cup peanut flour
8 tablespoons hot water
Salt to taste (optional)
Peanut oil for frying
Directions
1. Gradually add the hot water to the peanut flour to achieve the correct consistency for forming the dough into balls, adding more water or flour as needed. Mold the dough into small balls. (It helps to lightly flour one’s hands with a little peanut flour before shaping the dough.)
2. Deep-fry the balls in hot peanut oil for a few minutes until they are crisp and brown on the outside. Drain in a colander or on paper towels.
Note: Do not try to use already prepared peanut butter to make these—the balls will simply disintegrate when you try to deep-fry them.
I observed some amazingly strong, skilled women in Bawku in Northern Ghana make kuli-kuli. After roasting, removing the skins, and grinding a metal drum full of peanuts, they removed the excess peanut oil by kneading the paste. They made this look easy, but it requires tremendous hand strength. After squeezing the mixture tightly into balls, they deep-fried them to remove more oil. Finally, they pounded the balls with a pestle in a wooden mortar to make another paste that was seasoned with salt and rolled into ropes thinner than pencils that were then joined together to form irregular circles, and deep-fried again. These final shapes are called “kuli-kuli,” though there are other versions, such as balls, with the same name. After years of laboriously duplicating the process (I actually put the ground peanuts between two cutting boards on the floor and stomped on them to extract the extra oil), a hugely labor-saving product has entered the U.S. market: “peanut flour” (e.g., Protein Plus).
Spicy Coated Peanuts
Makes 8 to 10 servings
Coating ingredients with a batter before deep-frying them is a common cooking technique in Ghana. In the U.S. we are most likely to coat peanuts with something sweet (as in the recipe for Peanut Toffee, page 212), but this savory snack/appetizer recipe is guaranteed to wake up those party peanuts! To locate raw unsalted peanuts with their skins on try an Asian market or health food store.
These are a perfect snack to eat while sipping ice-cold Star or Club beers, fruit juices, bissap (aka sobolo), ginger beer, or iced tea. In winter in North America they also go well with a hot drink like mulled wine, spiced cider, coffee, or tea. The hot oil somehow steams the peanuts so they’re still chewy, but the crispy, spicy coating gives them a kick. Eat them soon after making them.
Ingredients
4 cups canola or other vegetable oil for deep-frying
1½ cups shelled raw unsalted peanuts with skins on
Batter
Heaping ¾ cup (4 ounces) unsifted all-purpose flour
¾ to 1½ teaspoons dried ground red pepper (or to taste)
¾ teaspoon salt (or to taste)
⅛ teaspoon (a pinch) white pepper
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1 can evaporated milk
Directions
1. Pour vegetable oil into a deep fryer or a deep heavy saucepan. Do not fill over half full. Heat the oil to about 360 degrees F while making the batter.
Prepare batter:
2. Sift together the five dry ingredients into a medium bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, beat the egg with a fork or wire whisk. Shake the can of evaporated milk then open it and add 1/3 cup to the egg along with ¼ cup water and beat to combine. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
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