Sweet-Hot Spiced Pecans

Believe me, these sweet -hot spiced pecans are very addictive and vegan too. It is crunchy, sweet, spicy and a little salty. Altogether a wonderful crunchy snack. It can be served as a great evening snack with a sip of coffee or can even be wrapped and be sent as gifts. You can easily double the batch and make more if you wish. Trust me, no one can eat just one.


Recipe adapted from Myrecipes

Yield: Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients:
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
2 teaspoons ground flaxseed or 1 large egg white
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 cups pecans

Preparation:
1. In a bowl, mix sugar, cayenne, salt, ground coriander, ground cinnamon, and ground allspice. Whisk together the ground flaxseed, water and oil (Alternately whisk 1 egg white and vegetable oil.

2. In a large bowl take 2 cups of pecan halves. Add in the flaxseed mixture and stir to coat the pecans. Now add the sugar and spices and mix well to coat well.

3. Spread nuts in a single layer in an oiled nonstick baking sheet or simply lay a parchment paper over a baking sheet. Bake in a 300°F OR 150°C regular or convection oven, stirring occasionally, until nuts are crisp and lightly browned, about 20 to 25 minutes.

4. Let cool about 5 minutes, then use a wide spatula to loosen nuts from pan; cool completely. Serve or store airtight at room temperature up to 2 weeks.

Kodbale - Spicy Carom Flavored Rings

Kodubale is one of the popular snacks in South India. "KODU" means Horn (like that of a cow) and "BALE" means Bangle. These are named based on their shape. These kodubales are crunchy, hot and tasty. This recipe is slightly different from most of the other kodubale recipes, as i use fine semolina here instead of rice flour which is most commonly used. I suggest you use the finest quality of semolina here. They give a wonderful taste and the initial stage where you grind the coconut, dalia, carom and cumin seeds itself will give you the aroma of the final product.



Ingredients:

2 cups fine semolina
1/4 cup desiccated coconut or dry coconut, grated
1/4 cup kadale or Dalia
1/4 tsp asafoetida or hing
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp carom seeds
1/4 tsp jeera
2 1/2 tbsps chilli powder (can reduce according to your preference)
1/4 cup hot oil + oil for deep frying (preferably sunflower oil)

Directions:

Grind together the coconut, dalia, asafoetida, carom seeds and jeera to form a smooth powder.

Combine the ground powder, fine semolina and hot oil and mix well. Add chilli
powder, salt and combine well. Now add enough water to make a soft dough.

Take about a teaspoon of the dough and roll it on a wooden board with your fingers to form a thin long cylinder, about 4 inches long and thickness of about your little finger. Slowly turn around both the ends together and join them to form a circle (like a bangle) with your thumb and fore finger. Do the same with the remaining dough.

Heat oil on a low to medium heat. Do not over heat the oil or the kodubales would turn raw from inside. Deep fry these roundels of dough. You can add 5 to 10 roundels together depending on the pan you are using. Fry them for 5 to 10 minutes each batch till they turn slightly reddish brown.
Let them cool to take a bite to see if the the kodbales have fried well and they are crispy from in to out.

Enjoy these spicy, crunchy kodbales as an evening snack with a hot cup of coffee.