Roasted peanuts in black vinegar
I ate these peanuts a couple of times and could never figure out what gave them a salty, fruit flavour. The waiter would keep telling me black vinegar, but I knew there was more to it. Luckily on one occasion I had a guide with me who kindly went to the chef and found the secret: preserved plums. They are essential to these nuts and can be bought, along with yellow rock sugar, from any Asian food store. Yellow rock sugar adds a sheen to the food but can be replaced with white sugar, or in this case palm sugar, which adds a pleasant caramel note. I like to keep the skins on the nuts, as they add an earthiness, but if you prefer them off they are still delicious. Note that they need to be started the day before.
Ingredients
1/4 cup crushed yellow rock or palm sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 cup black vinegar
4 preserved plums
2 cups peanuts
1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander
Method
Heat the sugars and black vinegar together in a saucepan, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes until the mix has reduced by around a quarter.
Add the preserved plums to the mix and leave overnight to infuse.
Preheat the oven to 150°C. Spread the nuts evenly on a baking tray. Bake for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the nuts are just smelling toasted. Remove and discard any loose skins.
Place the peanuts in a bowl and pour the vinegar mix over, discarding the plums. This can be done up to 8 hours before serving but the optimal time is about 1 hour beforehand. To serve, arrange the peanuts in a serving bowl or on individual china spoons or teacups with a little sauce and top with chopped coriander.
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