Vegetable Chips
Difficulty level easy
YIELD Serves 2
Though Sara wrote about making potato chips a few weeks ago, I'm going to give you another way of making chips, and one with a slight variation: vegetable chips! Veggie chips are great because you get more than just potatoes: any solid vegetable can be made into a chip! I made it with beets, zucchini, turnip, and carrot, and sweet potato (and a regular potato, just to be sneaky!) but you could use anything: parsnips, pepper, and anything else that can be sliced on a mandolin. I stared longingly at my cauliflower (my absolute favourite vegetable), but somehow I thought it might not work as well. There are a lot of summer vegetables that work very well with this recipe, but it would also be great in the doldrums of winter when all you have to eat is parsnip: hey, why not fry it?
This recipe involves frying instead of baking because lets face it: you want chips. You are in it for the fat and the salt. But with this recipe, you can do it on your own terms: the amount of salt and fat you want, without the preservatives.
INGREDIENTS
| 1 | potato |
| ½ | a sweet potato |
| 1 | small turnip |
| 1 | beet |
| ½ | a large carrot |
| ½ | a small zucchini |
| Vegetable oil | |
| Salt and pepper to taste | |
PREPARATION:
- Slice your vegetables on a mandolin to the desired thickness. I like my chips a little bit thicker because I find the vegetables keep their shape a bit better and don't burn as easily, but you can definitely make them thin if you want. Be aware that a lot of the chips will shrink to about 1/3 of their size: so if it looks like you have way too many vegetables cut, you've probably got the right amount.
- Put ½ an inch or so vegetable oil in a frying pan and turn the heat to medium. Place a single vegetable slice in the pan to see if the oil is hot enough. Cook each type of vegetable together, as you may have to change the temperature a bit for different vegetables. When the edges of the slices start to brown, flip them over. When they are nicely browned, take them out place them on a dish towel.
- Fry the softer vegetables a second time. I found that the only one that really needed it was the zucchini, but if you like your chips super crispy then go ahead and fry them again!
- Toss all of the chips in a bowl with salt and pepper. Then enjoy!
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