Peanut Masala from @HariniNagendra #giveaway

MADDIE DAY here, with a surprise guest. Harini Nagendra made a big splash last year with her debut mystery Bangalore Detectives Club, and the sequel, Murder Under a Red Moon, will be out next week. I can't wait to read it, and one lucky US commenter here will win a copy!

Check out the blurb: When new bride Kaveri Murthy reluctantly agrees to investigate a minor crime to please her domineering mother-in-law—during the blood moon eclipse, no less—she doesn't expect, once again, to stumble upon a murder.

With anti-British sentiment on the rise, a charismatic religious leader growing in influence, and the fight for women's suffrage gaining steam, Bangalore is turning out to be a far more dangerous and treacherous place than Kaveri ever imagined—and everyone's motives are suspect.

Together with the Bangalore Detectives Club—a mixed bag of street urchins, nosy neighbours, an ex-prostitute, and a policeman's wife— Kaveri once again sleuths in her sari and hunts for clues in her beloved 1920s Ford.

But when her life is suddenly put in danger, Kaveri realizes that she might be getting uncomfortably close to the truth. So she must now draw on her wits and find the killer . . . before they find her.

Today Harini brings us a quick and tasty snack, as well as a giveaway for one lucky US commenter. Take it away, Harini!

Peanut masala

It’s always fascinating to deep-dive into the ecological history of the foods we eat commonly. Take peanuts, for instance (the star of today’s recipe). China and India are the world’s largest peanut growers. Together, they produce half of the world’s peanut supply. Yet the peanut is not native to either country. It came from South America, and was then picked up by Spanish and Portuguese colonizers. The Portuguese brought it with them to China and India. In just a few centuries, it has now become an integral part of both cuisines.

Some like their peanuts boiled, others like them roasted - with salt, or in candy bars. Many also like their peanuts ground into a buttery paste. While roasted peanuts and peanut candy bars are popular in India, China and the US, it’s rare to find someone in India or mainland China devouring a peanut butter sandwich (though this is changing now). Americans consume over 1 billion pounds of peanut butter each year, but the Dutch eat even more than the Americans. They picked it up from one of their former colonies too.

The colonial footprint is as deeply embedded in the humble peanut as it is in my mystery series, The Bangalore Detectives Club, which is set in 1920s colonial Bangalore. Kaveri Murthy, the intrepid 19-year-old housewife and amateur detective who is the main protagonist of my series, would never have heard of peanut butter. She would have snacked on peanut masala quite heavily, though. Roasted with a bit of oil, mixed with finely diced onions, tomatoes and green chillies, and garnished with a bit of coriander or cilantro – these are favorite party nibbles, and a common bar snack across India.

My dad and I loved these, and I made them for us several days in the week. We tend to eat dinners quite late in India (at least by American standards), and my family ate dinner at 9 pm when I was growing up. A 5 pm snack of peanut masala was very well timed to take care of our empty stomachs when I returned from college, and my dad from his office. He’s been gone twenty years, but I think of him every time I eat this.

Kaveri loves digging into a large bowl of peanut masala along with her friends from The Bangalore Detectives Club in her living room, surrounded by maps, books and her trusty magnifying glass. She hopes you enjoy the recipe as much as they do! Peanut masala is tasty and ‘healthful’ (a term Kaveri’s acerbic mother-in-law, Bhargavi, reserves as high praise, only for dishes she approves).

Best of all, it’s quick to make, and can be put together in ten minutes. My favorite kind of snack.

Peanut Masala

Ingredients

Half a cup of deshelled, unsalted raw peanuts

Half a large onion, finely diced

One large tomato, deseeded and finely diced

Two tablespoons of fresh green coriander/cilantro leaves, finely chopped

Salt (to taste)

Optional:

1-2 green chillies, finely chopped

Red chilli powder (to taste)

Half a lemon or lime

Directions:

Roast the deshelled peanuts with a tablespoon of vegetable oil (canola, peanut, or any other oil of your preference except for olive oil) on the stovetop or in a microwave, until they are well toasted, but not blackened. These taste best when you roast them with the skin still on.

Remove, and cool. Mix in the onions and tomatoes, and add salt to taste. If you’re feeling adventurous, mix in some finely chopped green chillies and red chilli powder. Garnish with a generous handful of coriander leaves. Some people add a squeeze of fresh lime juice – citrus gives me migraines, so I leave this out.

This is a truly delicious party snack. It tastes best when made fresh, and doesn’t keep well when assembled too far in advance. But it’s really quick to make. You can prep the fresh ingredients and keep them handy - roast the peanuts while you’re chatting with your guests - and then - just mix, and serve!

Needless to say, please avoid this entirely if you have peanut allergies or intolerance.

Readers: What's your favourite recipe with peanuts? I'll send one US commenter a copy of the new book.

Murder Under A Red Moon (Book 2 in The Bangalore Detectives Club series) releases March 28. The latest novel in the acclaimed Bangalore Detectives Club series finds amateur sleuth Kaveri Murthy uncovering a new murder during the blood moon eclipse.

Pre-order at:

Bookshop.org

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Harini Nagendra is a professor of ecology at Azim Premji University. Her non-fiction books include Nature in the City: Bengaluru in the Past, Present and Future, and the award winning Cities and Canopies: Trees in Indian Cities, with Seema Mundoli. The Bangalore Detectives Club is her first crime fiction novel. The sequel, Murder Under a Red Moon, will be published in March 2023. Harini lives in Bangalore with her family, in a home filled with maps. She loves trees, mysteries, and traditional recipes.

You can contact Harini on her website www.harininagendra.com; and connect with her on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook