Ancient secret Chinese recipe - stovetop roasted salty peanuts

Once upon a time.. Confucius (1) and his favorite student Su Shi (2) were sitting under an ancient Ginkgo tree (3) in the Shaolin temple (4) and wondering what to snack on. Salty stove top roasted peanut! No I'm kidding, it's not an ancient Chinese recipe from thousands of years ago, but I remember grandma used to make this when I was a little kid - ancient enough? I have forgotten about this for a while until my recent adventure with vegan food discoveries and started to experiment with nuts. I ofcourse added my own twist to this old recipe. This dish is a fast (10min) snack option, you can make a whole bunch to save for later (I am having a lot of trouble saving any at this point), and is a great chip replacement if you are craving some munchies.

Trying to make foods with nuts opens a whole new portal to new experiences. So far I have procured peanut, almonds, walnuts, pine nuts, pecans, pistachios, Macadamian nuts, chestnuts, and big jar of mix nuts from Costco. While some nuts are crunchy, other are oily and softer, each one's got unique taste and flavors. As I'm writing this I can feel some of you may think - no peanut is not a nut (5), and you are right! But since grandma used peanuts we are going to duplicate her exact recipe. Also, peanuts are hands down the most common, most accessible, cheapest "nut" of all.

What you need:
- 1 lb of raw peanut (I got these red skin organic peanuts but any peanut is fine)
- 1 tsp of salt
- 1 tsp of oil

Recipe:
- heat up oil in fry pan over med heat, pour in peanuts, keep stove on med/med low
- stir peanuts frequently so they are not getting over cooked or burnt, about 10 min. Your goal is when they are browning on multiple sides.
- add salt during the last min, take out and serve
- pour cooked nuts on a baking tray with/without parchment paper. this is simply to air dry them on a larger surface. This is an important step, or your nuts wont be crunchy!

Modifications:
- I added garlic powder, onion powder, and chili powder in the last min too. Not necessary, but you can experiment if you like. I find it tastier!
- You can use any kind of nuts you have on hand. Just monitor the heat and keep stirring until the nuts are browned on sides.

Munch away! Good luck trying to save any for later. I ate them all in one sitting the first time. Second batch I was able to save just a little bit. If you like this recipe please remember to look up and thank my grandma for making this many many years ago.

Fun facts and side notes:
You noticed all the random reference numbers I have throughout the article? They are Easter eggs/fun facts and if you want to look these up. Some are Chinese culture references, I hope to raise your interest in Chinese arts and history - it's really rich and broad! Here are some hints to get you started:

1. Confucious - or Kong-zi in Chinese. He's a famous Chinese philosopher, you probably heard of him.

2. Su Shi - not sushi obviously like the Japanese food. His name is pronounced "sue-sh". He's a famous Chinese poet and writes super awesome calligraphy. Not at all the same time period with Confucius, and definitely not his student.

3. Ginkgo Biloba is a native tree in Asia. Not at all related to the story here except it grows a tree nut fruit that I grew up with. We had lots of those in our back yard and ate them occasionally. Now it's catching a craze as a "health food". There may be some recommendations in eastern medicine about Ginkgo is good for cognitive functions, memory, and Alzheimer. However, clinical studies are not proven. Look this up if you are curious.

4. Shaolin temple/Monastery is close to my birth place in China in the Henan province (shout out to my birth place!). It's a Buddhist temple and you may have known it from Jet Li and martial arts movies, but since it's very close to the ancient Chinese capital, the temple is of cultural significance to many dynasties and emperors.

5. Nut or not a nut? Most other nuts are tree nuts which are technically fruits. Peanuts are more of a legume and it grows underground. So those with peanut allergies do not necessary have tree nuts allergies - not the same thing. For the sake of this story I am doing a general shout out to all nuts and nuts wannabes. When you go buy nuts, peanuts are there in the nuts isle aren't they? English language is crazy. Oh wait Chinese language is also weird, peanut is called "hua sheng" which is "flower baby"... ok what are our ancient humans smoking when they were naming things? That's the more important questions.