FOX NUTS (MAKHANA) TRAIL MIX

30.08.2020: I had 50 gms of Makhana remaining after I had made Caramel Makahana. Though Skip insisted that I make the Caramel ones again, I wanted to try a different recipe. “I need content for the blog”.

I decided to make a savoury version this time.

I’ve had some moments in the kitchen where I’ve frozen in panic after tasting my dish. I tend to add too much salt at times. A trick to pull out excess salt from gravy-based dishes is to drop a few raw potato slices in it. Let it soak in the excess salt and fish the slices out just before serving. What do you do with excess salt in your trail mix?

Skip ate a mouthful and said this wouldn’t have happened if I had just listened to him and used sugar instead of salt.

Barring the slight overdose of salt, which gradually settled at the bottom, we did manage to finish these in good time. If you like "namkeen" of the sweet and savoury kind, you will definitely enjoy this too.

Do not season the fox nuts again, immediately after you take it off the flame. Give it a good mix, let it cool down and then taste and decide if you need to add more salt. 

I’ve used ingredients that were available at home, feel free to use whatever seeds, nuts, dried fruits you have at home and eyeball the quantities. Just don’t add too much salt.

FOX NUTS TRAIL MIX

Ingredients:

Fox nuts (Makhana) – 50 gms

Butter / Clarified butter (ghee) – 2 tbsp

Cashews /Peanuts (or both) – 3 tbsps

Almonds (whole) – 3 tbsps

Raisins – 1 tbsp

Sunflower seeds – 2 tbsps

Watermelon seeds – 2 tbsps

Powdered sugar- 1 tsp

Pepper – ½ tsp

Turmeric – ¼ tsp

Chaat masala / Aamchur powder – ¼ tsp

Salt – to taste

Method:

1.     Add butter/ghee to a pan and roast the nuts and seeds separately. Set aside.   

2.     In the same pan, toast the fox nuts until they begin to brown (for about 10 minutes). Add the salt, sugar, chaat masala and turmeric and give it a good mix.

3.     Dump the roasted nuts, seeds and raisins into the pan and mix it well for about 2 minutes more. (Keep an eye on the fox nuts, you don’t want them to burn)

4.     Let it cool. Store in an airtight jar.

5.     Done.

CARAMEL FOX NUTS (MAKHANA)

12.08.2020: Do you know why these are called 'Fox' Nuts? These come from a plant called Euryale Ferox also commonly called the prickly waterlily. These are also called Phool Makhana (in India) and Lotus Seeds.

These are commonly consumed during periods of religious fasting. The makhana is a super snack- rich in nutrients and low in cholesterol, fat and sodium.

For the longest time, I have been having them with butter, salt and pepper. I first dry roast the seeds and then add a smidgen of butter and toss them in salt and pepper. I had a 100 gm packet lying around and decided to make it different this time.

That night was to be our movie night and I fondly remembered the tub of caramel and salted popcorn mix that gave me company during films, good and bad- the sole reason for agreeing to watch movies in Vega City Mall which is at the other end of town (they have the best caramel popcorn there).

When Skip and I went for movies together, we often fought over the choice of popcorn. He loves cheese and I, a mix of caramel and salt. Skip doesn’t like caramel and I don’t like cheese. The mixed flavours come only in large sized tubs which I cannot finish. So, it was only fair that we bought a tub of caramel and cheese mix. Skip would dip his sticky fingers ( he always has to lick his fingers to get the cheese powder off it!)  and go digging into the tub looking for cheese and would end up picking only the caramels and I would end up with soggy cheese ones, made wet with his little fingers.

I decided we would eat caramel makhana that night. Sky said he would prefer salt. So, I used only half of it to try caramelised makhana. I have decided to try the Dry Fruit Makhana with the remaining fox nuts. I will post that recipe soon!

These are sooooooo good. Skip loved them and so did Sky. Can you hear that crunch? As good as caramel popcorn with the wonderful makhana flavour. Use the exact quantities mentioned by me for an even and light coating of the caramel sauce.

The recipe for the caramel sauce is inspired from the YouTube Channel- Gol Roti.

Yeh makhane ka rass zara chakhna, oi makhna oi makhna…..

Do you love salted caramel popcorn too or grooved to the Amitabh-Govinda-Madhuri starrer song? Then I must insist you follow me on Instagram and Facebook @lucidlucent. Thank you. 

CARAMEL FOX NUTS (MAKHANA)

Ingredients:

Fox nuts (Makhana) – 50 gms

Sugar – 4 tbsp

Water – 3 tbsp

Butter – 1 tbsp

Milk – 5 tbsp

Salt/sea salt – a pinch (optional) 

Method:

1. Grease a plate or line it with butter paper.  

2. Toast the fox nuts until they brown. I dry roasted them in a pan for about 10 minutes. Set aside.

3.To the same pan, add sugar and water and stir until the sugar melts. Keep stirring it continuously.

4.When the liquid reduces and thickens, add the butter and stir it until the butter melts.

5.To this add the milk and a pinch of salt and keep stirring until the sauce reduces further. It shall thicken and turn a lovely caramel colour.

6.Turn off the heat and immediately add the toasted fox nuts. Mix it well until the nuts are coated with the caramel sauce.

7.  (If you have sea salt, skip adding salt to the sauce and as soon as you have coated the nuts with the sauce, sprinkle a little sea salt on it). This step is optional. 

8.  Spread and separate the fox nuts on the greased plate/butter paper.

9. Let it cool and in about 10 minutes, the fox nuts would have turned crunchy.

10. Done.