Chickpea Chips
Crunchy and delicious ribbon chips for guilt free snacking!
Chickpea chips is a catchy name that I came up with for the common south Indian snack “pakkavada”. Pakkavada is a popular snack that can be seen across the southern part of India that is prepared using rice flour and chickpea flour. It is also known as ribbon pakkoda (pakkoda refers to anything fried in dough) due to its shape. It is most commonly served as a tea time snack.
Most of the kids that I grew up with had a liking towards banana chips, savory mixture or egg puffs but I always had this as my favorite. I could go through a bag of these chips in just a few minutes while watching TV. I’d realize that I finished the whole bag when my hand came out of the bag empty. It is amazingly crunchy and delicious making it a perfect accompaniment for tea.
I missed having this so much after moving to the US that I tried to make it on my own and realized that it is so easy to make! Homemade chickpea chips taste so much better than store-bought. I’ve often made these as an appetizer for my friends and it’s safe to say that there is a passionate fan-following for these chips.
My very dear friend Sue often asks me to start a business to sell these as a healthy alternate to potato chips as more and more people are looking to make healthier selections. She calls them healthy as these chips are made from chickpea flour. I’m not so sure about tagging them as healthy since they’re deep fried in oil. Maybe I could deep fry in coconut oil like we traditionally do back home. Although I use coconut oil for most of my cooking I find it really expensive to use coconut oil for deep frying and instead use vegetable oil as a substitute.
If you’d like to skip the optional flavoring, simply avoid the ingredients under the Flavor blend and skip the first step in the directions. This is also my first time posting a recipe with step-by-step pictures to fulfil a sweet request from our lovely, adorable friends Pipe and Romy who love this snack.
Chickpea flour is rich in vitamins and minerals, contain antioxidants, has fewer carbs and calories and yet richer in protein and fiber compared to regular flour. It is also suitable for people with gluten intolerance, or wheat allergy.
Where can I find chickpea flour?
Chickpea flour is the star ingredient in this recipe and is available under the name ‘Besan’ in all Indian stores. I am sure you can find this on Amazon as well. If it is still hard to find, you can make it at home (see below).
How can I make chickpea flour at home?
Put raw, dried garbanzo beans in a high-powered blender and blend the chickpeas (garbanzo beans) for roughly 2 minutes until it reaches the fine flour-like consistency. Sieve the flour to remove any lumps. You may store it in an airtight container for 5-6 weeks.
What equipment do I need?
Chickpea chips/ Pakkavada is easy to make but you need a special press (sev press) to make them. I found that you can buy them on Amazon (search for “sev maker” or “sev press”) or you can find it in most Indian stores.
Add the ingredients for flavor blend in a blender and mix well. Extract the juice with the help of a sieve. Add this to the dry ingredients while making the dough. This step is optional.
Sift the dry ingredients (chickpea flour, rice flour, paprika/kashmiri chili powder and salt) and mix well. Add water slowly in stages, to form a soft dough (you can add the flavored water from step 1 here instead of plain water, if you prefer to flavor the chips). Taste and check for salt.
Place the ribbon disc or mould in chips maker (sev maker) and fill the press with the dough.
Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan at medium heat. Test the readiness of the oil by dropping a very small amount of dough. If it immediately sizzles and arises to the top, your oil is hot and ready for frying.
Lower the heat and squeeze the dough carefully into the hot oil in circles. Do not overcrowd the pan. Turn the heat to medium-high and fry until golden brown flipping to the other side in between.
It should not take more than 3 – 4 minutes for the dough to be completely fried, and an easy visual check is to look for the oil to not bubble as much. (Remember to lower the heat when you are pressing the dough into the hot oil and to turn it back to medium high for frying each time)
Use a slotted spoon to drain the fried dough on to a colander with paper towel to soak excess oil.
Repeat steps 4-6 until all the dough is done.
Once cooled, break into smaller pieces and store in air-tight containers. The size of the chips may vary depending on the disc used in the chips maker.
(Optional) You can fry curry leaves in the hot oil and use them to garnish the chips.
Thank you for trying this with me!
I’d love to see it on Instagram! Just use the hashtag #ttwmblog and I’ll be sure to find it.
Ingredients
Directions
Add the ingredients for flavor blend in a blender and mix well. Extract the juice with the help of a sieve. Add this to the dry ingredients while making the dough. This step is optional.
Sift the dry ingredients (chickpea flour, rice flour, paprika/kashmiri chili powder and salt) and mix well. Add water slowly in stages, to form a soft dough (you can add the flavored water from step 1 here instead of plain water, if you prefer to flavor the chips). Taste and check for salt.
Place the ribbon disc or mould in chips maker (sev maker) and fill the press with the dough.
Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan at medium heat. Test the readiness of the oil by dropping a very small amount of dough. If it immediately sizzles and arises to the top, your oil is hot and ready for frying.
Lower the heat and squeeze the dough carefully into the hot oil in circles. Do not overcrowd the pan. Turn the heat to medium-high and fry until golden brown flipping to the other side in between.
It should not take more than 3 – 4 minutes for the dough to be completely fried, and an easy visual check is to look for the oil to not bubble as much. (Remember to lower the heat when you are pressing the dough into the hot oil and to turn it back to medium high for frying each time)
Use a slotted spoon to drain the fried dough on to a colander with paper towel to soak excess oil.
Repeat steps 4-6 until all the dough is done.
Once cooled, break into smaller pieces and store in air-tight containers. The size of the chips may vary depending on the disc used in the chips maker.
(Optional) You can fry curry leaves in the hot oil and use them to garnish the chips.