What do pad thai, a sweet-salty caramel tart, and Vietnamese-style cabbage salad all have in common? Peanuts. The humble nut is equally at home in south-east Asian dishes and sticky desserts such as banana splits and hot fudge sundaes; its crunch and occasionally salty hit acting as a balancing force that can tie a dish together. Here are 20 recipes, both savoury and sweet, where peanuts do their best work.
Sweet and savoury peanut recipes
From kung pao chicken and betel leaves topped with prawns and peanuts to ice-cream sundaes and sweet tarts, here are 20 recipes that make the most of the versatile peanut.
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Aunty Three's saigon chicken and cabbage salad with quail eggs
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Rojak
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Char-grilled banana splits with salted peanut caramel
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Kung pao chicken
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Banana, brandy and butterscotch trifle
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Ikan bilis with peanuts
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Vietnamese-style beef and vermicelli salad
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Peanut-butter tofu buns with burnt chilli mayo
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Fluffy pancakes with roasted peanuts and sesame seeds (ban chang kuih)
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Pickled ginger and cabbage salad
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Nougat, salted peanut caramel and milk chocolate tart
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Salted peanut-caramel ice-cream with hot fudge sauce
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David Thompson: Pat Thai
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Glass noodle salad
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Caramel popcorn sundaes
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Pork neck curry with roast peanuts and pineapple relish
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Spiced peanut popcorn
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Carolina rice cakes with boiled-peanut hummus
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Betel leaves topped with prawns and galangal
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Peanut brittle
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