Nepali-Style Peanut Salad (Badam Sadheko) is a very popular appetizer enjoyed all year-long in Nepal. It’s simple and packed with flavors and textures making it quick and healthy snack.

**This post is sponsored by Texas Peanuts**

Peanuts are legumes like beans, peas, and lentils (they are not nuts) and is enjoyed as peanut butter, boiled peanuts, as a snack in trail mix, granola bars, or used in desserts as brittle. I love peanuts in all shapes, forms, and sizes for it’s taste, nutritional benefits, and versatility. One ounce (about 39 pieces) of dry roasted contains 170 calories, 14 grams of fat (mostly unsaturated), grams 7 grams of protein, and a good source of fiber. They also provide a variety of vitamins and minerals such as antioxidant vitamin E, energy-releasing B-vitamins niacin and folate, magnesium, manganese, and phosphorus.

There are mainly four different types of peanuts : Runner, Virginia, Spanish and Valencia. Each of the peanut types is distinctive in size, flavor, and purpose. You can find more details on Texas Peanuts site. Peanut plants originated in South America but they are grown globally esp in warm climates in Asia, Africa, Australia, and North and South America. In Texas, we grow all four varieties of peanuts and for the Nepali-Style Peanut Salad (Badam Sadheko) , I am using Valencia peanuts grown in West Texas. They contain three or more kernels in a longer shell, are sweet in taste with bright red skin.

I purchased the roasted, blanched kind but if you wish, you can get the raw ones and roast it yourself. Peanuts are great to snack on it own but I love making this Nepali-Style Peanut Salad (Badam Sadheko) when I need some zing in my life. It’s great as an appetizer, as well as for large gatherings and potlucks.

In Nepali, “sadheko” loosely means marinated and/or tempered with oil and spices. The combination of aromatics, spices, and hot oil transforms any protein (chicken, goat, pork, tofu), vegetables (potatoes, radish, beans sprouts), and even fruits like pomelo/grapefruit into something spectacular.

The recipe I am providing below is merely a suggestion on how I like my Nepali-Style Peanut Salad (Badam Sadheko) but feel free to play around with different spices and aromatics depending on what you have and what you like. I am looking for a good balance of acid and freshness from lemon juice, heat from chili peppers and garlic, and bit of a pungent aroma from mustard oil.

Nepali-Style Peanut Salad (Badam Sadheko)

serves 4 as a side dish

Ingredients

1 cup roasted peanuts (I used West Texas peanuts)
2 tablespoon chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 thumb sized ginger, thinly sliced
1 green onion, thinly chopped
2 chili pepper, thinly sliced
1 heaping pinch of cumin powder
1 heaping pinch of red chili powder
Salt, to taste
2 teaspoon mustard oil
1 small tomato, chopped
1 small dried red chili 1
heaping pinch of turmeric
1⁄2 slice of lime
2 tablespoon of chopped cilantro

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, add roasted peanuts, chopped onion, sliced garlic cloves, sliced ginger, chopped green onion, and chili pepper.

2. Add spices – cumin powder, chili powder, and salt to the bowl with the rest of the ingredients.

3. In a small pan, heat mustard oil and add chopped tomato and dried red chili. Sautee for 2-3 minutes until the tomatoes are slightly softened. Add turmeric to the pan and cook for an additional minute. Pour the mix over the bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mix.

4. Squeeze lime and add chopped cilantro. Adjust salt, red chili pepper, and other seasonings as needed.

5. Serve it as a side dish or an appetizer.

Notes:

• You can make Nepali-Style Peanut Salad (Badam Sadheko) few hours in advance but it tends to soggy after 12-18 hours

• I am using three different chili peppers : dried, fresh, and powdered but if you don’t have all of them, feel free to skip or adjust the heat per taste

• Mustard oil, a controversial oil in the US and UK due to it’s erucic acid (you can read more here) can be substituted with canola oil

• If you want the most basic version of Nepali-Style Peanut Salad (Badam Sadheko), mix the ingredients with salt, pepper, cumin powder, and a big squeeze of lime. It will still taste very delicious!

More Peanut inspired recipes:

• Peanut Butter Sriracha Noodles

• Peanut Butter Mocha Smoothie

• Peanut Butter Date Bars

I hope you will give this recipe a try soon and create your version of Nepali-Style Peanut Salad (Badam Sadheko)!

Are you a peanut lover? What are some of your favorite ways to eat peanuts. Share in the comment below.