Peanut Gallery Trivia Quiz

Answer: Satay

Satay is both the name of the dish itself and, nowadays, the peanut sauce often served with it, dubbed 'satay sauce' in Asian fusion cooking. It originated in Java, possibly inspired by Indian kebabs, and is the national dish of Indonesia, but also features in Filipino, Malaysian and Thai cuisine.

The Indonesian version can also be served with kecap manis, a sweet soy sauce. Usually, chicken is used but other versions, both Indonesian and from elsewhere, can feature other meats such as beef or pork, seafood, or even tofu.

The skewers on which the meat is served are traditionally made from lidi, a material formed from coconut fronds, but modern ones are more likely to be bamboo.

Answer: Brat's foot

The origins of the term 'pé-de-moleque' are unclear; suggestions include the paving stones in old Brazilian cities, which resemble the sweet, or the term 'pede, moleque', meaning 'ask for it, brat' (said by street vendors in response to kids trying to steal it).

It is made by mixing roasted peanuts with rapadura, a type of unrefined cane sugar, or molasses. The mixture is then stirred over a low heat and left to cool on a flat surface, before being cut into pieces. Other nuts, such as cashews, can also be used.

It is thought to date back to the 16th century, when sugar cane was introduced to Brazil. A spice and nut cake of the same name is also eaten in northern Brazil during the Festas Juninas, the festivals of St John the Baptist.

Answer: Hyderabad

Mirchi ka salan (curried chili peppers) is a typical dish of Hyderabad, the capital of Telangana in southern India. It is traditionally served on special occasions, such as weddings, along with Hyderabadi biryani - a rice dish traditionally made with goat meat and basmati rice, and cooked over a low flame - and dahi chutney, a chutney containing dahi (a type of yogurt), mint and onions, and rice and/or chapatti as accompaniments.

The peanut, coconut and sesame seed paste used as a base for the sauce gives it a slightly crunchy texture. Variants of the dish include tamatey ka salan, which uses tomatoes, and baigan ka salan, which uses aubergines.

Answer: Morocco

Morocco is a north African country and its national dish is couscous. 'Moambe' itself (or 'nyembwe' in Gabon) is palm oil made from the flesh of palm nuts, which grow on the African oil palm. African palm oil is red and very thick (when cooking with it, I sometimes have to hold the bottle over a flame to get it to melt a bit).

It has a slightly woody flavour and is often mixed with peanuts and/or peanut butter in various Central and West African dishes (in western areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the sauce is known as 'mwambi'). Chicken moambe is cooked with spinach, peanut butter and spices and can be served with rice, boiled eggs, sweet potato, manioc paste (in Angola), or even chips (like the photo here).

Answer: Madagascar

Madagascar is the home of a wide variety of animals, such as the ring-tailed lemur, the fossa and the tenrec, and is also home to koba, a sweet containing ground peanuts and flavoured with Madagascan vanilla. Kobandravina means 'dough with leaves'. It is sold in thick slices cut from rolls, sometimes served wrapped in banana leaves; one variant, koba akondro, also contains honey and mashed bananas.

The batter is boiled or steamed until it sets. A snack popular with workers and schoolchildren, it is sold at train stations and petrol stations and koba vendors carry it in baskets which keep the koba warm.

Answer: Peanut brittle

Peanut brittle is made in a similar way to pé-de-moleque, and is a hard candy containing nuts and made with caramelised sugar; some recipes also use leavening agents, salt, peanut butter and/or spices. The brittle mixture is rolled out onto a flat surface and broken into pieces once cooled. Brittle is thought to have been descended from halva, a Middle Eastern sweet containing sesame seeds, honey and nuts. Recipes for peanut brittle in the US have appeared as far back as 1847 (although the recipe in question calls it groundnut candy, groundnut being the old name for peanuts). Regional varieties of brittle use different nuts, such as pistachios in the Middle East and sesame seeds in Thailand. Chikki is a Bangladeshi variant of brittle, while Iran has sohan, a toffee-like brittle flavoured with rose water and saffron.

Answer: O Henry

The chocolate bar in question is the Oh Henry! bar. My lame pun about twists is a reference to William Sidney Porter, who wrote short stories under the name of O Henry; his stories always featured a twist of some kind in the ending. However, the chocolate bar is not actually named after him - the origins of its name are unclear, and suggestions include Kansas confectioner Thomas Henry or a boy called Henry who frequented the sweet shop of George Williamson, owner of the Williamson Candy Company, who created the chocolate bar.

The Oh Henry! bar has a bottom layer made of fudge and a larger top layer consisting of caramel and peanut pieces, all coated in chocolate. The American version is sold by Ferrara, while the Canadian one is sold by Hershey and has a different form, with the fudge in the middle, surrounded by a caramel layer, then a nut layer which gives it a knobbly appearance and finally, the chocolate topping.

Answer: Bamba

Bamba is a puffy peanut and maize brand name snack which resembles the British Wotsit in shape, but is frankly much nicer (and doesn't cover your fingers in orange dust). To make bamba, corn grits are popped, then cut into nuggets and air baked, before being coated in Argentinian peanut butter. Sweet versions flavoured with strawberry and coloured red, or filled with halva, cappuccino cream or chocolate (which, incidentally, is delicious) are also available. Like Bissli, another popular Israeli snack which can also be found in kosher sections in diaspora supermarkets, Bamba is made by Osem.

A special edition snack produced in 2014 featured a mixture of both Bissli and Bamba in the same bag. (Ritchie Valens' signature hit was 'La Bamba'.)

Answer: Peanuts were cheaper and more common in the US than pecan nuts.

Peanuts are a common crop in the USA, a country known for its love of peanut butter, and are grown in the Tidewater region, an eastern coastal region encompassing parts of Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina (where it has a reputation as a dish eaten on special occasions). Peanuts were brought to the US by African slaves, and peanut pie originally had a reputation as slave food; like many foods associated with slaves, it had a high energy content. Because of peanuts being cheap and easy to come by, peanut pie gained its nickname of 'the poor man's pecan pie'. Like pecan pie, its filling is made with corn syrup or molasses, sugar and eggs; some variants include chocolate, cream cheese, cinnamon, or even cayenne pepper!

Answer: True

You've probably heard of peanut butter shakes, but peanut punch - similar to a milkshake, as it's made with milk - is also a peanutty drink, popular in the Caribbean. The basic ingredients are milk, sugar and either peanuts or peanut butter, with other ingredients being added for extra flavour, such as condensed milk, cinnamon or nutmeg, or cornflakes or granola to add crunch. Alcoholic versions contain Angostura bitters, rum (in Jamaica or Trinidad) or stout (also in Jamaica). American football fans may be interested to know that one player, Charles 'Peanut' Tillman of Chicago Bears fame, inspired a version of peanut punch which also contained pickle juice and a Kentucky whisky known as Early Times, in tribute to his habit of punching the ball.