I’m a bit of a nut freak and I really like roasting and flavouring my own. I’ve dicked around with all kinds of additions – various spices, sauces, etcetera – but have hit on the ultimate formula involving just peanuts, soy sauce and chili flakes. Every day this household hoovers handfuls of these babies and I start to get twitchy when we run out. Obviously feel free to try other flavourings but just know that additions that contain sugar, like sriracha, will burn really quickly and may end up sticky. Finely ground spices may also burn, depending when you add them. Experiment with whatever quantities suit but I usually roast a kilo at a time. Told you I was a nut freak.

Soy chili peanuts

blanched peanuts
light soy sauce
chili flakes – I use Thai ones because they’re really hot

Preheat the oven to about 180C.

Spread the nuts out evenly on a big roasting tin and roast for 10 minutes with nothing on them.

Take them out and splash soy and sprinkle chili flakes over them and stir to coat evenly with two dessert spoons or spatulas. Because they’re now partly cooked and hot they seem to suck the soy up. Result! There’s no need to drown the nuts at this stage, you just want them moistened. Return to the oven for 10 more minutes.

Take them out again and give them another good slosh of soy, essentially deglazing the pan. Some of the nuts will have stuck to the tin so you’ll need to scrape with the spatula to dislodge them and mix the soy through again. Put them back in for another 10 minutes.

Take them out, give them another good stir to dislodge stuck ones again and let them cool. By now you’ll have a lovely salty, spicy crust that’s dry and moorish.

You can do a gluten free version with tamari or fish sauce which both work well, the tamari giving a pretty dark result.