Name: Fried Cashews With Lime Zest and Chile
Yield: Makes 1 cup
Ingredients: Vegetable oil, for shallow frying; 1 cup raw cashews; 1 teaspoon kosher salt; 2 teaspoons light brown sugar; 2 scallions, thinly sliced; 2 teaspoons Roasted Chile Powder; 2 teaspoons grated lime zest

Chili Lime Cashews in a bowl with two glasses of white wine.

Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Lillian Chou

My time spent running a tavern taught me that everybody loves warm and toasty nuts when they’re drinking. This is my take on a very popular bar snack in Thailand: freshly fried cashews tossed with salt, chiles, scallions, and fragrant lime zest. Simple but so good with an ice-cold beer. You can balance the amount of each seasoning to suit your taste, but the nuts should be salty first, with a balance of spicy-sweet-sharp-tart going on in the background.

Recipe notes

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