Masala Peanuts | Congress Kadlekai Recipe (2024)

Congress kadlekai recipe– Congress Kadlekai is the Kannada name for masala peanuts. This quintessential snack from Karnataka, is famously found in condiment stores and iyengar bakeries.

This spicy snack is made by dry roasting the raw peanuts. The roasted peanuts are the added to seasoned spice mixture and tossed until well incorporated.

Congress kadlekai can be served with tea or coffee and as a crunchy and spicy topping on the chats.

The full video recipe of the congress kadlekai can be found in my you tube channel – Madhu’s Everyday Indian

Congress kadlekai is served with chirumuri ( a puffed rice chat which is mixed with onion, tomato, carrot, coriander leaves and chilly powder). It is also topped on different chats. You can also serve the congress kadlekai with tea or coffee.

You may wonder,why are masala peanuts named after one of the ruling parties of India?

There are quite few stories, that go back to 1960’s. One of the stories says that, following the split of the congress party they started calling peanuts as Congress Kadlekai. because we split the peanuts to make this spicy crunchy snack.

Even I bring a big back a big pack of congress kadlekai when I visit India. As much as the store bought once tastes great, I prefer making these at home. It’s a very simple and quick recipe. They can be made in a jiffy, if yo already have roasted peanuts.

Few tips on making Congress Kadlekai-

Adding sugar in the recipe is completely optional. I generally don’t add it, but have tasted the congress kadlekai in Bangalore, which have little sugar in them.

Removing the skin is key to how the congress kadlekai tastes, but its OK to have little bit of skin left.

I like to finely chop the curry leaves, so you can actually taste and eat them. The amount of red chilly powder depends on how spicy the chilies are.

While making the tempering, make sure the heat is in low. If not the spices will burn.

Few other chat recipes from my blog–

Healthy Corn chat

Sprouted green moong dal chat

If you are looking for steamed recipe, try Steamed Toor Dal Dumpling

If you tried this recipe, don’t forget to give astar ratingbelow. For more recipes and to see what’s cooking in my kitchen, follow me onFacebook,PinterestandInstagram.

few more tea time snacks

Toor dal masala vada

Instant Poha Vada