Reverse Engineering a Fantastic Oaxacan Snack

Reverse Engineering a Fantastic Oaxacan Snack

Spanish peanuts, garlic fried hard, chile arbol fried crispy and lots of salt. I’m pretty sure that’s all it is.

I’m guessing it’s important to begin with raw peanuts, maybe fried and maybe roasted, and I’m less certain how to prepare the garlic. It’s whole sections, cooked hard but not burned.



I am enamoured of this snack: the fatty crunchiness of the nut, the heat of the chile, the sweet savoriness of the garlic, all tied together with salt, fantastic.

I’d like to say I found this marvelous snack in some little-known Oaxacan market, prepared perhaps by some cranky Zapotec grandmother, but it wasn’t like that. I found this snack – the snack of my dreams – at the Huatulco airport, at a place designed to relieve American tourists of excess pesos. I think a big plastic bag of it was like four bucks. It was not a branded product, just something someone had made.

It’s almost gone so I’ve decided I must make my own.

I’ve never home-fried peanuts or whole garlic segments (it almost seems like they left the skin on some of them). Any guidance would be much appreciated.

I can't help you with the recipe... But now I need information on getting drool out of an Android tablet.

There are many recipes for this dish on the web. It is what it seems to be, peanuts, garlic, arbol chiles, oil and salt. That is where the recipes diverge. Another ingredient that seems to be in some (but not all) renditions is lime zest. Some use cooked peanuts while some use raw. Some use virgina peanuts while some use redskins. Some add peanut oil and bake in a dish. Others add olive oil and fry in a pan. The most authentic recipe I found fries it all in pork fat like carnitas. I guess it is up to you which combination of ingredients and techniques you use. I think I would try frying it in bacon fat.

d4v3 wrote:The most authentic recipe I found fries it all in pork fat like carnitas.

Have you had this wonderful snack before? How is it more "authentic" than the others (not challenging, just curious)?

The lime zest is an interesting idea, and lime is like the universal condiment in Oaxaca.

d4v3 wrote:There are many recipes for this dish on the web. It is what it seems to be, peanuts, garlic, arbol chiles, oil and salt. That is where the recipes diverge. Another ingredient that seems to be in some (but not all) renditions is lime zest. Some use cooked peanuts while some use raw. Some use virgina peanuts while some use redskins. Some add peanut oil and bake in a dish. Others add olive oil and fry in a pan. The most authentic recipe I found fries it all in pork fat like carnitas. I guess it is up to you which combination of ingredients and techniques you use. I think I would try frying it in bacon fat.

When you searched for recipes for this, what keywords did you use? Unless I missed something, I haven't seen a name for this snack.

Thanks!

Regards,

David Hammond wrote:

d4v3 wrote:The most authentic recipe I found fries it all in pork fat like carnitas.

Have you had this wonderful snack before? How is it more "authentic" than the others (not challenging, just curious)?

I have had this as a free bar food in Mexico (like pretzels), but surprisingly not in Oxaca, It was very hot and salty, just sceaming for a beer chaser. I guess using "authentic" was wrong, I just figured that a recipe calling for frying in pork fat had to be more authentic than baking in olive oil. I will soon buy a variety of ingredients and start experimenting. I could not find a name for this dish anywhere, but it seems like it could be a popular product here in the US. I searched for Oaxaca peanut garlic and came up with at least 5 recipes. Even Bayless and Chow.com had recipes.

d4v3 wrote:I have had this as a free bar food in Mexico (like pretzels)

I don't know about the rest of this, but "botana(s)" is the word you're looking for in terms of the beer snacks at Mexican restaurants. Perhaps that keyword will help in tracking this particular snack down.

My sister-in-law suggested sun-drying the garlic and maybe the chiles, which does not seem like a bad idea. The garlic in particular seems quite dry -- it may be fried just very lightly after drying.

Here's the Bayless recipe. For some reason, I'd be surprised if sun-drying of the garlic is involved, but what do I know? Anyhow, that recipe looks like a pretty good rendition to me.

Binko wrote:Here's the Bayless recipe. For some reason, I'd be surprised if sun-drying of the garlic is involved, but what do I know? Anyhow, that recipe looks like a pretty good rendition to me.

Thanks, Binko, for link to recipe.

As Bayless says, what could be simpler.

It's interesting that he warns, "I didn't let them cool enough, and when I reached in for a handful of peanuts, everything was disturbingly damp."

I can see how cooling would help, but as crispness is key here, I think the Bayless receipe might be improved by drying the garlic, as it is the carrier of the most moisture.

One of the recipes, suggested that "Red" Mexican garlic differs from its US cousin, and that the skins might be easier to ingest. Apparently, this dish is also a popular Bar Food in the Philippines

Hi,

I have bought a Chinese variant of peanuts, chilies, garlic and dried whole fish (you see them an panchan in Korean BBQ). I bought them in individually portioned packets at an Asian store in New Jersey.

Regards,

It is interesting that the garlic is both hard and cooked. I have never seen garlic in this state, nor can I imagine how to get it there.

lougord99 wrote:It is interesting that the garlic is both hard and cooked. I have never seen garlic in this state, nor can I imagine how to get it there.

Here's how: it's sun-dried and then lightly pan-fried to help the flavors marry.

I'm intrigued by Dave's comment about some reddish garlic having edible papery skin; the reddish-purple garlic in my Oaxaca airport mix seems to have the skin on and it's totally edible. The skin may even help the mix from becoming unpleasantly moist through contact with garlic meat.

