Papadum

About

Make this Keto-friendly Indian-inspired recipe when you’re in need of a good, crispy snack to dip into a low-carb dip. Papadum is the perfect finger food for pleasing a crowd or when you need your snack cooked up super quick. This recipe is made in an air fryer, making the cooking process much simpler than the traditional method of frying in a pan over the stove. Traditional Papadum is made with a particular flour, called Urid, which is unfortunately not Keto. Use Bob’s Red Mill Paleo Baking Flour to make your Keto Papadum or a similar paleo flour. Almond flour has no elasticity to it, so it, unfortunately, will not make a very good substitute in this recipe. A little patience and gentle handling are needed while working with Papadum dough, so don’t be too hard on yourself as you go.

What Exactly Is Papadum?

Papadum is an Indian flatbread that is made either in wide circles to be broken apart or smaller, single-size circles, like this recipe. Flour made of lentils is the usual base of this recipe, but this can be a tricky flour to find in grocery stores. Papadum is commonly seasoned with cumin, but a variety of other seasonings can be added to your mix. To your personal taste, you can add garlic powder, onion powder, or even a little curry powder to your papadum. Papadum is rolled out into a paper-thin sheet before circles are cut out of it, and then the circles are dried out in the sun. Drying the papadum out in your oven will work just the same! You can fry the dried papadum in an air fryer, or you can fry them individually in coconut oil. Just make sure to add the coconut oil used to your food log if you choose to go that route.

Tips On Making Papadum

Kneading the dough, rolling out the dough, and handling the cut circles can all be a little tricky, but it just takes a little extra patience and care. When kneading your papadum dough, try putting a little pan spray or coconut oil on your hands to avoid the dough coming apart in your palms. The dough is tough and needs a lot of mixing for later. When rolling out the dough, use a Silpat if you have one available to you, or use parchment paper like suggested in the recipe directions. You can also grease your workspace with more coconut oil in a thin layer. When lifting your circles, use an icing spatula or the back of a knife to release the dough from your workspace. Chilling the dough beforehand will help keep the dough from getting too warm and sticking to your fingers.

Ingredients

1 cup paleo baking flour by bob's red mill
⅛ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon cumin, ground
2 tablespoon water

Instructions

In a bowl, combine all the dry ingredients, then stir in the water. Do not add any more water until you knead all the flour together into a flaky dough. Keep kneading the dough in the bowl with your hand until there isn’t any flour shaking off from the dough. Then, run a little water on your hands to keep them wet as you knead the dough more until you have a consistent, tough dough. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill in your refrigerator for 1 hour.
After chilling, take out the dough and roll it out between pieces of parchment paper. Roll the dough out as thin as you possibly can to under ⅛-inch thick. Traditionally, Papdum is rolled out paper-thin, so get as close to this as you can. Cut out approx. 3, 2 ½-inch circles per serving from the dough, and arrange the circles on a non-stick sheet tray. You can reroll your dough and cut out as many circles as you can. If some circles tear as you lift them, just use your fingers to gently smooth the tears back together. Set the tray of raw papadum in your oven to dry out overnight. Do not turn on your oven or cook them at all.
After at least 12 hours of drying out in the oven, you can fry your papadum. Preheat an air fryer to 350 degrees. Transfer the papadum to the air fryer trays if you haven’t done so already and bake in the air fryer for only 3-4 minutes. Enjoy right away while warm.