Snack Review: Baji’s Papadums
Papadams (or papadum or pappadom – given that there are hundreds of languages in India there are probably at least a dozen ways to pronounce it that are correct somewhere) are those spicy cracker-like things that they often bring before your meal at an Indian restaurant. I was attracted to these chips first of all because I like papadams, but also because my latest favorite chip reminded me of papadams, as I will explain, in utterly fascinating detail, with illustrations, below.
If you’ve only had them in a restaurant, you don’t know the really cool thing about papadums. If you live near an Indian grocery, you can buy a package to cook at home. In their raw state, they are very odd, almost like semi-transparent plastic – you can see my fingers through the one in the picture:
When raw, they fall to pieces at the slightest touch, and they definitely don’t give the impression of something edible.
But when you put them in the toaster oven (BRIEFLY, as they burn quickly) they magically turn opaque, completely change their texture to something sturdier and crispy and, crucially, food-like, and get little bubbles all over them:
So that’s why the Trader Joe’s Puffed Potato Chips reminded me of papadams. The texture is not as crisp, but they also have little bubbles all over them:
So, I already like papadums; I love those Trader Joe’s chips; the idea of something like that, like the chips but spicier, like papadams except ready-to-eat and therefore unlikely to set the house on fire in a moment of inattention… I couldn’t wait!
But the moment I opened the bag, I saw that there was a problem. The chips on the outside of the bag, in the illustration, have the little bubbles. But the chips inside the bag don’t:
So, as you can imagine, these were a big disappointment. The texture is a huge part of the enjoyment of papadums. These aren’t at all similar, and have nothing interesting in what texture that they do have to make up for it.
I’m not even going to finish this bag - I’m going to toss it out and finish that bag of Trader Joe’s that I had to open for the photo. (Such a sacrifice!) The spices on them weren’t too bad, although they were oddly sweet. But they were nothing like papadums! The Trader Joe’s potato chips were more like papadums! So there is obviously no technological barrier to making these have the little bubbles all over them, at least. And they looked like that in the picture! So Baji’s, what is your excuse for leading me on and then breaking my heart?
Buy Baji’s Papadums Online:
- at Amazon.com
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