WARM PEANUT SALAD

Warm Peanut Salad image

Provided by Padma Lakshmi

Yield Makes 4 to 6 snack servings

Number Of Ingredients 7

1 lb raw peanuts in shell, shelled (1 3/4 cups)
1 Turkish or 1/2 California bay leaf
2 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro (from 2 bunches)
2 fresh small green Thai or serrano chiles (about 2 inches long), minced
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Steps:

To skin peanuts, blanch in a 3-quart saucepan of boiling salted water 1 minute, then drain well. Slip off and discard skins using your fingers and transfer peanuts to a bowl.
Bring 5 cups water to a boil with bay leaf in same saucepan. Add peanuts and reduce heat to moderate, then simmer, covered, until peanuts are soft enough to crumble easily when pressed with tines of a fork, about 30 to 45 minutes. (Test 1 or 2 peanuts, leaving the rest intact.) Drain well.
When peanuts are almost finished cooking, stir together tomatoes, cilantro, chiles, lemon juice, and sea salt in a bowl. Add drained peanuts and stir to combine.