Peanuts

Peanuts go by many names: groundnut in Indian English, moongphali in Hindi, shengdana in Marathi, kadalai in Tamil and verusenaga in Telugu. They are the working nut of Indian cooking. Roasted and crushed, they season poha, sabudana khichdi and Maharashtrian salads; fried whole, they go into lemon rice, puliyodharai and chivda; ground, they make peanut chutney for dosa and the peanut sauce of satay. Cooked with jaggery, they become chikki, the brittle sold at every railway station in India.

Red and pink peanuts are raw nuts with their thin skins on, the most versatile choice for roasting, frying and grinding. Jumbo grades are larger and meatier. Blanched peanuts have had their skins removed, giving a cleaner look and a smoother chutney or sauce. Monkey nuts are roasted whole in the shell, a winter snack in North India and a garden bird treat in Britain. Pick small bags for a recipe, or large bags if you cook with peanuts every week.

To roast raw peanuts, dry-roast in a heavy pan over a medium flame, stirring constantly, until the skins crackle, then cool and rub them between your palms to remove the skins. Keep them in an airtight jar. Find them under nuts beside cashew nuts and almonds, and use them with poha, sabudana or jaggery for chikki.