A Recipe for "Chinese-y Surprise Dirt Beans"
From Natalie Keng's "Egg Rolls & Sweet Tea"
**Just as a heads up: some of the links in this post are affiliate links, meaning I’ll earn a small commission at no extra cost to you if you decide to purchase the amazing books, ingredients, etc. through them. Thank you ever so much in advance for your support of this newsletter ❤️
Hi all, happy Thursday! Yesterday, I sent out a post about my growing fascination with the way first- and second-generation Americans like myself are cooking. I’ve noticed how, oftentimes, the things immigrant families cook as they learn to survive and thrive in the United States evolve into dishes that are byproducts of not just where they come from, but with the ingredients they have access to in their new environment. These dishes aren’t necessarily authentic to the motherland, but authentic to the two or more worlds and cultures they straddle. It’s how things like Wayne Hu’s roast pork buns made with Pillsbury buttermilk biscuit dough and Yia Vang’s tater tot casserole with red curry and fish sauce represent foods simultaneously rooted in tradition and creativity—how we’re taking the things we grew up with, making them our own, and being damn proud of them. I also included a recipe for saag-style collards from Vishwesh Bhatt’s award-winning cookbook in that post—so if you missed that, I highly encourage you to head back to the archives and catch up.
It was around the time of re-reading that, actually, when I was also sent Natalie Keng’s recently-released title, “Egg Rolls & Sweet Tea: Asian Inspired, Southern Style”—another great book on how Southern foodways influenced the way an Asian-American grew up eating. Natalie’s the founder and CEO of Global Hearth, as well as the mastermind behind a line of sauces inspired by Southern and Asian flavors that launched at Whole Foods and Kroger. For her, “Egg Rolls & Sweet Tea” encapsulates her personal food journey growing up Chinese-American in Smyrna, Georgia.
Today, I’ll be sharing a recipe for what Natalie calls, “My Dad’s Chinese-y Surprise Dirt Beans”—”dirt beans,” here, being a play on the translation for the colloquial Mandarin word for peanuts, “groundnut.” Boiled peanuts show up in both Southern American and Chinese cooking, and Natalie’s version from childhood amplifies flavor with star anise, soy sauce, and garlic. These are perfect snacks enjoyed hot, and can be made in a slow cooker, pressure cooker, or stovetop.
I’ll see you next Wednesday at our regularly scheduled time!
Serves 4
1 pound unshelled raw peanuts
¼ cup naturally brewed soy sauce
4 tablespoons muscovado sugar or 4 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon salt (optional)
2 cinnamon sticks or 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon minced shallot or 1 garlic clove, peeled and smashed
2 or 3 pods of star anise pods
In a large pot or bowl of water, soak the peanuts for 15 minutes to remove dirt. Rinse until the water runs clear and drain well. Dispose of any grit that has settled to the bottom of the pot.
If you would like to help the peanuts absorb more flavor in a shorter amount of cooking time, gently crack the tip of each peanut.
In a slow cooker, combine the peanuts, soy sauce, sugar, salt (if using), cinnamon sticks, shallot, and star anise pods. Add enough water to cover the peanuts. Put a heatproof plate on top to keep them from floating up during cooking. Cover and cook on high for about 6 hours, or to the desired tenderness. (Natalie prefers the peanuts al dente rather than super soft. They’re easier to remove from the shell that way, too.)
Let the cooked peanuts cool in the pot with the seasoned liquid. Remove the peanuts from the pot with a slotted spoon. Crack open the shell and gently squeeze the peanuts out. Eat directly from the shell while slurping the liquid. Keep a hanky or towel handy and roll up your sleeves in case of dripping. (Discard the shells in the garden or a compost pile. Crushed peanut shells make a great mulch.) Cover any leftover peanuts with some of the seasoned liquid and store in the refrigerator. Consume within a week or freeze up to a month.
Note: To cook on the stovetop, mix all the ingredients in a large pot and pour in enough water to cover the peanuts. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 3 hours. Stir every half hour to allow the flavors to penetrate evenly. Add 1⁄2 cup more water if needed to prevent drying out.
To cook in a pressure cooker, combine all the ingredients in the pot and add enough water to cover. Cook on high for 1 hour. Allow the pressure to release naturally and let the cooked peanuts rest for about 30 minutes in the seasoned liquid.
Recipe excerpted from “Egg Rolls & Sweet Tea: Asian Inspired, Southern Style” by Natalie Keng. Copyright © 2023. Used with permission of the publisher, Gibbs Smith. All rights reserved.