Papad / Papadam / Papod / Poppadom

[Suvir Saran]

Papadam ( Papad) are round lentil-bean wafers. These are made with the flour of lentils or beans and have spices in them.

These are a great "finger food" as they were called in the British style clubs. As one lounged around these clubs in the evenings, sipping Gin and Tonic, papad would be the munchie of choice.

What we see in restaurants today, the service of papad with condiments, is not truly Indian. I am not certain where it began, but certainly not in India.

Papads are available in most Indian stores. You get them dry in packages. Either plain or spiced. Some are large discs, other very small. Some of the very small ones are meant to be deep fried. In the North of India, we most often roast them on the stove top, or in restaurants over a grill placed atop a tandoor.

They are eaten with Indian meals to add a texture and new flavor to the complex meal. The crunchiness and savory taste provided by Papad to even the most humble meals is a winning addition.

Papad were traditionally made at home. It is easy but a very laborious method I am told. And also requires large hours of sunshine. The doughs made with the various choices of flours are very soft when being rolled but become brittle and dry as they are left out in the sun over muslin sheets to dry before being packaged.

If you are deep frying papad, make sure you have at least 3-4 inches of oil in the deep fryer. The entire process of cooking a papad in this method takes no more than a few seconds. You must heat the oil to 375?F and then fry the papad. Remove using a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

To dry roast papad, use flat tongs and hold the papad with them over the flame. Turn the papad quickly and frequently to cook them evenly. Always rememebring that there should be few if any black spots. Thus the frequent turning. As soon as the papad changes color and begins to curl at the edges, it is done. Make sure t hat the center of the papad is also cooked and has changed color.

I have had reasonable success with cooking Papad in the microwave. The time it takes depends on your oven. It can take anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute. But it requires a lot of careful watching and errors before you figure out the best timing and way to do it.

[rich]

I have seen so many spellings for this, the first time I bought them I asked three times if it was the same item. I will use papad from now on because it's shorter to spell.

I prefer the roasted flavor and it's fun to make them that way. Papads have intense flavor and are preferable to tortilla chips. But best of all, I use them with asian gucamole - made with scallions, wasabi, lime juice and red chili flakes. The flavor combo is spectacular.

[Suzanne F]

I used to work with a chef, Gary Robins, who used pappadums as a garnish on some of his dishes. One I particularly remember was yin-yang presentation of two cold melon soups (honeydew and canteloupe), with some tandoori-style marinated grilled shrimp placed on top of some deep-fried pappadum chips floated on top. We would have to cut the pappadums into small circles, no bigger than 2" diameter, before we fried them.

I never thought to try to make them at home. Where might I find a recipe? (They are so much tastier to munch on than almost anything else!)

[Suvir Saran]

Recipe is above Suzanne F.

Buy whatever kind you want to buy at an Indian grocer or even the internet. At www.namaste.com

Just deep fry them reading the first post above or roast them or even grill them outdoors or cook them in the microwave. They are very easy to make.

[Suvir Saran]

I just remembered a papa recipe I would make as a 9 or 10 year old. It was delicious.

I learned it from a family friend. She passed away after a long battle with cancer at the age of 39 or 40. Her son and I were best friends. Our parents were very close and old friends as well.

Sarla Aunty, as I would call her, was Anglo-Indian if I remember correctly. Her son was Golu, my great pal. They were neighbors of ours. In that they lived very close to our home. Our fathers had been in high-school together. Our mothers took singing lessons together. And Golu and I were in the same class.

When Aunty was diagnosed with Cancer, I saw myself spending a lot of time in their home. They were vegetarian and marwaris and mewari by birth. This meant that they had great Rajasthani roots. Most of the food they cooked were redolent of that areas history and culture. There was always a very austere look to the dishes but everything was served in High style. While the food may have been simple for it was created by people with limited resources in terms of produce, it was served and eaten in great style and setting. Rajasthan is mostly a dessert state. While today one can find all kinds of things available easily, in the days of past, people had developed a rich cuisine using the locally available ingredients. It was amazing even though limited by options.

Papad are most famous from a city called Bikaner in Rajasthan. At Sarla Aunties, I would get papad unlike I have ever eaten. They were sent fresh from Bikaner. Made in some relatives home. These were large 10 or 12 inch diameter papad. The chef would roast them on the flame and then cut them in half. Each half would be then topped with a very small amount of onion, tomato and lemon juice salad. The salad was spread evenly around each half. Then the chef would make a Tarka (tempered oil) of ghee with heeng (asafetida) and red chile powder.