Maybe I missed this, but the garlic is cooked right? Roasting in the oven would cook the garlic crisp w/out burning it. I do that w roasted potatoes.

jvalentino wrote:Maybe I missed this, but the garlic is cooked right? Roasting in the oven would cook the garlic crisp w/out burning it. I do that w roasted potatoes.

According to Bayless, the garlic is peeled, cut and pan fried in a little oil. I think roasting would definitely work, but with all the sun we've had lately, I'm thinking I'll use that energy source -- and there is something different about sun-dried stuff.

David Hammond wrote:

jvalentino wrote:Maybe I missed this, but the garlic is cooked right? Roasting in the oven would cook the garlic crisp w/out burning it. I do that w roasted potatoes.

According to Bayless, the garlic is peeled, cut and pan fried in a little oil. I think roasting would definitely work, but with all the sun we've had lately, I'm thinking I'll use that energy source -- and there is something different about sun-dried stuff.

Something good to do w this heat would be great!

These sound great btw-I'll make some in the next few days and should be able to post back here.

Here is a picture of the red mexican garlic. The cloves are much smaller than white garlic:


David Hunter Garden Centers


Kit's Chow Blogspot

Sounds like this might be a good use for those small cloves of garlic in the interior of a head, they usually have thinner skins.

Ok, even though I had nothing to compare these to, a search for "Oaxacan peanuts" and this thread gave me enough info to try it out.
Channeling my inner Abuelita (and my lack of patience) I decided against sun drying the garlic and took the following-

1C roasted unsalted Spanish peanuts
2 large garlic cloves cut into chunks
2 dried chili de arbol
about 2T veg oil
kosher salt

I sauteed the chili and garlic over low heat until they just started to brown. Then add the peanuts, and turn heat up to medium low/medium. After 4-5 minutes (kept them moving every few minutes) when the peanuts began to brown in spots I tossed them onto a sheet pan an in a preheated 300 degree oven. Roasted for another 4-6 minutes remove and season liberally w salt. Let cool. Eat. Drink beer.

They were good. Next time I will double the chili and see what happens since they weren't very spicy. I may also add one more clove of garlic.



Jeff

Bravo, jvalentino!

I cut up some garlic this morning and thought I'd sun-dry, but no way; too overcast. My plan B is to slow cook cloves tonight in a warm (not hot) oven.

I stopped by Familia market in Berwyn this afternoon to look for reddish garlic (which Dave referenced, above, and which I believe was used in the version of this snack that I bought in Oaxaca), and the owner told me that they rarely get it in but when they do, it's from China. He seemed not to think it was grown in Mexico, but he could be incorrect about that.

David Hammond wrote:I stopped by Familia market in Berwyn this afternoon to look for reddish garlic (which Dave referenced, above, and which I believe was used in the version of this snack that I bought in Oaxaca), and the owner told me that they rarely get it in but when they do, it's from China. He seemed not to think it was grown in Mexico, but he could be incorrect about that.

I'm pretty sure Mexican Red is a variety of 'silverskin' garlic, not necessarily grown in Mexico. Last fall we planted 12 of these in our garden and they're doing qutie well. It'l probably be harvest time in a few more weeks.

http://sev.lternet.edu/~jnekola/Heirloom/garlicM.htm

http://www.gourmetgarlicgardens.com/silverskins.htm

=R=

Wow, I had no idea there are so many types of garlic. Is it easy to grow? I would love having a choice of different garlics for different dishes. Or just pickled even.

d4v3 wrote:Wow, I had no idea there are so many types of garlic. Is it easy to grow? I would love having a choice of different garlics for different dishes. Or just pickled even.

The wild stuff is very easy to grow ( -- we have a load in our backyard).

Few years back, I planted some Korean Red and it did grow...but now it's lost amidst a forest of wild stuff.

You have wild garlic growing in your back yard?? Are you sure you are not talking about Garlic Mustard:
http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/a ... stard.aspx

This plant has little or no relationship to garlic. It is in the mustard family.

lougord99 wrote:You have wild garlic growing in your back yard?

Yes.

I've roasted the garlic with olive oil spray at low temp (170, low as it goes), just added chiles arboles, and will put a bunch of nuts before bed, then maybe just let it sit overnight in the oven as it cools down.

Slow roasting garlic slices in the oven worked very well -- they're not moist at all, and their flavor is concentrated. Chiles could have used a little more oven time, but were also crunchy.



We have a bunch of limes, so I'm thinking I may try a little lime zest on the snack, which sounds like it would be good (but it seems best to add zest to a bowl of the snack right before eating; otherwise, I'm afraid the moisture would reduce the crunchiness).

I liked the results here...but there's something missing.

David, thanks for the memories. I had these in Oaxaca years ago and had completely forgotten about them. After reading this thread I was on a mission!
12 oz container of red skin Virginia peanuts
5 cloves garlic slivered
6 or so chili de arbol broken up
Sauteed the chili and garlic in olive oil until the garlic was golden brown added the peanuts and kept everything moving for a few more minutes.
Spread everything out on a cookie sheet and gave it a liberal dusting of chili powder an fresh ground sea salt.
Put them out at a July 4 gathering and watched them evaporate.
The next batch may get a tryout with http://www.picodegallo.net which also comes in limon.
Yo soy Johnny Cacahuates!

David Hammond wrote:

lougord99 wrote:You have wild garlic growing in your back yard?

Yes.

Me too. Can't get rid of the stuff. (Yea)