Ingredients

Peanuts

I keep raw as well as dry roasted peanuts in my cupboard. I don’t buy either type salted. For Thai Cucumber Salad, I like to use dry roasted peanuts. The flavor is more intense, more peanutty. The raw peanuts have a dryer, papery flavor. I have used them with this recipe but usually keep them around for stir frys and such.

Most peanuts that are available are of one of four types – runners, Valencia, Spanish or Virginia. There is no significant nutritional difference between the four.

Runners are mostly made into peanut butter. They are similar in size to Spanish peanuts but without the brown papery skin. Valencias are grown in southwest U.S. and are mostly roasted in the shell (ballpark nuts).

Virginia types are longer and oval shaped. These are the peanuts that I look for when I am shopping. I think they are pretty in dishes and have a great flavor whether raw or roasted.

1 ounces peanuts = 161 calories, 14g fat, 2g sat fat, 7 mono fat, 1g protein, 5g carbohydrates, 5mg sodium, 0mg cholesterol