Skip to content

Tablet pistach

Tablet pistach: Haitian peanut brittle with ginger

Street vendors in Port-au-Prince sell tablet pistach from glass cases and trays balanced on their heads: roasted peanuts (pistach in Kreyòl) set in a dark brown sugar caramel warmed with fresh ginger and cinnamon. It snaps cleanly, is chewier at the edges than a European brittle, and is eaten as an after-school treat or with coffee. The usual mistake is pouring before the syrup is dark enough, which gives a soft, sticky slab. Keep pieces away from very young children, as whole nuts are a choking hazard, and note this contains peanuts. Chef's tip: grate the ginger straight into the syrup and squeeze in a few drops of lime; the acid keeps the caramel from crystallising.
Total time
25 min
Difficulty
easy
Serves
12
One step at a time, big text, timers, read-aloud. Your screen stays on.

Ingredients

Serves12

Shop this recipe on Amazon

What you'll need

Fresh ingredients (2)

Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.

Method

0/5 done
  1. Step 1: Oil a baking tray or sheet of baking paper with 1 tsp vegetable oil. Have it right next to the hob.

  2. Step 2: Put 9 oz dark brown sugar, ¼ cup water, 2 tsp fresh ginger, ½ tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tsp lime juice and 1 pinch salt in a heavy saucepan over a medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves.

    4 min
  3. Step 3: Boil without stirring for 8–10 minutes, until the syrup is a deep amber and a drop set into cold water snaps (about 300°F).

    9 min
  4. Step 4: Stir in 9 oz roasted unsalted peanuts quickly so every nut is coated and keep stirring for 1 minute.

    1 min
  5. Step 5: Tip onto the tray and press flat with an oiled spoon. Score into squares while warm, then leave for 30 minutes to harden and snap along the lines. Store airtight.

Nutrition per serving

Calories
200 kcal
Protein
5 g
Carbs
23 g
Fat
10 g
Fibre
2 g

Nutrition values are estimates.

K
Recipe by

KrazyBadal

All recipes by this chef →

Good to know

How long does tablet pistach take?
About 25 minutes in total: 5 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook.
How many people does it serve?
12 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
Is it vegan?
Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
Is it gluten free?
Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
What can I use instead of dark brown sugar?
White sugar + 1 tbsp molasses or treacle per 200g.
What can I use instead of fresh ginger?
¼ tsp ground ginger per tbsp fresh (add it with the spices).

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.

Rate this recipe

Sign in to rate and review this recipe.

Kartoshka cake

Soviet cafés and school canteens sold these knobbly brown 'potatoes' for a few kopecks, and they began as a thrifty way to use up sponge and biscuit trimmings at the bakery. Crumbs are bound with butter and sweetened condensed milk, flavoured with cocoa and vanilla, shaped into little potatoes, rolled in cocoa and finished with two dabs of pale butter cream for the sprouts. They are fudgy and dense like a brownie truffle, need no oven, and children love making them. Traditional bakers added a spoonful of rum, an optional extra for adult batches only; this version is alcohol-free with vanilla. The usual slip is coarse crumbs, which make the potatoes crack, so blitz them as fine as sand. Chef's tip: chill the shaped potatoes for at least 20 minutes so they hold their shape and slice cleanly.

by KrazyBadal 2 views

Undu walalu

Walalu means bangles, and these dark, sticky rings of fried urad dal soaked in kithul treacle are a sweet that Sinhala families bring out for Avurudu and for special almsgivings, often made in large batches by an aunt known for her steady hand. A thick, fluffy paste of ground black gram is piped into loops and fried until crisp, then plunged straight into warm treacle, so the rings stay crunchy on the outside while drinking up the syrup. They taste a little like a darker, smokier jalebi, with a toffee finish from the palm treacle. Watery batter is what ruins them; it spreads into flat blobs, so grind the soaked dal with as little water as possible and beat it until light. This recipe uses no asafoetida, so it is naturally gluten free. Chef's tip: pipe the rings onto small squares of baking paper and lower them into the oil paper and all; the paper peels away in seconds.

by KrazyBadal 2 views

Soup joumou

Every 1 January, Haitian families from Port-au-Prince to Brooklyn wake up to soup joumou. It marks independence from France on 1 January 1804: under French rule, enslaved Haitians cooked this pumpkin soup but were forbidden to eat it, so the free people of the new nation made it their own as a dish of freedom. In 2021 it was added to UNESCO's list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity. The base is a velvety purée of joumou (Caribbean pumpkin) with epis, and in it simmer chunks of carrot, potato, cabbage, celery and turnip, with pasta and a squeeze of lime. It's usually made with beef; this vegetable version is full and golden, rich enough for the day. Chef's tip: roast half the pumpkin before puréeing it; the caramelised edges give the soup the depth that slow-cooked meat usually provides.

by KrazyBadal 1 views