Tiny Urban Kitchen

Exploring Food from Boston to Hong Kong and Beyond

  • About
    • About Me
    • Tiny Urban Kitchen’s Favorite Equipment
    • Press
  • Recipes
    • Recipe Index
    • Asian
      • Chinese
      • Taiwanese
      • Thai
      • Malaysian
      • Japanese
      • Korean
    • Appetizers
    • Soups
    • Salad
    • Pasta
    • Noodles
    • Rice
    • Vegetarian
    • Meat
    • Sweets
      • Baking
      • Ice cream
      • Cookies
    • Misc
    • Kawaii (Cute)
  • Travel / Restaurants
    • United States
      • Boston
        • Jen’s Picks
        • Boston
          • Allston
          • Back Bay
          • Brighton
          • North End
          • South End
        • Cambridge
          • Kendall Square
          • Inman Square
          • Central Square
          • Harvard Square
          • Porter Square
          • North Cambridge
        • Somerville
          • Davis Square
          • Union Square
        • Greater Boston
          • Brookline
          • Arlington
          • Belmont
          • Watertown
          • Newton
          • Lexington
          • Concord
          • Burlington
          • Natick
        • Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, Berkshires
      • Vermont
      • Maine
      • New York
      • Washington DC
      • Philadelphia
      • Orlando
      • Chicago
      • Las Vegas
      • California
        • Los Angeles
        • San Francisco
        • Napa
        • Sonoma
      • Seattle
      • Hawaii
    • Canada
      • Montreal
      • Canadian Rockies
      • Toronto
    • Argentina
    • Europe
      • United Kingdom
        • London
        • Oxford
      • Italy
        • Rome
        • Piedmont
      • France
        • Paris
        • Bordeaux
      • Spain
        • Madrid
        • Barcelona
        • Catalonia / San Sebastian / Girona
      • Germany
      • Belgium
        • Brussels
      • Switzerland
      • Greece
      • Finland
      • Norway
      • Denmark
    • Japan
      • Japan Guide
      • Tokyo
      • Osaka
      • Kyoto
    • China (Mainland)
      • Beijing
      • Chengdu
      • Shanghai
      • Shaanxi
      • Shenzhen
      • Xiamen
      • Yunnan
    • Singapore
    • Hong Kong
    • Malaysia
    • Taiwan
    • Thailand
    • Australia/New Zealand
  • Michelin
    • Formerly had a star
    • Michelin Recommended
    • 1 Star
    • 2 Stars
    • 3 Stars
  • Jen’s Eating Guides!
    • Boston Restaurants
    • Boston Dishes
    • Tokyo
    • Hong Kong
    • Las Vegas
    • Napa / Sonoma
    • Taiwan (night markets)
    • Taiwanese (casual eats)
    • Street Foods of Bangkok (Part I)
    • Street Foods of Bangkok (Part II)
    • Kitchen Equipment
  • Trip Reports
    • All trip reports
    • Around the World Trip Report
    • New England
    • New York
    • Washington DC
    • Las Vegas
    • California
    • Canada
    • Europe
    • Florida
    • Japan
    • China

Chinese Braised Peanuts

April 1, 2016 by Jennifer Che 3 Comments

DSC6386.jpg
At my church there is a program called Meals for Moms. Whenever a new mom has a baby, church members sign up to provide a week’s worth of food for the family. This allows the new family to have one less thing to worry about during those trying first few months of parenthood!

I’ve been signing up to cook for moms for over a decade. Through the years, I have settled on several dishes that are healthy, easy to make in bulk, and store well for a week  – dishes like Taiwanese meat sauce over rice, tea eggs, three cup chicken, bok choy, and Korean spinach salad.  Occasionally, I’ll throw in something fun, like Totoro eggs for my Totoro-obsessed friend or fancy chocolate for someone with a sweet tooth.

One of my close friends in Boston has become my most trusted partner in executing all of this. Every time a new mom has a baby, she emails me and asks, “want to sign up? which week works for you?”

All packed up! A week’s worth of food for my friend + a special treat for dessert! @burdickchocolat

A photo posted by Jennifer (@tinyurbankitchen) on Mar 15, 2015 at 12:56pm PDT


Throughout the past decade, we’ve worked out a great partnership. She’s a great sous chef and is awesome at prepping the ingredients (and often helps me shop for them, since she has a car!). I do some prep but focus on executing latter steps, like stir frying, simmering, and, in general, overseeing the burners on the stove. We usually get together and spend 2-3 hours chatting, chopping, and cooking. It works out great, and we’ve been able to make food for so many moms.

Recently, my good friend had her first baby.

Of all the people at our church, she most definitely deserves having someone cook food for her, considering the countless meals she has prepared for others. I was the first to sign up, and I made many of the same dishes we had always made together. This time, however, I snuck in something new.
MG_2194-3.jpg
Ironically, she had given me a couple bag of raw peanuts several weeks back.

“I don’t know what to do with them.”

