Going Nuts

There is a small mom and pop grocery near me that offers an impressive selection of produce. They've had crates of gorgeous fresh figs, avocados the size of a fat squirrel, bright, firm okra, and the juiciest limes and lemons, just to name a few.

The other day, the shop had bags of raw peanuts in stock. I've never touched a raw peanut before. Purely out of curiosity, I bought one bag. A colleague chided me for getting it without knowing what to do with it. "This is how I learn," I replied.

The shells were moist and crisp like the flesh of a pear. So were the raw nuts inside. Their skins were a soft pink and provided a slick membrane that separated the tightly packed row of nuts. I never fully appreciated the economy of space in the way peanuts grow because when dried out, the nuts shrivel up and rattle around the hollow space they leave behind. Shucking a pound of raw peanuts was a 3-4 hour effort split across two evenings in front of the TV.

My colleague's suggestion and some Googling gave me the idea to do a peanut soup recipe. In Bolivia, the Sopa de Mani is a peanut soup with root vegetables like potatoes and carrots thrown in. In Malaysia, Asam Laksa is a soup augmented with squid or cuttlefish and sometimes pork. There is something very similar in Chinese cuisine as well. Fufu is a porridge originating from Western and Central Africa. Not all Fufu are made with peanuts, but those that do may incorporate rice or okra for extra flavor.

I boiled my raw peanuts in a few cups of chicken stock until relatively soft (they still retain some firmness even when cooked). Using my beloved hand blender, I pureed the mixture. Next, I added 2 tsp of fresh ginger, maybe 2 tsp of sel gris, the juice of one lime, around 1/4 cup of coconut water and 1/2 tsp of ground cumin. Near the end, I added 2-3 tsp of chopped cilantro. Borrowing the idea from the Fufu, I served the soup with a handful of chopped, cooked okra.

The soup had a grainy texture like oatmeal. The okra was a good complement to the acidity in the soup -- the green flesh is relatively bland but the okra seeds contributed a vegetal taste. I'm curious how it would taste with fish or pork, though I may not make this again for a while simply because peeling the peanuts took so long.