Batatyachya Kachrya or Potato Chips – Konkan style

For those less conversant with  Maharashtrian or coastal Indian Konkani food, let me translate. Kachryaa is the name for vegetable chips from my part of the world. If you say comfort food, then dal, rice and kachryaa (chips) of some sort come to my mind. Mom made quite a few of these from various kinds of vegetables- raw banana, yam, potato, ladyfinger , pumpkin or butternut squash- you name it. The addition of kachryaa just made the meal that much more special. Today,  I can say that it is my trusted way of making my reluctant kid eat his vegetables. Do try them, I promise you will be hooked.

Ingredients

• Potatoes- 2-3 medium sized
• Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
• Chili powder- 1/2 tsp
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Flour to coat- approx 1/2 cup ( Rice flour / Whole wheat flour)

Method

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Slice the vegetables to about 1/2 cm thickness. Too thin and then chips become hard and too much thickness, might need more time to cook. With practice, one does get the thickness right.

Now, wash the potatoes, drain the excess water.  Sprinkle the turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt on it. Leave for about 8-10 minutes, so that the potatoes absorb all the flavours. If you leave them too long, the salt extracts water from the potatoes and the salt is washed off.. they just don’t tatste as good. In about 10 minutes, you will notice the surface of the potatoes getting moist , like in the picture.

Put the flour on a plate. I think rice flour tastes best, although a good substitute is whole wheat flour. Sometimes a couple of tsp of rawa or semolina is aded to the whole wheat flour to make it more crunchy. Do use what you have in the larder. Do not feel compelled to buy a particular flour, or handicapped by the lack of it. One could even use plain flour or maida, but the cover, then, is not as crisp. Keep a frying pan on the gas, heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in it and swirl it around. Coat the potato slice on both sides by dipping in the flour, making sure most of the surface gets coated.

Shake off the excess flour and continue the process till you have a few slices to fry.

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Pop the slices onto the frying pan and cook on both sides till golden brown. The process should take about 2-3 minutes on each side.

Serve with any meal- Indian or otherwise.