I got an idea for this from the wonderful restaurant “Betelnut Peiju-Wu” in San Francisco. Betelnut excels at little plates of spicy, salty munchy things to go with drinks. Their most popular is a mixture of peanuts, jalapeno slices, tiny little dried fish and sliced green onions, all slightly stir-fried together. This stuff is like Singaporean crack – you can’t stop eating it, and then chasing it down with their house beer.
It’s easy to duplicate at home, and here it is with a variation:
A cup of lightly salted cocktail peanuts
One jalapeno or 2 serrano chiles, seeded and cut in slices
A couple of tablespoons of tiny dried fish (find them in Asian markets)
A couple of green onions cut in thick slices
Stir-fry the chile in about a teaspoon of oil for just 20 or 30 seconds; add onions, then the peanuts and fish, toss until all is coated with the (now very spicy) oil, and serve in a bowl with LOTS of cold beer on the side.
Variation:
Omit fish, and fry in some slices of ginger and garlic. Toss a couple of pinches of sugar and several drops of sesame oil in at the end. This gives it kind of a Szechwan flavor.
It sounds wierd but just strange enough to be good. Kind of like naming the ingredients in a Reuben sandwich. Think I’m going to have to try the snack mix this weekend, I’ll bookmark this thread and let you know how it comes out.
I make the Chex cereal snack mix, but use Old Bay seasoning instead of whatever it is the original recipe calls for. It’s pretty addictive.
1 cup pretzels (I use the Pepperidge Farm Goldfish pretzels)
1 cup garlic-flavor bagel chips, broken into bite-size pieces
6 tablespoons butter (not margarine)
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
about 3-4 teaspoons Old Bay-brand seasoning (find it in the spice aisle or near the seafood counter at the grocery store)
3 cups Corn Chex cereal
3 cups Rice Chex cereal
3 cups Wheat Chex cereal
1 cup peanuts
Heat oven to 250 degrees. Melt the butter in large roasting pan in oven. Stir in Old Bay and add the other ingredients and stir until evenly covered.
Bake 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on paper towels to cool. If there’s any leftover, store it in an airtight container.
pugluvr I have a problem. The Oriental foodstore that used to be here is closed, and after reading your recipe and trying to find those little fish I failed. So I will try your version with the ginger root. If anyone knows where the little fish can be purchased online I’d love to hear about it. I’m going to try and google out a solution.
I looked for about thirty minutes this morning to find those damn dried fish online, and was unsuccessful. Ethnicgrocer.com doesn’t have them, and the only sites where I could verify the product were in Singapore or Malysia, and I think paying international freight for a 2.50 packet is a little steep.
Usually, though, the Goya section in the supermarket will have little dried shrimp, which I think might just work. It’ll be a little chewier, and not as salty, but I think it’d be interesting to try.
Favorite beer food around the house here is either sharp cheddar cheese cubes with celery salt sprinkled on or wasabi peas.
This is a good dip to go with tortilla chips. I guarantee you the bowl you serve it in will be empty in no time.
3 hot Italian sausages
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 small can Ro-Tel
1/2 small cup Breakstone’s Sour Cream
(I don’t remember the volumes. That’s just what I pick up at the grocery store. Ro-Tel you can find in the canned veggies aisle. I usually get the spiciest version they got)
Fry sausages and chop them into small pieces. Drain and combine in a bowl with the rest of the ingredients. Put in a microwave for 2 minutes, then stir. Enjoy.
