Christmas was the one festival we looked forward to eagerly every year. Lots of presents, lots of food and lots of functions to attend, services to go to and welcoming the carolers to our home usually after midnight. Back then we hardly ever bought tidbits from the shops. Everything was made at home and recipes carefully hoarded and passed down in families for that special season of goodwill. 
During the month of December the provision list would be extra long and the eats for Christmas carefully decided in advance. We children were roped in to help and we complied readily in the hope that we could sneak something away under Mummy’s eagle eye. She was noted for her Masala Cashew Nuts/Ground Nuts and all our guests waxed lyrical about them. One Christmas she bought some beautiful marbled plates which were red, blue and green and when some unexpected guests showed up, she decided to fry some for them. And serve them on her beautiful quarter plates. She fried and drained the cashew nuts and placed them on the beautiful plates and took them to the sitting room without realizing she had left a trail of piping hot nuts behind her which we enjoyed silently. When she reached the sitting room all that was left was a gaping hole in the centre of the plastic plate and us children laughing loudly at her misfortune. That was one Christmas I’ll always remember. And Masala Cashew Nuts/Ground Nuts is forever associated with a really good laugh! If you are one who is Nutty about Nuts, you will love this simple Christmas Recipe.