Salad topping seeds
I had an excellent salt beef sandwich down at Cookhouse this week and it came with a well dressed salad topped with a toasted seed mix. A few years ago I used to throw toasted nuts and seeds onto everything but when the jar ran low I didn’t ever get round to replacing them. The salty, crunchy bite they bring to salads, sandwiches, soups and even pasta dishes is very satifying. I think I originally got the idea from a tiny tub of mixed spices and nuts I got from (the much missed) Love Your Larder
Thus prompted to make a fresh jar, and happening to stumble upon reasonably prices sunflower and pumpkin seeds in Byker Morrisons (home to so many good ingrediants), I made a fresh batch this morning.
It’s a very adaptable recipe, add in your own chopped nuts, spices (cumin is good) and other flavours. Liquid Smoke makes an interesting addition.
You will need
- Nuts, seeds and spices. I used only sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds this time.
- A tablespoon of soy
- A tablespoon of hot sauce (I used Encona Cajun )
- A large non-stick frying pan (can also be done in the oven)
Do
- Mix everything and dump it into the cold pan, mix well and spreading evenly
- Start on a low heat, wait until the steam stops rising, stir, repeat.
- Once you stop getting steam every time you stir you’ve driven off all the moisure you added, now it’s time to roast the mix.
- Keep stirring and occationally tossing the pan until you’ve got to the desired level of “done”. In my case this is when I see the first few pumpkin seeds catching and hear the odd one popping.
- Spread the mix out onto something to cool on, like a sheet of newspaper. If you’re confident you caught the mix eary enough leave in the pan to cool, just not on the hot ring.
- Decant and store in an air tight jar.
Result
Just a little salty (from the soy), crunchy, morish. Sling them on salads, in fajita or steal from the jar before going to bed.
