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If you want to add more flair to your dishes, then you may want to consider adding nuts. When it comes to cooking, nuts can be flexible ingredients. You can make it into butter sauces or add it as toppings to desserts. Apart from that, you can use it to replace bread crumbs, providing a crispy and nutty texture to your dishes.
If you’re looking for healthier options, you can try meatless alternatives using peanuts. This way, you’ll feel better even if you indulge yourself in certain snacks and dishes. To elaborate more, here’s a list of delicious and easy-to-make recipes if you want to cook with nuts:
1. Pistachio Almond Tofu
If you want an alternative to your regular breaded tofu, then try a Pistachio Almond Tofu. All you have to do is swap out the bread crumbs for nuts. You can grind pistachios and almonds and use them to cover your tofu.
This adds a lovely flavor and crunchiness to your usual breaded tofu. This recipe is also very versatile, and you can add it to other dishes. You can have it with your sandwich, salad topping, or as a main course for dinner. This way, you can enjoy flavorful tofu while also enjoying the benefits of nuts.
2. Nut Butter
A creamy and sumptuous nut butter is great for sandwiches, and your kids will certainly love these too! You can make this in about 15 minutes using a food processor. To create a smooth, rich, and creamy homemade nut butter, here’s what you should do:
- It’s recommended to start with roasted peanuts so you don’t have to do the roasting yourself. You can still use raw peanuts, but you have to roast them well.
- Add a little bit of oil to make sure your nut butter doesn’t go dry. Just add a teaspoon at a time to avoid overdoing.
- Add ⅓ cup of roasted peanuts to your food processor. Pulse it up to eight times or until you get your desired consistency.
- After this, you can season your peanuts by adding 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1 1/2 teaspoon of honey.
- If it’s too thick, try adding more oil.
- If you want to make chocolate peanut butter, replace the honey with cocoa powder and add powdered sugar to the mix.
- Blend that until your peanut butter is smooth enough to your liking.
Now, if you want to experiment with more flavors and get creative in the kitchen, you can mix in more stuff on your nut butter. Level it up by adding almonds or Rice Krispies for an extra crunch.
3. Vegan Walnut Taco Meat
If you’re looking for a healthy and vegan-friendly taco dish, then this one is perfect! Instead of using taco meat, you can substitute that with walnuts. The good thing about this recipe is that it’s very flavorful, but it’s easy to make as well. To do that, you only need the following ingredients:
- Soy Sauce or Liquid Amino
- Vegan Taco Seasoning
- Lime juice
- Garlic
- Red Onion
- Sun-Dried Tomatoes
- Walnuts
- Avocado or Olive Oil
When you’ve prepared your ingredients, do the following steps:
- Soak your walnuts in hot water for 30 minutes to soften them.
- Once your nuts are soft, you can drain them and pop that into your food processor. You can use your high-speed blender as an alternative to food processors.
- Let it pulse until you have what seems like meat pieces. It should be small but be careful not to overdo it to avoid turning it into a walnut sauce.
- Once you get your desired consistency, chop your garlic, onions, and tomatoes. Make sure to keep proportionate amounts with the walnut meat.
- After heating your skillet, sauté your onions with a little bit of oil for about two minutes or until it becomes translucent. Then add garlic and stir for another minute.
- Add some taco seasoning and chopped tomatoes. Then, cook them for a minute.
- Then, add your walnut pieces. Stir the mixture well.
- Season it with soy sauce or any alternative you have.
- Squeeze in some lime juice and let it cook for about 4 to 5 minutes.
- Once you see the color turn to medium brown, it’s time to turn off the heat.
Now, let the taco mixture cool for a little bit then scoop a generous amount to fill up a taco wrap.
4. Hazelnut Parfait
This hazelnut parfait recipe is filled with nutty flavors, all thanks to the hazelnut. The key, however, is to roast your hazelnut lightly. This will be your base to create this delicate flavor.
Ingredients:
- 90g Caster Sugar
- 300ml Whipping Cream
- 4 Eggs
- 200g Hazelnuts
Direction:
- Preheat your oven up to 400 degrees.
- Place your nuts into a baking tray. Make sure that you spread your nuts evenly to get a nice roast on every piece. Let it roast for six to eight minutes.
- After roasting, let your nuts cool down for a bit. When it’s cool, you can start taking out the skin. If you can’t get everything off, that’s fine.
- Divide your nuts into two servings. Chop the first half into tiny pieces, then chop the other half in bigger sizes.
- Get your eggs and separate the whites from the yolk.
- Whip your cream until it’s thick and fluffy. But be careful not to make it too stiff.
- Fold in whipped cream in your beaten egg yolk, and then pour in the nuts.
- Beat your egg white until it’s stiff.
- Once done, put your egg white in the whipped cream mixture. Carefully fold the mix and set it aside.
- Pour your mixture into a loaf pan. Pop that into your freezer until it’s frozen, and then serve.
Conclusion
Nuts are not just delicious; they are also very healthy. Most nuts are filled with good fats and fibers. Almonds, for example, are rich in probiotics. Chestnuts contain plenty of vitamin C, and pecans are good sources of antioxidants. Most importantly, nuts are generally affordable and are easy to pack if you’re in a rush. Whether you need a healthy snack or if you need to add an extra oomph of flavor to your main dishes, you can never go wrong with nuts!
