Papadum

Papadum

Jackfruit papad from Bengaluru
Alternative names	Papad, appadam, papar, pampad, happala, poppadam, poppadom, appalam
Place of origin	Indian Subcontinent
Region or state	South Asian with region variations
Main ingredients	Lentils, black gram, chickpeas, rice flour
Variations	Rice, tapioca (sabudana), or potato papad, masala pappad, garlic pappad, ginger pappad
Cookbook: Papadum  Media: Papadum

Papadum is a thin, crisp, disc-shaped food from the Indian subcontinent; typically based on a seasoned dough usually made from peeled black gram flour (urad flour), fried or cooked with dry heat. Flours made from other sources such as lentils, chickpeas, rice, tapioca, or potato can be used.

Papadums are typically served as an accompaniment to a meal in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka or as an appetizer or snack, sometimes with toppings such as chopped onions, chopped carrots, chutneys or other dips, and condiments. In certain parts of India, papadums which have been dried but not cooked are used in curries and vegetable dishes.

Pappad is called as Appalam in Tamil Nadu, pappadum in Kerala and papad in most of the country.

Papad is mainly manufactured in Rajasthan, Maharastra in the north and in the south, Kerala and Tamil Nadu in Madurai district and Kanchipuram and Chennai are major pappad or appalam manufacturers. It is called as 'happala' in Karnataka.

Etymology

Papadum is a loanword from Tamil பப்படம் pappaṭam,^[1][2] which comes from the Sanskrit word पर्पट (parpaṭa).

Regional variations

Different types of papads sold at stores.

Papadum recipes vary from region to region and from family to family. They are typically made from flour or paste derived from either lentils, chickpeas, black gram (urad flour), rice, or potato.

Salt and peanut oil are added to make a dough, which can be flavored with seasonings such as chili, cumin, garlic, or black pepper. Sometimes, baking soda or slaked lime is also added. The dough is shaped into a thin, round flatbread and then dried (traditionally in the sun), and can be cooked by deep frying, roasting over an open flame, toasting, or microwaving, depending on the desired texture.

There are different varieties of papad like Chana, Moong, Urad, Potato, Rice, etc. Bikaner is the hub of Moong and Urad papad manufacturing. Potato Papad are made in Varanasi. Most sweets and snacks selling national companies are also involved into this business like Haldiram, Bikanerwala, Mishrambu, Lijjat, Shri Shyam Papad, etc.

In most curry houses in the United Kingdom and Australia, they are served as an appetiser with dips which often include mango chutney and lime pickle.

Ingredients and preparation

Papad can be prepared from different ingredients and methods. Arguably, the most popular recipe uses flour ground from hulled split black grams (urad dal). Black gram flour is mixed with black pepper, salt, and a small amount of vegetable oil and a food-grade alkalai, and the mixture is kneaded. A well-kneaded dough is then flattened into very thin rounds and then dried and stored for later preparation and consumption. Papad may also contain rice, jackfruit, sabudana, etc., as main ingredients. Cracked black pepper, red chilli powder, asafoetida, or cumin or sesame seeds are often used as flavouring agents.

Business

Papad is often associated with the empowerment of women in India.^[3] Many individual and organized businesses run by women produce papad, pickles, and other snacks. This provides them regular income from minimal financial investments. Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad is an organization (owned and run solely by women) which produces large quantities of papadums on the open market which started as a small business in the late 1950s,^[4][5] with an annual income in 2005 of about ₹650 crore (US$100 million). However, with the recent growth of modern trade in India and the growing consumer awareness, other brands have been gaining in popularity within this category.

Spelling

Some divergence of transliteration may be noted in the third consonant in the Hindi/Urdu word pāpaṛ. The sound is the retroflex flap [ɽ], which is written in Hindi with the Devanagari letter ड़, and in Urdu script with the Perso-Arabic letter ڑ. Although in IAST the Hindi letter ड़ is transliterated as <ṛ>, popular or nonstandard transliterations of Hindi use <d> for this sound, because etymologically it derives from ड /ɖ/. The occurrence of this consonant in the word pāpaṛ has given rise to two alternative spellings in English: papad, which reflects its etymology, and papar (anglicized as "popper"), which reflects its phonology.

Gallery

• 
  A stack of roasted papadums, ready to be served
• 
  Rice papadum
• 
  Uradal papad
• 
  Potato Papad ^[6]
• 
  Paparis served in Lisbon, Portugal
• 
  Toasted papad served with dal and rice
• 
  Fire-toasting papad
• 
  Fire-toasted papad
• 
  Masala papads

See also

• Chicharrón
• List of Indian breads

References

External links

Media related to Papadums at Wikimedia Commons