Didu’s alu chips…Baked not fried

The other day I came back from work and was faced with a rather boring dinner.

Rice, daal and methi.

It was a dinner of my choosing but then I thought I could be a bit less strict on myself.

I decided to bake some potatoes to go with dinner. I peeled potatoes and was about to cube them and sprinkle some salt and pepper when I suddenly remembered something from my growing up days.

The alu chips that Didu, my maternal grandmother, used to make when we stayed at my grandparents’ place for a while.

She would slice potatoes, smear them with masalas and deep fry them and you had crunchy home made potato chips to go with dinner.

That gave me an idea on what I could do that night.

I sliced the potatoes and smeared then with a touch of turmeric, red chilli powder and black pepper powder and salt and then drizzled a touch of olive oil (1 teaspoon for 4,5 potatoes) and mixed it all with my hands.

I heated the oven for 10 min at 150 C and then layered the potatoes on a tray and put it in the oven for 8 min.

Then I took the tray out, carefully turned each potato slice over and put the tray in for another 8 minutes at 150 C.

The chips were done. I opened the oven and took out the tray and let it be in the open for about 5 minutes so that the potatoes became firm and slightly crisp.

And there, I had made Didu’s alu chips in the oven.

The end effect…crisp on the outside and lovingly soft and starchy and grandmomish inside with a distinct taste of Didu’s cooking even if I say so many many years after I had last had these chips.

Of course the thinner the slices of potatoes the crisper it will be. Someone saw the pic on twitter and said her granny used to make this too. She also pointed out that our grannies used to soak the sliced potatoes in salt and turmeric water for a while for the potatoes to be crisper.

You could try that.

Talking of Didu, did you see the 86 year old Queen of England come to the opening ceremony at the Olympics with James Bond?

Well Didu is 84 now and I am sure she would look quite dapper walking down with Daniel Craig too.

 

Caveat: I have no idea how Didu used to actually make them so I am guessing. Will call and ask her.