preparation
The secret of high-quality sponge cake is in the long whipping of proteins. To facilitate the process, use a mixer, combine. Proteins and yolks divided.
Squirrels continuously beat for five minutes. Then, whipping, in small portions pour all the sugar and beat for another ten minutes. Add yolks, without stopping beating.
Pour the baking powder and flour, mix until smooth. The dough is ready, it remains to bake for forty to fifty minutes (180C). The first twenty minutes of the oven does not open at all, so that the biscuit does not donkey. After thirty to forty minutes, the cake will periodically need to be pierced with a toothpick. If it is dry - sponge cake is ready. The form must be covered with paper (baking, parchment) - grease it with a little oil and powder with flour. Washed nuts should be dried in a pan to a pleasant light smell of hot nut. Cool and rub with your hands to free from red skin.
Cookies (cracker) break into pieces.
Mix condensed milk and butter until smooth. To make this easier, the oil must be at room temperature.
Prepare the cream: mix the cookies, condensed milk and nuts and refrigerate.
By this time the ready biscuit arrives. It will need to be cooled (just wait for it to cool), and cut in half.
Put the whole cream on the bottom layer, cover with the second cake layer. Put in the cold so that the cream clutches. If the cream is soft, you can assemble the cake in the form with removable sides, so the filling will not crawl over the edge. And when the cream hardens in the cold, remove the removable part.
It remains to decorate the cake. In a water bath, melt a bar of chocolate, mix with milk and apply glaze on the sides and top of the cake. You can decorate and in another way, at will.
Peanuts - useful tips from experienced chefs
- If you plan to store peanuts for a long time at home, it is better to buy it in its shell.
- When buying peeled peanuts, you should pay attention to the fact that the nut has a uniform color, is free from stains, stains and musty smell. If the nut is in the shell, you need to shake it, it should not rattle like a rattle, this means that the fruit is very dry. The shell must be whole, without cracks, spots.
