In my search for something crunchy to put avocado on, and something to put pate on, I bought these two items. What do you think about them?

Pappadums
Brand: Patak's original (they come mild and black peppercorn)
10 to a box (not refrigerated)
ingredients: (lentil flour, rice flour, salt, tapioca starch, black pepper, spices, sunflower oil, sodium bicoarbonate
And the numbers:
2 pieces=1 serving
5 servings per box
Calories: 50
Fat: 0
Cholesterol: 0
Sodium: 530
Total Carb: 9
Dietary fiber: 2
Sugars: <1
Protein: 4

Rice crackers
Brand: Asain Gourmet several flavors; I got sesame)
54 to a box
3 servings per box
18 crackers = 1 serving (they're a little bigger than a silver dollar)
Ingredients: rice flour, palmoil, sesame seed, salt, sugar, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate
And the numbers:
Calories 133
Fat: 3.6 g
Sat fat: 1.8 g
Cholesterol: 0
Sodium: 141
Total carb: 23.3 (so 6 crackers would be <8 g)
Fiber: 0.3
Sugars: 0
Protein: 2

I haven't tasted either of them yet--will let yo know.

Ann at Howcross Castle

And the results are in.

(First off, the pork pate SUCKED. Smelled like dog food and was WAY too salty.)

Rice crackers
- Very nicely crunchy
- Tasted a little sweet (duh, read the ingedients)
- Made me want more crunchy non-sweet carbs--like toast crackers or something.

Pappadums
- Sucked
- Sucked
- Sucked

Thus endeth the experiment.

I'm craving something sweet like CRAZY.

Thus endeth the lesson.

Ann

Sounds like a bad test run.

Anything that makes you crave more sweet or carby item is definately NOT something you want in your diet.

But hey! At least now you know and won't be doing the "if only" thing.

If you're not a lover of indian food, you will definately not like pappadams - I, personally love them, but stay away, because I'd eat all of them - they are really nice dipped in very hot sauce. Sorry about your experience.

Vikki

I love Indian fod, which is why I thought these might be good. I tried the microwave instructions for cooking them (brush lightly with oil, nuke for <1 minute) but it was not good--they puffed up in a few little bubbles, the rest stayed totally flat and the whole thing got as hard as concrete. I didn't try cooking them in a pan with oil... might do that today... then again, I might just chalk this up to a bad idea and move on.

For me, there's nothing to beat putting pate and cheeses and spreads on pork rinds. They are crunchy and don't fight with the taste of most foods, even seafood pate, and best of all: NO CARBS!

Hi

Sorry your experiment went poorly. Live and learn. : )

Have you discovered WASA crackers? Some of them are a bit card-boardy in texture. I have recently found a lite sourdough flavor that has 5g carb a cracker. They are a nice treat when needing a little crunch or a sandwich type item. I believe there to be a fiber rye flavor that has 4g carb.

Hope this helps.

Nancy

You could try making cheese crisps. They're good just on their own too.

Or crunchy vegetables like cucmber, celery and radishes.

If you have a gas stove, you can hold the pappadum over the flame until it puffs.

Karen

A,

Those papadamas are great! but only when fried in oil in a pan... so when I started induction I gave the packages away......

Maybe later.....

Hmmmm......

I like the pork rinds idea! I will have to try that!

M-

Hi, I have great luck microwaving these - but without oil and only 1 at a time - I make keema(Indian taco meat sort of) and use them as tostada shells....but you do have to like the spicy stuff. If you have any Indian shops they have many varieties of pappadum.

Hi Claire - do you have a recipe for Keema - I love indian food!

Vikki

There's a recipe for kheema in Low-Carb Recipes at the top of the page

Karen

Hi, I lived with an Indian man for 3 years - who was a great cook. He taught me to like ground chicken! Here's the simple version I cook:

1 pound ground chicken cook in butter, crumble up -
Add spices: garam masala(available at Indian shops or blend your own with a combination of cumin,turmeric,chili powder, fenugreek,cinnamon,nutmeg,cloves, mustard powder) - cook for a few minutes to toast the spices and blend the flavors. Add salt and black pepper to taste. I usually use 4 tablespoons of garam masala - but you might start with 2 and work up to your taste.

Indians would put yogurt on this mix but I like it on pappadums with some sour cream - not for induction but still not over the top in carbs. The pappadum has 9-10 grams - and sour cream not much.