papads & papadum - spicy Indian crackers

papads or papadum are spicy Indian crackers. while spicy by American standards they are really bland and mild by Indian standards and most American can eat them.

papads are like the American food popcorn. you have to prepare the food before eating it. but as in the case of popping popcorn papads are very easy to cook.

when papads are cooked and ready to eat they look like Mexican tosado's. here is a papad that's ready to eat. Because the papads pop up after cooking the slang term popper is often used to refer to papads.

Papads come in packs of about 20. Each packet costs around $1, expect to pay more in small towns. This is a packet of my favorite flavor Punjabi Masala Papad's.

Papads come in many flavors. Plain (UDAD), garlic, red pepper, Punjabi Masala, and other flavors. Look at the label to find the flavor. The label on the right is an UDAD Papad a mild peppery papad. The label on the left is a Punjabi Masala Papad probably the spiciest of the papads.

Here is a picture of an UDAD and Punjabi Masala Papads ready to be cooked

Cooking Papads

Papads can be cooked several ways.

Microwave ovens.
On your gas or electric stove top
In oil like French fries

Microwave cooking

Put 1 papad in the microwave oven.
Start out and cook the papad for 15 seconds. Stop the oven and flip the papad to the other side and cook for 15 more seconds. Some low powered ovens need a total of 60 seconds to cook the papad. 30 seconds on each side.
Microwave ovens that have a plate that rotates the food are better for cooking papads.
Some microwave ovens just cant cook papads. If this happens try a different brand microwave oven.

Cooking papads on a gas stove

every Indian will tell you a different way to cook the papad on a gas stove but here is one way.

grap the papad with some tongs. this keeps you from burning your fingers.
only cook one third of the papad at a time.
turn the burner up all the way. if you have problems lower the heat.
hold one third of the papad over the flames. i usually move the papad around in a circular motion so that it heats evenly.
every second or so flip the papad over and cook the other side. vary the time until you get it right. times vary. may need to flip the papad every half second or every 2 seconds.
after one third of the papad is cooked grab the papad with your tongs at a new location and cook another third of the papad.
it usually takes me 30 seconds to fully cook each papad. although this varies by flavor and brand. UDAD papads cook quickest and PUNJABI MASALA papads cook longest.
indian grocery stores sell a metal screen you can place over either a gas or electric burner to make cooking the papad easier. buy one. do a little social engineering and ask the sales person the best way to cook papads.

Cooking papads on an electric stove

The main difference is on an electric stove you have to find the best temperature to set the burner too. on some stove i cook with the burner set to high. on other stoves i use a lower setting. play with it.

I think its much easier to cook papads on a gas stove when you start out. But now its easy on either gas or electric but i prefer a gas stove.

Cooking papads in oil

Indian restaurants usually cook their papads in vegetable oil like we American cook French fries. Ask the person at the Indian grocery store how to cook them.

Papad storage

In India where Papads come from they don't have much cooling so you can store papads anywhere. But in the hot dry deserts of Arizona where I live the papads will dry out and they wont pop right if i leave them out in the dry desert air. I store my papads in the freezer until I'm ready to cook them.

Chutney

The best i can say is Chutney is stuff you put on your food. Sometimes its hot, sometimes its sweet. Sometimes its hot and sweet.

Mint Chutney

Papads are usually served with a mint chutney. The mint chutney is spread on top of the papads like an American would spread jelly on bread.

Mint chutney is made with mint leaves and jalapeno or other peppers. While its not hot by Indian standards many Americans who are used to eating bland food may thing its too hot.

You can buy mint chutney at any Indian grocery store. But making it is much cheaper. when i get around to it ill put a recipe for mint chutney here.

Fiery Sour Cream Chutney

here is a recipe for a fiery chutney i make to put on papad's

8 ounce container of sour cream
2.25 ounce dry packet of Lipton Onion Soup or other soup mix
2, 3, 4, maybe 5 chile tepin peppers (add 20 chile tepin peppers if you like it hot like me)

grind the chile tepin peppers to a fine powder in an electric blender. or crush then to a fine powder in a mortar with a pestle. SEE Warnings

Mix the sour cream, soup mix, and ground chile tepin peppers.

WARNINGS:

dont touch your eyes after touching the chile tepin peppers. YOUR EYES WILL BE BURNED!
Be very careful when grinding up the chile tepin peppers that it doesn't spill and get into your eyes. YOUR EYES WILL BE BURNED!

Useless information

If you go to an American grocery like Frys, Smittys, Safeway, Smiths, Price Club, WalMart the prices for spices are an outrages rip off. I suspect this is because American use spices in very small quantifies and thus the laws of supply and demand kick in.

Quite the opposite is true when you go to one of those Indian, Arabic, middle eastern, Chinese, Japanese, or Korean grocery stores. SPICES ARE DIRT CHEEP. Its not even a fair fight. In this example the American groceries stores prices are consistently 10 times higher then the Indian groceries stores prices.

spice name indian grocery store ¹ price albertsons ² price

ginger $5/pound $56.64/pound $3.54/ounce

paprika $6.37/pound $2.79 - 7 ounces $31.52/pound $1.97/ounce

turmeric $5.14/pound $2.25 - 7 ounces $55.84/pound $3.49/ounce

fennel $4.54/pound $1.99 - 7 ounces $37.12/pound $2.32/ounce

mustard seeds $4.99/pound $29.12/pound $1.82/ounce

mace $18.24/pound $3.99 3 1/2 ounces

cumin $58.40 $3.65/ounce

¹ India food & gifts on grant & 1st avenue in tucson Arizona

² albertsons, glen & Campbell Ave. in tucson Arizona 1) use calculator to calculate the rest of the prices 2) add the calculator to lmy my legal help page so i la always chave a calculator www.squarebox.co.uk/desktop/ caculator

Michael Di Ross