making potato chips

Jihva for Ingredients is being hosted this month by Happy Burp. Jihvā is the Sanskrit word for taste, desire and deep longing. Italso represents tongue and taste buds. Jihvā for Ingredients was started by Indira of Mahanandi who believes that for Jihvā to happen, it’s all in the ingredients and how they are cooked. Each month a new ingredient is selected and that ingredient is celebrated as well as what it can do for our Jihvā. This month the ingredient is potatoes.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to highlight potatoes until I saw this article on Slashfood about making potato chips in the microwave. I was somewhat skeptical, but thought I should try it so that I could prove them wrong. If you could make chips in the microwave, I should have known about it. Well after a little testing it has become clear to me that someone forgot to send me the memo that chips were so easy to make. I discovered this by following the Slashfood link to Nic’s blog, Bakingsheet to see how she made her chips as she claimed they were quite good. It was super easy too, all you do is slice your potato, salt it, lay the slices in a single layer on a dish and microwave for about 4-6 minutes. Presto- chips! As an added bonus you can flavour the chips any way you’d like. Or at least with whatever spices you’d like, I’ll have to experiment with some other flavours to see what works and what doesn’t.

Eventually I’d like to recreate my favourite chips, Kettle Brand Chips’ Spicy Thai. I love it. It’s gingery and sweet and salty all in one, and it’s fantastic. I wanted to start off with something a little easier though, so I sliced the potatoes on my mandoline and then sprinkled them with salt, sugar, paprika and cumin. That’s the same mix I use on popcorn and I really like it. I was shocked when I pulled the potato slices out of the microwave and they were actually crispy! I had made chips in 5 minutes, without any oil and very little effort. As far as I’m concerned, this is important information that every chip addict should know. I’m no longer at the mercy of the corner store for chips and you don’t have to be either!