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| SUSAN'S SOFT BOILED PEANUTS (IN AN HOUR AND A HALF!) | |
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GOING GREEN: When my husband decided soft boiled peanuts was his new favorite food, I immediately went online for advice on cooking them to beyond al denté and all the way to soft. Decidedly, they are much better completely soft. After hours of experimenting with advised cooking time and methods in Crock-Pot, stovetop, etc., we were finding that the peanuts would remain al denté. Not to mention that in an area where we must use bottled water for consumption, this involved adding more and more water during cooking. I was frustrated by the amount of time, money, and energy (literally) it took and thought it may have to remain a special treat as opposed to having these delicious morsels often on hand for snacking. I found widely varying time recommendations and cooking methods, but the only one that made sense was the pressure cooker. I tried all the rest with little success. I was frustrated to see so many sites where folks were recommending 8 to 12 hour cooking times and seeing all that precious energy going to waste just for one little batch of boiled peanuts. I am donating this recipe because I believe in GOING GREEN wherever and whenever possible. The folks with the giant cauldrons and the outdoor fires have me beat, admittedly, but this practical way of cooking them is doable for most. When we did these in the Crock-Pot we found we had to leave it on high and add more and more water for many hours. Not practical at all. I did have to order a good stainless steel pressure cooker, but have found it to be a great investment for it serves its purpose on many recipes other than this one. I am recommending a much lower amount of salt than most recipes I have found. It is a hard fast rule that legumes toughen with the addition of salt. I also found this can be added later anyway with identical results. There is a bit of careful preparation for the guarantee of success, so follow my directions to the T and you will (should) be able to cut your cooking time to 1-1/2 hours! 7-quart pressure cooker* 1 (24 oz.) bag jumbo raw peanuts (available in most grocery stores) lots of water 1/4 cup salt around 3 generous dollops pf soy sauce 1 generous dollop Worcestershire of sauce Note: I do not recommend an aluminum cooker, only stainless steel. The first thing you do is open the bag and take each peanut individually and breach the shell if it is not already cracked. This will insure that the water will readily soak into the nuts. I have run across an occasional one that missed the breaching process, and sure enough it was 'al denté. Pile the breached, culled peanuts in a very large bowl and add lots of cold water until the bowl is almost full, leaving room to push peanuts down a bit. Peanuts will be very buoyant at this stage, so they will all be pushing up at the top. To alleviate this problem, you must next place a dinner plate that is a bit smaller than the top of soaking bowl, face up on top of the peanuts. Now place the brick right in the center making sure peanuts are now completely under the water. Soak peanuts in the cold water for at least 12 hours. Now I know many would be tempted to quick soak these, as is done with regular beans, however I do not recommend it. The heat kills the nut. In the soaking stage, if the nut is allowed to stay alive, it will soak up much more water. Next step, put in the pressure cooker your salt, and remember, use sparingly. Add only one dollop of the soy sauce at this point because it has salt too, and transfer your nuts to the pot and add enough water to go up around 3/4 of the way in the cooker. At this stage you will find the peanuts are still somewhat buoyant, so choose a plate or saucer that is oven safe (ironstone is good) that fits in the top of the cooker with not much room to spare around the edges and push the peanuts down with this. It should stay in place pretty well. If not, place a clean rock on it. Now, put the cooker on a high temperature until it gets to boiling then turn your cooker to a medium heat and time it for an hour and a half. When the time is up, just turn off the heat and allow the cooker to depressurize on its own. When you take off the lid you will notice a lot of the water has gone down. Test for softness. They should be all done! I like to transfer these to a Crock-Pot at this point and turn it to warm. Add the extra dashes of soy sauce and the Worcestershire. Salt to taste if needed, but test first. I never need to add any more salt because as the water soaks into the peanut and condenses they taste salty enough by the time they are done cooking. This is a good healthy, filling snack for the family, and with the Crock-Pot, it is warm and available anytime. ENJOY! Submitted by: Susan Hooten | |
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