How to make spicy poppadoms from scratch


How to make spicy poppadoms from scratch


Making poppadoms are quite easy if you are used to baking and working with flour and rolling out. If not then still have a go and remember you need lots of flour on your hands, rolling pin and work surface to prevent sticking and make sure the surface is clean and dry. Mix a cup of flour with a little salt to taste and just enough water to make a stiff paste. Knead gently till it is worked into a stiff dough (1-2 minutes). Take a little at a time and roll out as thin as you can go. You may need a very thin sharp knife to peel the dough off the work surface. Deep fry in hot oil in small batches until they are golden brown. They will take longer to cook than dried shop bought poppadoms as the water content needs to be evaporated. Drain on kitchen roll and serve as usual!

Step One

Ingredients: 2 cups urid flour. 1/4 cup water. 3/4 tsp. salt. 1 tsp. whole cumin. coconut oil (for kneading and possibly deep frying). freshly ground black pepper to taste. garlic powder optional, to taste.

Step Two

Mix together all of your ingredients until the ingredients just come together. You want to end up with a stiff dough, so don't add in more water than you need to. You may want to adjust the dough for salt and other spices. I made my first batch with only salt and cumin, but then decided I wanted to add a bit more spice. I added garlic and black pepper to the next batch, but would love to try out more combinations next time. I think turmeric would be a great addition to these!

Step Three

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 used coconut oil.

Step Four

Take sections of the dough and roll them out on the countertop almost as thinly as possible. I used a round cookie cutter to make circular shaped papadums and then took each individual dough circle and tried to roll it out even thinner. (I found it easier to do it that way than to try to roll out all of the dough paper thin.)

Step Five

Once you have your poppadum circles ready, you'll want to dry them out so that you can store them. If it's sunny and warm out, you can dry them in the sun. If not, you can use a dehydrator or your oven at its lowest temperature. I used my oven with the fan on, and they dried pretty quickly. As they were drying, I set them aside to make room for new papadums.

Step Six

You are now ready to either store your papadums in an airtight container, or prepare them for eating.

Step Seven

To prepare your homemade papadums, you can broil them in the oven, puff them in the microwave or deep fry them. I tried all three methods, but my favorite was the deep fried ones. The deep fried papadums crisped up instantly in the hot oil, becoming light and crispy, much better than the ones from the store. The broiled and microwaved ones also crisped up quickly, but they weren't as light and flaky as the deep fried ones.

Step Eight

I followed the process and made homemade papadums with both types of flour. The urid flour made something very similar to the store bought papadums, but better. The lentil flour made a lentil cracker that wasn't as light as the homemade papadums. They were also good, but I liked the papadums better.

Step Nine

This is the homemade poppadom being compared with a store bought, larger poppadom. Even with as thin as I got mine, the store bought ones were slightly thinner. It didn't present a problem, though.


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