kachumber

Before Kim & I went to India, way back when, our roommate at the time, Meggan, introduced us to a lot of delicious Indian recipes. She had been to India twice and spent a lot of time getting recipes when she came back. One of the first foods she made for us was chucumber, or Indian salsa. Now, apparently we'd been saying it wrong for the past 6 years, because it's really called kachumber. Oh well.

Super delicious! It's basically diced veggies + lime juice and salt with amazing spiced peanuts on top. My friends and I can't get enough of it! After making it a few hundred times, I decided I should probably share the secret. Hope you enjoy it!

• Chop about 2 cups of raw Spanish peanuts using a food chopper.
• I like to put them in a colander or fine mesh strainer after I chop them to get rid of
  some of the peanut dust. (See how much dust I got rid of this time?!)

• Peel, seed and dice 2 large cucumbers. Pick cucumbers that are firm and still have some bumps on them, that way the seeds won't be too big. To seed, I like to quarter the cucumbers, stand them on their ends, and slice all of the seeds off with one cut.
• Seed (or de-gut, as I like to say) 3 large roma tomatoes and dice.

• Dice 1/2 a red onion (I forgot to buy one, so I used a yellow onion)
• Chop 1/3 cup cilantro
• Optional: You may seed and dice a green chili if you want some spice (I never do because I'm a weenie)
  

• Mix veggies and cilantro in a large bowl.
• Add juice of 1 lime (~4tbsp) and 1 tsp kosher salt and mix well.
• Refrigerate until ready to eat, up to 24 hours.
  
  

• Heat 1tsp peanut oil in a large nonstick skillet and add chopped peanuts.
• Fry peanuts until warm, about 5 minutes.
• Add 2-3tbsp chat masala (Indian spice blend) to taste and 1/2 tsp kosher salt, stir well.
• Remove from heat and place peanuts in a bowl.

• Plate a scoop of veggies and top with a scoop of peanuts. Serve when peanuts are warm.
• Enjoy with an outrageous amount of tortilla chips.
  

Love, K