Canned Papdums ?

[goboatingnow]

I remember a snack sold in the South of France by street vendors who mix up a batter with chickpea flour and cook it on steel drums

Thats Socca, a local food from the NICE area

Dave

[savoir]

It's barely different to making tortillas - just different flour and thinner.

Putting all of black pepper, cayenne, cumin and garlic in the one mix might not be so good. Your mouth will feel like it's on a conference call in Swahili. Try them one at a time until you work out which you prefer.

[Curmudgeon]

Thanks for the recipe, but how do you get them thin enough? Also, instead of frying them in oil, can you brush them lightly and use a microwave? And in eiither event, what kind of oil should be used? The recipe doesn't say.

[JanetGroene]

I have just two words for all you guys. Yum Yum.

Thanksamillion

[goboatingnow]

Theres two parts to pappadums, firstly cooking the raw mixture which is done in an oven and then theres the frying to produce the poppadum.

any oil will do , olive, vegatable.

Yes you can do them in the microwave, lighly brush with oil, put a piece of kitchen paper under them in the microwave to absorb mositure. I find they are not quite as crispy as fried ones. You can also microwave them without any oil. ( calories dont you know)

Keep them in an airtight sealed container as they aborb moisture and go soggy , though a trip into the oven does wonders

Dave

[MermaidMuse]

I've seen raw pappadam sold in cans with a resealable lid in India and Malayasia. Everywhere else they seem to be sold in plastic/cellophane packaging.

If you don't want to fry your papadam, another traditional way to prepare them is by holding them over the flame of your cooker. You can use tongs, but that gets a bit tricky as they get soft while cooking so you have to keep them moving over the flame to avoid burning. I bent a wire hanger into a "U" shape and use that as a rack to hold the papadam (or chapati) over the flame. On land I bake the papadam in the toaster oven. Pull them out just as they are starting to colour up. Quick and easy that way.

Papadam can also be used as noodles in a soup. When we make "Papar shorba", we make a soup broth of green chilis, ginger root, blanched almonds, tomatoes, bell pepper with cumin, coriander, tumeric and salt. When the broth is done, we cut up the papadam into ribbons (cut them up in humid climate, break them up in dry climate) and toss them into the soup and simmer for a minute. Add chopped cilantro just before serving. The hing in the pappadam will add flavour to the broth as well.

I've only seen commercial pappadam made from urad dal (lentil that is black on outside and white on inside). Urad dal is much stickier in texture than chickpeas which allows them to be rolled out much thinner.

[nosinglesource]

MermaidMuse, thanks for the soup idea...I LOVE papad! It also never occurred to me to try baking them in the toaster oven...I shall certainly try that.

I *have* had canned papadums, but I didn't find they were really the same at all as the freshly fried ones I had come to adore. Texture and taste were both different.. We like using peanut oil to fry ours in as it has a high smoke point compared to others, such as olive.