Topic: Flat Poppadoms...???

[Davemcurry]

Hi everyone...my first question...and it's probably a stupid one, but here goes.

I can buy great raw poppadoms from my local Asian foodstore.  I drop these (one at a time, about 5 seconds each) into hot oil in a chip pan, but they always come out 3-dimensional, curling up at the edges.

My way round this has been to hurriedly sandwich each one between two sheets of kitchen roll on a board, and flatten them with a rolling pin just in the nick of time before they 'set'.

Has anyone any better ideas - BIR poppadoms are always almost totally flat...

Cheers

Dave

[gazman1976]

Hi dave - i make mine in my wok - hot oil and use 2 items to hold under the oil for 5 seconds max each side - this way i control the way they expand - so they are flat - 2 items i use are normal kitchen utensils -

[Curry Barking Mad]

Hi Dave,
I have watched the method in my local kitchen,
They will use a large wok and add the poppadoms two at a time, to the hot oil.
Before they are fully cooked they turn them over and finish for a few more seconds,
they then place the poppadoms on a plate and use the weight of a pan lid to flatten them out, as you say, before they are set.
This works perfectly well when doing one at a time.
Regards,
Mick

[Stephen Lindsay]

I like my poppadoms to not be flat - better for scooping up pickles and dips!!!

[Peripatetic Phil]

I like my poppadoms to not be flat - better for scooping up pickles and dips!!!

Yep, I'd go along with that : wavy poppadom are much better than flat for holding lime pickle and onion salad.  Incidentally, apropos of poppadom, I have to revise my rating of the three Ghurka shops in Ashford (Kent) : today, only the further one along the Beaver Road had TRS Madras poppadom -- both of the other shops had the larger, thinner, one that I find impossible to fry satisfactorily.

** Phil.

[Razor]

Hi Dave,

I know exactly what you mean but as Achmal suggests, fry two together at the same  time.  I just hold them down with a spatula.  At first, they will try to curl over the spatual, then they will relax and flatten themselves, and when they do, they are done.

Hope that helps

Ray