These became my favorite snack as I gave company to Golu who was young like me and grieving his mothers poor health. These papads made the evenings somewhat more fun even as we were keenly aware of seeing her go from being one of the most beautiful and energetic people into slowly getting consumed by what would finally take her away in that beautiful form into another that would be austere in some ways as the foods of the old Rajasthan.

But she left all her family and friends with great memories. In fact the papads are only a very small memory I have of her. She had grander and more important things she has affected in my life. But yes, thinking of papad, it would be a shame if I did not remember that wonderful and simple yet very exciting snack she brought into my world.

I feel blessed to have known her everytime I think of her and these papad. I also think of her many other times... May she be in peace.

May each of you enjoy this simple recipe.

Note: For the onion-tomato and Lemon juice salad, just chop the onions and tomatoes as finely as y ou can. Add some very finely chopped cilantro leaves and green chile to it. Toss with lemon juice and maybe even some freshly ground black peppercorn. Do not use any salt or it will make the salad watery. You can sprinkle some salt at the very end over the papad and salad that have been finished with the tempered oil.

[tommy]

i was going to post a question on the best way to "cook" store bought papad, but, of course, it was all answered here in suvir's first post.

i'm leaning towards the microwave method, as i don't want to deal with deep frying or stovetop. has anyone had any success with this method? the woman at the indian grocery store told me that it's fast and easy and yields good results.

[hollywood]

Just came from a hole in the wall Indian place where they let me watch my naan cooking against the wall of the tandoori oven. Yes.

[Blondie]

i'm leaning towards the microwave method, as i don't want to deal with deep frying or stovetop.  has anyone had any success with this method?  the woman at the indian grocery store told me that it's fast and easy and yields good results.

I've gotten good results nuking the larger ones for 30 seconds.

[tommy]

I've gotten good results nuking the larger ones for 30 seconds.

cool. i just tried it. cut up the papadum first to make small pieces (as is required by the dish i'm making) and 45-60 seconds worked out great in the microwave.

thanks

Edited January 26, 2003 by tommy (log)

[Suvir Saran]

What dish are you making Tommy?

And yes nuking works just fine. One has to be careful about timing, they can burn very quickly that way.

[tommy]

suvir, i'm putting spicy tuna on top of the papadum. it's an hors d'oeuvre.

[Sandra Levine]

Years ago, before pappadum were well known among my friends, I liked serving them as a cocktail snack. They wre always well received. When I make them, I just heat them up in a dry pan until the color changes and they become crisp all over. It takes only a few seconds. BTW, pappadum are great with cava or Champagne.

[A Scottish Chef]

i don't want to deal with deep frying or stovetop.  has anyone had any success with this method?

An easy way to make the popadoms at home.

You'll need;

A Wok.

2l of oil with a high smoke point, perhaps sunflower or peanut oil.

A pair of tongs.

A carving fork.

A basket lined with absorbant kitchen paper

Focused attention on the task in hand - do not mess around with oils at this temperature! It's a useful idea to turn the handle of the wok to one side, away from your stomach, so as not to accidentally knock it.

Heat the oil in the wok until it just begins to smoke.

Break one popadum and drop a piece into the oil - if it expands almost instantly the oil is hot enough.

Pick up a popdom with the tongs ( in your favoured hand), have the carving fork ready in the other hand.

Place the popadom into the centre of the oil, release and start spinning and easing it into a circular shape with your tong and fork.

Clasp the popadom and turn it in the oil and finish the shaping by dragging it out of the oil, up the side of the wok. You'll have about two seconds of reasonable flexibility still in the popadom to get the ideal result. This is why I find a wok so useful, the curved sides are perfect for the last moment forming of the popadom.

Place the finished popadom in a basket lined with the absorbant paper to cool ready for eating. They will keep well in an airtight container for a few days, too.

Be quick (the whole process takes less than ten seconds), but focus on safety until you are comfortable and confident with this technique. A mis-shaped popadom tastes every bit as good as a perfectly formed one provided you don't burn them. But, a burnt popadom is always better than a burnt you. They cost pennies so don't fret about perfecting your technique via experimentation.

I just love popadoms. I can't get enough of the airy, light, nutty flavours they offer.

Don't discard the oil - it now has an interesting additional flavour. While it is cooling, add a large peeled garlic clove, an eqaul sized piece of peeled ginger and a teaspoon of mixed peppercorns - removing the garlic and ginger when they starts to brown. Strain the oil to remove the peppercorns and bottle is when fuly cooled. Instant seasoned oil that's ideal for stir fry's or for use in marinades.

Edited February 7, 2003 by A Scottish Chef (log)

[rstarobi]

A Wok.

Do you use a Chinese wok, or an Indian one? Does it matter?

[A Scottish Chef]

Do you use a Chinese wok, or an Indian one?  Does it matter?

