Poppadom Recipe With Plain Flour

HOMEMADE PAPADUMS FROM SCRATCH

Steps:

• Mix together the flour, salt, optional powdered spices, and water until the ingredients just come together. Add the water little by little while mixing together, until you end up with a stiff dough. Feel free to adjust the salt and spices to taste. (Garlic powder and pepper are optional additions.)
• Knead and pound on the dough for several minutes. At first the dough will be sticky, but as you knead and pound on it, it will start to come together. You can grease your hands and counter to help keep everything from sticking. I've used both coconut oil and olive oil and both work well. (Any vegetable oil shoud work.)
• Take sections of the dough and roll them out on the countertop thinly, around 2mm thin. Use a round cookie cutter to cut out circular-shaped papadums and then use a rolling pin to roll the disks out it even thinner.
• Optionally sprinkle whole cumin seeds or other spices over the disks and use a rolling pin to gently press them into the papadums.
• Spread the poppadum disks over parchment paper to allow them to dry. Flip the disks ocassionally throughout the drying process. (You can speed up the process by drying them in the sun, a dehydrator, or an oven at its lowest temperature.)
• Dried papadums can be stored in an airtight container for later, or cooked for immediate serving.
• Papadums can be broiled in the oven, puffed in the microwave, or deep-fried. My favorite method is to deep fry or pan fry the papadums in a small amount of oil. Papadums made in this way crisp up instantly in the hot oil. Broiled and microwaved papadums also crisp up quickly but aren't as light and flaky as the deep-fried ones.

HOMEMADE POPPADOMS

Steps:

• Place the flour in a mixing bowl and stir in the salt andbicarbonate of soda. Slowly add the water, you may not need it all, to form into a soft dough. The dough should be slightly wet and a little difficult to work with.
• Place this dough on a clean surface and pound it with a pestle or something similar for about 10 minutes, flipping the dough from time to time. This s the authentic way of making the dough, which gets better results than simply kneading as the flour is pounded harder together.
• After about ten minutes of pounding, you are ready to knead the dough. Squish and squeeze it in your hands for a couple of minutes. If the dough is still quite wet, add a little flour until you have a very soft and drydough ball. You shouldn't need to add much. If you have a tortilla press, your job of flattening the papads will be much easier. Otherwise, you will need to roll your dough balls out until paper thin on a lightly greased surface. You will need a knife to help remove the papad fro the surface. For a neater appearance, you could also use a round cookie cutter to but I rarely do.
• Dry the flattened papads in the sun, flipping from time to time on wax paper. In the winter, I place them next to a wood fire or electric heater to dry. I have also dried them in a dehydrator.
• When dried out, the papads will still be a bit flexible and not so dry that they snap in two when bent.
• To cook, heat about 10cm/4inches of vegetable oil in a wok or large pan. The oil is hot enough when you can throw a small piece of papad in and it sizzles and floats to the top immediately.
• Cook one or two at a time. They should cook through in a matter of seconds so watch them carefully so that you don't burn them. Transfer the cooked poppadoms to papertowels using tongs and continue cooking the remaining poppadoms.
• These cooked poppadoms will keep in an air-tight container for at least three days.

PAPADAMS

Steps:

• Stir together the flour, pepper, ground cumin seed, and salt in a large bowl or in the food processor; mix thoroughly until the spices are evenly distributed.
• Add the garlic and mix well.
• Add enough of the water to form a dough that will hold together in a cohesive ball; if necessary, add up to 1 additional tablespoon water.
• The dough should be fairly stiff and dry; if it is too wet, it will not roll well.
• Knead the dough for about 5 minutes by hand or pulse for about 15 seconds in the food processor; the dough should be smooth.
• With your hands, shape the dough into a cylinder or log about 2 inches thick and 6 inches long.
• With a sharp knife, cut the cylinder into 1/2-inch thick slices.
• The next step uses oil, so do not use your pastry cloth and rolling pin sleeve.
• Place each slice on a lightly oiled surface.
• Lightly oil the top of the slice and then roll out into a very thin circle about 6 or 7 inches in diameter.
• Papadams must be rolled extremely thin, maximum 1/16 inch.
• If the dough sticks to your rolling pin, gently pull it off.
• Dust the tops of each papadam with cayenne pepper.
• Using a metal spatula to loosen the edges of the papadams from the rolling surface, carefully place them on large baking sheets.
• The traditional method for preparing and frying papadams is described below; you can also bake them in a 300F oven for about 15 to 25 minutes, or until crisp and dry.
• The cooking time may vary beyond this range depending upon the thickness and moisture in the rolled dough.
• Cool them on a rack.
• To prepare the papadams in an authentic manner, don't bake them; first allow them to dry by leaving them in the sun for a few hours or by placing them in a very low oven (less than 200F) for 1 to 2 hours, turning occasionally.
• Dry the papadams until they are just slightly flexible and show no moisture; they should not brown or bake, however.
• At this point, the papadams may be stacked flat and stored in an airtight container until needed; they will keep for months if stored properly.
• When ready to serve, heat about 1/8 inch of oil in a large skillet; the oil should be hot, but not smoking; a drop of water flicked into the skillet should sizzle immediately.
• One at a time, drop the papadams into the hot oil.
• Turn the papadam when it begins to curl at the edges; it will quickly fry and become crisp.
• Remove it before it turns brown.
• Cool and drain the papadams on paper towels and eat them immediately.

