Sunday, March 4, 2012

Circus Peanut Soup



This is a West African Recipe of such elegance and beauty that the only way to properly defile it is to use the most heinous of all mass produced junk foods: bright orange vaguely marshmallow-like, artificially banana flavored, tough chewy bright orange circus peanuts. They are the very antithesis of food. I love them. You'll need a whole 3.5 ounce bag, preferably stale. I bought mine at Walgreens. This is a serving for two as a starter; add more ingredients to make a big pot. In a small saucepan, brown 3 chicken thighs with skin and bones in a tablespoon of olive oil. Remove them, add one chopped onion, and a half cup each chopped red and green bell pepper. Add a tablespoon of minced ginger, and crushed red pepper to taste, plus some toasted and ground coriander. Then grate in two roma tomatoes, without the peel. Have fun here, you can add whatever you like. Brown the vegetables and add the chicken back in. Cover with water and simmer for about 45 mintues. Remove the chicken and discard the skin and bones. Shred the chicken and return to the pot. Taste and make it hotter if you like. Throw in the whole bag of circus peanuts and let them melt. There will be a jolt of sweetness, so adjust with a touch of acid or mor heat if you like. Garnish with a sliced circus peanut. As you will see the gelatinous goo thickens the soup well. Not perhaps as nice as peanut butter, so if you use a touch of the latter I wont tell. But here's the most perverse part. IT ACTUALLY TASTES GOOD! *I bet you could make this with PEEPS too. Next will be cooking with Necco Wafers.

13 comments:

margot said...

outstandingly perverse! it has me wondering about regular old marshmallows, which I often have a stale bag of around because I never quite s'more enough of them during grilling season.

Deana Sidney said...

You are wonderfully mad... what are those things??? I don't know that I've ever seen them???

Michele said...

They're also great dipped in hummus, melted and spread on celery, and sewn together to block drafty doors.

Ken Albala said...

Ah! Sculpture I hadn't considered! Though I did have a vision last week of making furniture out of cheese. Perflectly edible of course.

Charlene said...

Two words for you, Ken. Marshmallow Peeps. Peeps just might trump Peanuts in your stew...

Charlene said...

Wait a minute. I should learn to read to the end first...

Sarah|BHood said...

You are a twisted man, Ken. Don't ever change.

bluukinen said...

Perverse and wonderful! I hopped over to Wikipedia to see if there were any unusual ephemera about circus peanuts and came up with this:

"In 1963, General Mills vice president John Holahan inventively discovered that Circus Peanuts shavings yielded a tasty enhancement to his breakfast cereal. General Mills formalized the innovation and created Lucky Charms, the first breakfast cereal to contain marshmallow bits (or "marbits")."

catering service philippines said...

I tried this and it tasted great.Thanks for sharing such a nice recipe.Keep posting!

zonia

Ken Albala said...

Zonia, You're kidding aren't you? You actually tried it? I neglected to mention that it causes bloating and explosive flatulence. Maybe circus peanuts do that all on their own though.

Andi said...

I think I will be right up front and say that I will NEVER make this, but it is rather awesome, one of the best food posts I have ever read ;-)
Andi

meg ragland said...

um, Ken...the challenge was to create a cocktail with a circus peanut garnish. (I know I'm two months late here, but hey...I was busy with the Peeps garnish challenge).

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