Roasted Coconut Cashew Nuts

Cashews are my favorite nut.  And once upon a time we had some amazing cashews at an Indian restaurant named Dhaba in NYC.  The cashews were flash-cooked with chilis and spices and called tale huay kaju.  They were amazing - slightly charred, spicy, and totally delicious.  They were the perfect snack.  After eating the cashews at Dhaba I stumbled across a recipe for Roasted Coconut Cashew Nuts in one of our Thai cookbooks.  I knew right then we had to make them.  And it took us a little while, but we finally got around to it this weekend.  The cashews were yummy.  They weren't as good as the version we had at Dhaba, but they were a fun snack.  Alex said that they weren't amazing, but then again, we couldn't stop eating them.  They had some spice, some richness from the coconut and the cashews themselves, and a little sweetness from the honey.

Recipe after the jump!

Crispy Roasted Chickpeas

The first time I had roasted chickpeas was at Prune in NYC.  I know it sounds like a vaguely strange (and not altogether appetizing) dish, but we finished off the entire dish in seconds and asked for more.  They were unbelievable.  The chickpeas were crispy, salty and totally addictive - the perfect bar snack.  They sort of reminded me of corn nuts, another bar snack that I also love.  I have heard that bar snacks are intentionally salty so that it makes you drink your beer/drink faster and then order more to drink.  How very sneaky.  But unlike most bar snacks, these chickpeas are full of protein and relatively healthy for you.  And they are totally easy to make at home.  All you need is a can of chickpeas, a splash of evoo, s&p and the spice blend of your choice.  As a good Maryland-girl the first spice mix that comes to mind is Old Bay, but if Old Bay just isn't your thing you can use a creole seasoning blend, or a Moroccan spice blend.  For this batch I threw together my own Moroccan spice blend using ground coriander, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, and ginger and then sprinkled it all over the chickpeas fresh out of the oven.  Totally delicious.

Recipe after the jump!