BESAN PAPAD (GRAM FLOUR FLAT INDIAN POPPADOMS)

Steps:

• Prepare the ingredients

PAPADUM WITH RED ONION CHUTNEY AND MINT RAITA

Steps:

• Slice your onion thinly. Really thinly. Cut it in half lengthwise. Set a half down on your cutting board. Cut off the stem end but leave the root end . Slice across the onion so you get half moon rings. Once you are done slicing cut the onion slices in half to form quarter rings.
• Deflame the onion. Takes the bite out of it. Put the sliced onion in a fine mesh strainer. Rinse under cold water for about a minute. Transfer the onion to a bowl of cold water. Let the onions soak in the fridge for 10 minutes. Drain. You can do this when you are making salsa as well. Smooths all the rough edges of the onion. This is a good restaurant trick for anything with raw onions.
• Combine the ketchup, cumin seed, masala chili sauce, salt and amchoor powder. Stir to combine. If you taste it now it will seem pretty spicy. Depending on the chili masala sauce you pick of course. Don't worry. The onions will dilute the heat. And papadum seem to soak up the fire. If anything it could be spicier if that's what you like.
• Fold in the onions. Mix thoroughly to coat the onions with the tomato mixture. If you have time refrigerate the red onion chutney for about an hour to mellow the flavours. It's good right away. It's a little better after it sits for a while. Taste it right before you are ready to serve and adjust the salt.
• Combine all the ingredients except the milk in a small bowl. Stir it up. Now decide if you like the texture.
• If you want it thinner add some milk, a teaspoon at a time, until you get to your desired consistency. Taste and adjust salt.
• Have your red onion chutney and mint raita ready to go before you start cooking papadum. Papadum do not taste good once they cool too much. They are great hot. They are not great cold. Trust me on this one. Nobody will like cold papadum.
• Pick a skillet a little bigger than the papadum. 10 inch diameter is about perfect. Bigger is OK but it takes more oil.
• A good set of tongs is essential here. Have them ready when you start cooking.
• Pour enough oil into your pan to get it about 1/2 inch deep. Heat your oil to around 350F. Use a thermometer. Guessing never works well. If you must guess you want your papadum to cook in about 8-10 seconds and not wind up too brown. Thermometers are way easier. Better food through science.
• Have a plate with some paper towel on it nearby. You are going to need to have it close to the pan or you are going to drip oil everywhere.
• Slip a papadum into the oil. It will start to curl and cook immediately. After around 4-5 seconds grab it with your tongs and flip it. It will be pretty solid so this should be easy. Cook another 3-5 seconds. Grab one edge of the papadum and hold it vertically above the oil to drain a bit.
• Transfer the cooked papadum to the plate with the tongs. I like to have my tongs in my dominant hand and the plate in my other hand when I do this.
• Repeat no more than 6 times. Don't serve cold papdum. Just don't do it. Have I mentioned that?
• Serve the papadum with the red onion chutney and mint raita. Let your guests decide what they want to put on their papadum.

ONION BHAJIS

Steps:

• Slice the onion(s) into thin strips - make them as thin as you can
• Then, in a bowl combine the flour and spices
• Add water, 1 tbsp at a time, until a thick batter is formed
• Add the sliced onions into the batter and mix to thoroughly coat each piece
• Next, pour oil into a deep-frying pan, to cover the bottom of the pan
• Heat oil to 190C - test this by dropping a little bit of the batter into the oil, it should rise to the top and bubble. Once this happens, take a tbsp of the bhaji mix and drop it into the oil, one at a time, to form the bhajis
• Cook each bhaji for 2 minutes on each side
• Once browned and cooked, remove from the oil and turn the heat off
• Place the bhajis on some kitchen roll to drain off any excess oil
• Serve with dips as a starter, or alongside curry for a delicious side dish