SheWhoMustBeFed’s Nutballs

Warning – these are not in fact vegan, as they contain honey. You could swap the honey for maple syrup if you wanted. Though we can’t attest to the affect that might have on consistency or flavour – but maple syrup is yummy so it should be lovely.

These are truly moreish. Eat one…and you’ll want more, more, more…oh dear you’ve split in half.

You will need:

  • 250g pack of almonds
  • honey (or not)
  • cashew butter or peanut butter
  • dessicated coconut

The way of making the balls:

  • Roast the almonds, probably for about 15 minutes or so, at a moderate temperature.
  • Allow to cool slightly, and grind to a medium grind with a food processor. Get a dessertspoon and get as much honey as you can get on it and add to the almonds. Repeat.
  • Using the same spoon (or a clean one if you’re really fussy), take your nut butter and do exactly the same as you did with the honey, including the repeat.
  • So now you have ground almonds with 2 big spoons of honey and 2 big spoons of nut butter.
  • The mixture needs to be combined and will be quite sticky, so you need adequately strong wrists. Remember to roll up your sleaves before you start or you’ll need to call out to a friend to help you do so afterwards.
  • Roast some of the dessicated coconut for rolling. This will burn very quickly once it starts to roast so you need to watch it. The dessicated coconut should be fairly finely ground. If it is a coarse grind then make it just a bit finer with a bit of a go in the food processor. Keep the coconut handy in a bowl.
  • Form the almond mixture into balls about an inch or so in diameter, but you can make them whatever size you like really. Roll each ball in the roasted coconut.
  • Eat.
  • Store any that may be left in the fridge……if they last that long.

Satay sauce

It is much better to use salt-free peanut butter to prepare your own satay sauce.

SheWhoMustbeFed provides the household with home made nut butters – cashew and peanut being the staples with the occasional foray into macadamia. To make nut butter, fresh nuts are simply lightly roasted and then they are introduced to The Champion. The Champion is what you get when you cross a bench mounted grinder with a kitchen tool. Its easy to imagine The Champion being the result of Tim Taylor from the TV show Home Improvement being asked to design a new food processor.

In the absence of your own home made peanut butter, salt free peanut butter can be generally found in health food stores, if you can find one that hasn’t been overrun with body building supplements that is!

Needing to have (suggested measurements are just that…suggestions. You have to fiddle a bit to get the right consistency)….

  • 3/4 cup of lightly roasted peanuts. Crush in a mortar and pestle and reserve
  • 1/2 cup of peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup of coconut cream
  • 1 tablespoon of tamari
  • A few thin slices of onion, chopped
  • 1 clove of garlic, crushed
  • 1 hot chilli
  • 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin
  • 2 teaspoons of peanut oil (or coconut oil) – for frying the onion and garlic
  • 1 teaspoon of sesame oil – for flavouring
  • Water

To do…

  • Boil the kettle, and dissolve the peanut butter in a cup of water. It doesn’t have to completely dissolve but it helps to get it as pre-dissolved as possible
  • Meanwhile, in a small pan over a low flame…
  • Lightly sauté the onion, garlic and cumin. If these at all burn, discard and start again as they really need to be very lightly cooked
  • Add the dissolved peanut butter, tamari, and the whole chilli (the chilli is meant to add a little heat, and then be fished out before serving). Add up to an extra cup of water to help thin the mixture
  • Simmer lightly for a few minutes, do not allow to boil. Keep an eye on the sauce and stir regularly as it will tend to stick to the pan easily
  • Remove the chilli. Add the coconut cream and the sesame oil. This will take the heat off the sauce so bring it back to a simmer.
  • As soon as it simmers again, add the reserved crushed peanuts and serve