I must say that I'm very fastidious about taste: I hate putting revolting things in my mouth, but I won't get discouraged just because I dislike putting agricultural fertiliser in my mouth.
I liked betel nuts because they offer a completely different sense of stimulation than any other chemical or natural stimulants have delivered to me, to date anyways. I find khat, ephedra, amphetamines etc a little too paranoiac and heart-thuddingly tense for my disposition, but I also do enjoy running around like a crazed, motor mouthed jackass on occasion. So without further ado, I've found a few things which make taking betel nuts much easier.
I decided to bake them as cookies because they can be made considerably chewy, but don't completely mask the taste (*I sometimes to like the tannic / gritty vibe the nuts release, but generally it gets on my nerves)
So here we have it:
1 3/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter
a dash of vanilla essence
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup cocoa
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 cups ground betel nuts
Firstly, I sift the baking soda & flour into a bowl and place aside for a second.
Next, I grab another bowl and blend the butter, vanilla essence and the brown and white sugars. Once it's nice and gooey, I add the cocoa to this concoction, I stir again until gooier and then dump the flour in, mixing it with a wooden spoon.
Finally, I add the nuts, and any flavourings I want (macadamia nuts are my personal favourite).
I mix it up again and I grab one of those teetle spoons I use to stir my morning's tea. I use it to glob the dough onto a baking sheet & pan and whack them in the oven at 350c. I like to blast them for about 8 mins, and then at one minute intervals. When they're done, they'll be quite firm to the touch, but with a little poke they'll normally indent. I leave them to cool on cookie sheets and enjoy warm.
I've also baked them into toffee mefore, but I have to be very circumspect in when I add them, as it's baked mucho hot and it can destroy the active constituents. This method works bloody well id prepared right, and I can chew on the toffe for shitloads of time.
And finally, a tea (real simple, this one) grab some betel nuts and squeeze them really hard until they turn to powder. or grind them. chuck them in a saucepan with eight times the water to one betel nut ratio. Add lemon juice and boil for twenty minutes. Strain and flavour as you see fit.
Bon appetit!
