Nuts, Dry Fruits & Seeds

Ja! Roasted Mixed Nuts 200g

Ja! Walnut Kernels 200g

Ja! Whole Almonds 200g

Ja! Roasted Pistachio Kernels 100g

TRS Peanuts Pink are shelled peanuts with their fine papery skins still on, sold for cooking rather than as a ready-salted snack. The skin adds a slight bitterness and keeps the nut from breaking up as it fries.

Best for

• Poha, upma and South Indian tempering
• Peanut chutney and peanut masala
• Chikki, chivda and namkeen mixes

How to cook it

Fry in a spoonful of oil over medium heat for three or four minutes until they colour and smell toasted, or dry-roast in a pan for five to six minutes, shaking often. They keep browning after they leave the pan, so lift them out slightly early. Rub the roasted nuts between a clean cloth to loosen the skins if a recipe wants them bare.

Pack and storage

375 g. Store in a cool, dry place, sealed after opening.

Ültje Salted Almonds 150g

Seeberger Walnuts Jumbo 500g

Seeberger Soft Dates Pitted 200g

Seeberger Blue Grapes 200g

Ja! Peanuts Roasted 500g

Ja! Cashew Nuts Roasted 150g

Ja! Cashew Nuts Natural 200g

TRS Peanuts Red are shelled red-skin peanuts, sold with the skins on for cooking rather than as a ready-salted snack. The red skin is thicker than on the pale grade and gives a slightly sharper, more bitter edge once roasted.

Best for

• Tempering for poha, upma and vegetable stir-fries
• Peanut chutney and peanut masala powder
• Chikki, chivda and namkeen mixes

How to cook it

Dry-roast over medium heat for five to six minutes, shaking the pan constantly, or shallow-fry in a little oil for three to four. Take them off while just short of the colour you want, as they carry on cooking in their own heat. To skin them, roast, cool a little, then rub in a clean tea towel and winnow the loose skins away.

Pack and storage

375 g. Store in a cool, dry place, sealed after opening.

TRS Almond Flakes are blanched almonds sliced into thin flat pieces, ready to use with no skinning or chopping. They toast quickly and evenly, and give a crisp, nutty layer on a dish without the weight of whole nuts. This is the large 750 g catering pack.

Best for

• Garnishing biryani, pulao and korma
• Kheer, halwa, barfi and festive sweets
• Baking, granola and breakfast toppings

Using it

Toast in a dry pan over medium heat, or in a little ghee, for two to three minutes — keep them moving and take them off while they are still pale gold, as they darken after leaving the heat. For sweets, fry in ghee with raisins and scatter over at the end so they stay crisp. Keep the bulk of the pack sealed; nuts pick up other smells readily.

Pack and storage

750 g. Store in a cool, dry place, sealed after opening.

Kings Dried Dates 200g

ja! Roasted & Salted Peanuts are shelled peanuts, dry roasted and salted, in a 200g pack.

The roast is what makes them: deep and even, so the nuts snap rather than bend, with just enough salt to keep you going back to the bowl. Straightforward beer-and-cricket snacking, but they earn their place in cooking too — scattered over poha and upma, stirred into chivda and bhel, crushed into a peanut chutney, or pounded for a Thai salad dressing.

Tip them into a bowl rather than eating from the bag if you want them to last the evening. Store sealed in a cool, dry cupboard.

TRS Lotus Seeds (Phool Makhana) are puffed seeds of the lotus flower — light, white, and about the size of a marble, with almost no flavour of their own until they are roasted. They are very light for their volume, so a small pack goes a surprisingly long way.

Best for

• Roasted makhana with salt and pepper
• Makhana kheer
• Makhana curry, and fasting or vrat dishes

How to cook it

Roast them in a dry pan or in a spoonful of ghee over low to medium heat for five to seven minutes, stirring often, until they are crisp all the way through — undercooked makhana is chewy and disappointing. Season once off the heat. For kheer, roast them first, then simmer in milk until they soften and swell.

Pack and storage

50 g. Store in a cool, dry place, sealed after opening — they go soft quickly if left exposed to air.

Kings Phool Makhana is puffed lotus seeds — light, white, popcorn-like spheres with an airy crunch and a very mild, almost neutral taste, in a 50g pack.

Makhana takes on whatever you cook it with. Most people roast it dry in a little ghee until it crisps, then toss it with salt, pepper, chaat masala or peri-peri for a snack. It also goes into makhana kheer simmered in milk with cardamom, into the North Indian curry makhana matar, and into fasting-day food during Navratri and Ekadashi.

Roast before eating — straight from the pack it is soft rather than crisp. Store sealed in a dry, airtight container.