wasabi peas
this post is about one of my next intended projects. it is for a recipe i found which tries to reproduce those crunchy, hot and spicy wasabi peas.
ever since i had these [now many] years ago, i have wondered how they were made and what was included to make them taste so good. i also pondered whether they could successfully be made at home or not and if it was even worth trying.
sometimes, it is just easier to buy things.
a recipe to make these addictive peas comes from the san francisco chronicle and is as follows:
spicy wasabi peas
yields 4 cups
ingredients:
2 cups dried whole peas
2 tablespoons olive oil
coating for making wasabi peas :
4 teaspoons wasabi powder
2 tablespoons tahini
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
method:
preheat oven to 200°.
soak the peas in water to cover overnight. next day, drain peas, then cook according to instructions on package.
mix olive oil with cooked peas until well coated.
oil baking sheet and spread peas evenly across it.
place pan in the oven and bake 5 hours, until peas appear dry and crisp. test to see.
combine wasabi powder, tahini, rice vinegar and mustard in a mixing bowl.
combine wasabi mixture with hot peas making sure all the peas are evenly coated.
using a rubber spatula, spread the peas on the baking sheet. separate as many as you can.
increase oven temperature to 250° and bake the peas for 10 to 15 minutes, until the coating has dried.
i hope this recipe works! i shall post the results when i have them.
yields 4 cups
ingredients:
2 cups dried whole peas
2 tablespoons olive oil
coating for making wasabi peas :
4 teaspoons wasabi powder
2 tablespoons tahini
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
method:
preheat oven to 200°.
soak the peas in water to cover overnight. next day, drain peas, then cook according to instructions on package.
mix olive oil with cooked peas until well coated.
oil baking sheet and spread peas evenly across it.
place pan in the oven and bake 5 hours, until peas appear dry and crisp. test to see.
combine wasabi powder, tahini, rice vinegar and mustard in a mixing bowl.
combine wasabi mixture with hot peas making sure all the peas are evenly coated.
using a rubber spatula, spread the peas on the baking sheet. separate as many as you can.
increase oven temperature to 250° and bake the peas for 10 to 15 minutes, until the coating has dried.
i hope this recipe works! i shall post the results when i have them.
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Labels:
asian food,
parve,
recipes,
snack food
15 comments:
Wasabi peas are such a nice crunchy snack. I love wasabi! It's the best thing to eat when you have a head cold!
I love wasabi peas! I hope the recipe works so I can try making them. They're so tasty and addicting!
beenzzz & ml - me, too. LOVE wasabi. dunno how this is going to work out. it does sound like it might be good. now i have to hunt down the right type of dried peas.
huh, I don't think I've ever had wasabi peas, but this sounds like a delicious side dish. Maybe we'll try it out this weekend, thanks!
Ari (Baking and Books)
hey ari, you gotta try them. they are hot though, so be careful! they are more of a snack than a side, usually munched with a cold drink alongside.
i'd suggest buying a bag first to see if you like them.
you made your own wasabe peas! one of my alltime fave snax, sqweeeeee! i bow down to you!
aria - lol, don't be bowing too soon -- haven't made them yet! i still hunting down the right peas for it. hope it's not a flop.
this is the first time am hearing about this...
Have seen these but never bothered trying them since imo the green color is too intense to be natural. Maybe it is the wasabi powder or maybe it is artificial color, in any case I don't find this shade of green very appetising. Still waiting for your version.
BTW, you'll find dried whole green as well as yellow peas in Indian / Srilankan groceris. These will not have any cooking instructions, as called for in the recipe. I would simply soak them overnight, wash 3 changes of water, then pressure cook them for 20 minutes. You can cook for an hour or so on the stovetop. Even if you cook longer, they never get mushy.
vidya - glad u posted this. i haven't been able to find whole dried peas that would be suitable to try this which is why i've been putting it off. i was concerned about them turning to mush also. i will check the south indian shops near me (what do they call them, btw? i know it's hari matar but that could mean many things and is in hindi).
i am sure the wasabi peas have additives and colouring (artificial) so i know you're not far off the mark with your comment about them.
thanks for the info, vidya :)
I have seen them labeled as Dried Green/Yellow Peas. Depending on the owner, they could be labeled as batani, otane or vatana peas(Konkani), matar (Hindi, hari matar (Hindi), dried matar, pattani (Tamil).
Just to clarify, I have never cooked any lentil/peas/beans on the stove top. I grew up with my grandmother and mother cooking with pressure cookers, and that is what I use. So my suggestion of 1 hr is only a guesstimate. Also, it may be possible to make them mushy, it is just that I haven't managed it yet with my 20 minute pressure cooking. In my curries, I do mash up some of them with the back of my ladle to give thickness to the sauce.
Also, I soak them sometimes for longer than 8 hrs, just because I haven't had the time to make something with them. I do change the water everyday and have never gone more than 2 days.
After cooking them in the pressure cooker, I find that the cooking water has turned a little jelly like. Since I use them in Indian curries with sauce, I use all of it. For wasabi peas, you'll probably want to wash them before putting them in the oven.
They are grown extensively in Idaho for export. I have only seen the split variety in soup mixes in American groceries.
"It may come as a surprise to many to learn that America actually exports lentils and legumes to India. Last year a hefty shipment of 700,000 tons of peas was sold to India. According to Peter Klaiber, Director of Marketing, USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council based in Moscow, Idaho, the largest trade with India is in peas, both yellow and green, which are used in dal preparations in the domestic market in India."
from http://www.littleindia.com/news/131/ARTICLE/1464/2007-01-03.html
vidya - thank you for your quick and very detailed reply :D you always surprise me with something interesting :)
i also use a pressure cooker though mine is a modern one which does not have the "whistle" settings which i always see referred to in (indian) recipes. i remember my parents using one of the older models and the rocker moving on top of the lid and my mother telling us to stay away from it.
i will look for the peas over the coming week. i didn't realize it was split peas, as in the US variety. in a way, it both surprises me and doesn't that the US ships to india! i know that western canada also produces quite a bit of lentils and chickpeas (for besan) for export (i think the golden temple atta flour is milled in ontario also). i have always only associated split yellow and green peas with our split pea soups and not indian foods. perhaps i thought another variety was used. interesting, nonetheless. again, thanks for all the information :)
I made these wasabi peas today and I found that despite following the instructions exactly they are rubbish. Gutted. I really wanted them to work as well...
hi loggy - thanks for your comment and feedback about this. i also was REALLY unhappy with the results (if you look at the end of this post there is another one linked called 'leave it to the experts - results and a review). they were horrible and i really don't understand how such a terrible recipe made it into the newspaper. they were nowhere near wasabi peas. in fact, they tasted bitter and were absolutely a waste of time and ingredients.
if i ever do find anything that works, i will for sure write about it. so far, nothing ...... :**( best off buying them ready-made.
I made these things twice! They were so awful that I believed that it must have been my fault the first time. NOPE it wasn't m fault!
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