On a recent trip back through GA, we stopped at my favorite little Indian store in Macon, and the man there had a piece of udad he wanted me to try: it’s a small, round little . . . tortilla-like cake which he nuked for 60 seconds to make a small, crispy, wafer-thin delite. His was plain, but he also let me try a black pepper one–very spicy and damned tasty! I bought four packages, knowing that at a minimum I’d have a good microwaveable snack.
The question: what else can I make with them? How does one typically eat udad, or what do you eat them with (if anything)? They’re tasty enough to stand alone, at least on my palate, but I’m wondering if I can fold them somehow to make like a crepe or taco-shaped thing full of say, cheese or salsa. Do I have to moisten them down to be able to fold them without breaking them?
I think what you have there is an Indian food item more generally known as papad or papadum which happens to be made out of the legume known as udad (or urad) dal.
Do not even think of destroying the divine brittlecrispycrunch of papadum by trying to moisten and fold them, or you will be reborn as a termite. If you want to make a sort of Indian equivalent of a crepe or taco, use a chapati or dosa.
Generally you eat papadum like chips with or without a dip or topping (chutney, cachumber salad, various yogurt relishes, whatever). But if you must make containers out of them, you can roll or fold them before frying/microwaving them to make crispy taco-shell-like shells, or use them uncooked to make something more like a tortilla.
YES! Those are what I have. The fellow didn’t tell me their name, but I gleaned from the labels they were three different types of “udad.” But I see they’re actually papad. Thank you for the clarification!
My favorite is diced raw onions and diced raw tomatoes, with a little salt and pepper on top of either roasted or fried. Add a little green pepper (the spicy one you get at Indian stores) for spice.
In England the Indian restaurants and takeaways serve them as a complementary dish to be eaten alongside the main meal. A curry just wouldn’t be the same without papadums.
Oh, and if you have a gas stove (fire), just put it directly on the fire to roast (turn it every second, till done). We used to do this by hand as kids, but you should probably use a tweezer or something. I’ve never eaten them micro-waved, but I’m assuming they won’t taste as good as straight off the fire.
Well, I don’t have a gas stove or other available fire. . . but next time I do, I will. Is a gas grill too much (if I keep it on low)? Microwaving is the easiest and quickest for me–and damn they are good. Thanks for the clarification.