I use a chinese one for this. Typically far thinner and lighter than a karahi, (mostly made of heavy cast iron) they are easier to move confidantly with the oil and they tend to heat a little quicker. Similarly, they do not retain their heat so well and the oil cools after use quicker.

Either one will do the job provided the sides are deep enough.

[Suvir Saran]

I had some deep fried Papadoms in Denver the other day.

And now this thread... you are all so sweet.. Thanks for keeping this forum alive.

[Vanessa]

This thread reminded me that I had a passion for frying papads some time ago - I would buy all different kinds in Indian shops and try them out and still have some lurking at the back of the cupboard. I think one of the reasons I stopped was that I could never get all the oil off them after frying, however thoroughly I tried to absorb it with kitchen paper. My method was with the wok, pretty well as ASC describes but without worrying about the shape. Any thoughts?

v

[A Scottish Chef]

one of the reasons I stopped was that I could never get all the oil off them after frying, however thoroughly I tried to absorb it with kitchen paper.

I have had trouble on occasion with too much oil residue on the finished popadoms as well. The things I noticed that were creating the problem were as follows.

1. Not using completely fresh oil. With fresh oil you can see the popadom almost instantly dry seconds after removal from the wok. Conversly, pre-used oil almost always sees the popadom leave the wok with an unwelcome sheen of oil.

2. The oil not being hot enough. This will be a persistant problem with oils with a low smoking point.

3. The oil being too hot - as the oil burns and breaks down you can get quite terrible results. It's very important to be fast whilst making the popadoms as they reduce the heat of the oil slightly when dropped in. Ensuring you have all the popdooms you intend to make to hand will help you produce them quickly enough to control the oil temp by swift, repetitive slight cooling of the oil. If you aren't fast enough, you need to try and control the oil temp by adjusting the heat being applied to the wok. Predictably, this usually means the oil is persistantly not quite hot enough.

4. Not standing the popadoms in a basket/container so they were upright thus allowing any excess oil to run off the popadom.

5. Variable qaulity of the popadoms - the poorer ones have tended to retain excess oil on their surface in my experience. However, it's not the easiest trick to know what is going to produce poorer results just by looking at them.

Ideally, placing the popadom upright in absorbant paper should only be required to collect tiny amounts of residue. There should be no need to try and wipe the popadom or anything like that.

I hope this helps.

[Vanessa]

ASC - very helpful You are clearly a very experienced popadum fryer.

One question - how do you judge quality of them when purchasing?

v

[Sandra Levine]

N.B. Frying them is really unnecessary. See above.

[A Scottish Chef]

One question - how do you judge quality of them when purchasing?

Thats not such an easy question to answer. I've tried many, many varieties not all of them good. I currently use a brand simply called Madras which cost about £3.50 for 300.

I have found the morse expensive the popadom the better the result. But, really, I haven't found any that cost more than £4 for 200. They were good, but no better than the Madras ones I currently use.

[rstarobi]

One question - how do you judge quality of them when purchasing?

Thats not such an easy question to answer. I've tried many, many varieties not all of them good. I currently use a brand simply called Madras which cost about £3.50 for 300.

I have found the morse expensive the popadom the better the result. But, really, I haven't found any that cost more than £4 for 200. They were good, but no better than the Madras ones I currently use.

Kalustyan's has the Madras Pappadams for $2.99 for a 200 gram package in NYC (and they ship online as well).

[A Scottish Chef]

N.B.  Frying them is really unnecessary.

It's very necessary if you want deep fried popadoms

[Vanessa]

One question - how do you judge quality of them when purchasing?

Thats not such an easy question to answer. I've tried many, many varieties not all of them good. I currently use a brand simply called Madras which cost about £3.50 for 300.

I have found the morse expensive the popadom the better the result. But, really, I haven't found any that cost more than £4 for 200. They were good, but no better than the Madras ones I currently use.

Now I understand why Indian restaurants always try to foist papadoms onto the punter - just look at the profit margin

v

[jackal10]

Its not to hard to make these, for example Papad recipe.

Essentially you make a fairly firm dough, with or without spices, roll out thinly and leave to dry. If you are in a hot country you do this outside, here a very low oven or warm place works.

Anyone know what is the mechanism that coauses these to puff in heat? I don't believe its the evaporation of residual water, as the chips are bone dry to start. It must be some form of degradation of the starch. I guess its the same mechanism as for Indonesian kerupuk, prawn crackers, shrimp chips and other expanded starch based snacks.

El Bulli's new book has some fascinating versions.

Trivia: In the UK those made from potato or wheat starch are subject to VAT, while those made from tapioca etc are exempt.