“You can make soy braised peanuts! Yummmmm . . . you know what I’m talking about, right? They give it as a free “snack” at places like Mulan and Little Q.”

“Nahh . . I don’t even like those peanuts that much. You can have them.”
DSC6364.jpg
I do love aromatic soy braised 5-spice peanuts. It was always my mom’s signature dish that she brought to potlucks back when I was a kid. I love snacking on them at restaurants, and I’ve always wanted to learn how to make them. Finally, because I was handed two bags of raw peanuts, I had no excuse NOT to try making my favorite peanut snack.

They turned out great!

I knew my friend had told me she didn’t really like the boiled peanuts, but I snuck a small container-full of them in the big bag of food I had packed for her.

The next day she texted me a photo of her plate, piled high with the food I had made her.

“Dinner! Thanks! :-). I even like the peanuts . . .”

Yay! I was thrilled.

These peanuts are indeed delicious and downright addictive. Definitely monitor the texture of the peanuts and stop cooking them when they reach a consistency you like. I tried making them in a pressure cooker, but in the end I found those peanuts to be too mushy and that I preferred the stovetop version. Perhaps if I tweak the pressure cooker times, I’ll come to some happy medium. For now, I know this method works, and it’s fantastic!

DSC6386.jpg

Chinese Braised Peanuts
1 1/2 – 2 lbs raw peanuts
2 star anise
2-3 dried chili peppers
5 cloves of garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons rock sugar
2 tsp 5-spice powder
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
4 tablespoons light soy sauce
8 cups water

Combine all ingredients in a large pot or Dutch oven. Bring to a boil, and then bring down to a simmer. Cook for 2-3 hours, until peanuts are soft. Strain peanuts from the braising liquid, set aside, and let cool.

To serve, toss with chopped cilantro and optionally dress with a bit of sesame oil.

Enjoy!

This makes a pretty big portion. You can freeze peanuts in zipper bags and defrost them in portions for snacks. I found this to be a great way to keep them around for a much longer period of time without fearing that they would go bad.

Filed Under: Asian, Chinese, Chinese Recipes, Cuisine, Recipe, Snacks, Taiwanese, Vegan, Vegetarian

« Lago by Julian Serrano – Las Vegas
Chili Garlic Braised Pork Belly »

Recent Posts

  • Pertinence Paris France June 25, 2022
  • Napa Valley Trip Report June 10, 2022
  • 36 Hour Stopover in London May 29, 2022
  • A Day Trip to Antwerp, Belgium May 28, 2022
  • Arbor Hong Kong May 25, 2022
  • Mono Hong Kong May 23, 2022
  • Summer Palace Iconic Wine Lunch – Hong Kong April 29, 2022
  • Lucciola – Italian food at The Hari Hotel in Wan Chai March 22, 2022

Latest Chinese recipes!

Comments

  1. soph says

    April 1, 2016 at 9:09 pm

    What a beautiful story.
    And how smart to have a partner for this. Thanks for passing along the idea (with some details).

    Log in to Reply
  2. Esther says

    April 5, 2016 at 8:53 pm

    So sweet of you!

    Log in to Reply
  3. Anna @ Healthoop says

    April 5, 2016 at 10:32 pm

    I especially enjoy Chinese food. Thanks! The recipe is clear. I will try doing.

    Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Welcome to Tiny Urban Kitchen!

JenChe

Hi, my name's Jen and welcome to my cooking, eating, and travel site! I am a Boston to Hong Kong transplant, born and raised in Ohio with parents from Taiwan. Feel free to head on over to the About page if you want to learn more about me, or just explore away, maybe starting with the Recipe Index or one of the travel pages! I hope you enjoy this site!
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Archives

Categories

Awards

Saveur
PFB

BostonGlobe

Most Recent Posts

en croute

Pertinence Paris France

Napa Valley Trip Report

36 Hour Stopover in London

A Day Trip to Antwerp, Belgium

Arbor Hong Kong

Arbor Hong Kong

Mono HK

Mono Hong Kong

Summer Palace Hong Kong Iconic Wine Lunch

Summer Palace Iconic Wine Lunch – Hong Kong

Lucciola The Hari Wan Chai

Lucciola – Italian food at The Hari Hotel in Wan Chai

beef quesadilla

Studio City by Cali-Mex Causeway Bay Hong Kong

Petrus Hong Kong

Petrus Hong Kong

France!

Restaurant Le George Paris
Yam'Tcha Paris
David Toutain Paris
Divellec Paris
Breizh Cafe Paris

Kawaii! (Cute)

Norway!

logo
Food Advertisements by

Chinese Recipes

Okra with Chicken
logo
Food Advertisements by

Shop & Support us!

Spain!

Girona Spain
Amelia San Sebastian

Japan!

Bulgari Il Ristorante Luca Fantin
Sukiyaki Imafuku Tokyo
Sushi Ishimaya Tokyo
Disney Sea Tokyo
Tempura Fukamachi Tokyo
Shinjuku Gyoen

Cambridge restaurants

logo
Food Advertisements by
Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2022 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress