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I always love a good challenge, and homemade papadums from scratch is something I've been wanting to try to make for quite some time, but they are made with urid flour, something that I couldn't find here in Spain, even for ordering online.
Last spring I tried out the candida diet for a couple of months. I cut out most grains and sugar, and one of the things I relied on to get me through my snacky cravings was papadums. Unfortunately, the little Asian store where I bought them closed, and I could only find plain, boring, overpriced papadums at the supermarket.
I was determined to make my own, but, after some research, learned they were made with the flour from “urid lentils,” and I had no idea what they even were. I searched online for urid flour, but couldn't find any that could be sent to me here in Spain for a reasonable cost.
I gave up on the idea for awhile until….
One day I was shopping in a new fruit and vegetable shop run by a Pakistani family, and found bags of urid “lentils” (aka. urad beans). They also had some papadums for sale (These very ones, actually), which I bought, of course, but I also bought some urid lentils for trying to make my own homemade papadums from scratch.
Having participated in the Wondermill grain mill challenge, I have a great grain mill for making flours, perfect for situations like this one. Ironically, most of the time it isn't used for grains, and I tend to use it mostly for grain free flours.
I made my first batch of homemade papadums with the whole urid bean (lentil), but the peel changed their texture and made them a dark color. The dough was a bit difficult to work with, too, but I was getting the hang of it.
I made the first batch of homemade papadums with whole urid.
They were good, but weren't what I was looking for.
One day when shopping at a new store, I came across some peeled lentils for sale. I decided to buy those to give making homemade papadums a try. If the urid beans are usually called urid lentils, how different could they be? Right?
Well, not so much.
I told a friend about my plans and she replied, “You know that you can peel your own lentils, right?”
“What!?!?”
I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but I bought myself more urid lentils to give it a try. For some reason I decided that the whole urid would be easier to peel than the split urid (urid dal), so I bought those. (Next time, I'll probably try the split ones!)
I soaked the urids overnight, and while it was true that you could easily rub the skins right off from the urids, I basically had to go one by one, and it was very time consuming.
Determined to come up with a better way, I smashed the urids just enough to split them and get many of them separated from their skins, and decided that I would rinse the skins off.
It worked, more or less, but still was time consuming because not all of the urids had separated well for their skins, and the skins didn't float as well as I thought they would. I put the smashed urids in a jar of water, shaked them to help separate them from their skins, and then poured off the water and skins.
Peeling urid beans
The skins didn't float as well as I hoped, but the process still worked when done carefully because the urids themselves were kept inside by the lip of the jar when I poured the lighter skins off with the water. I repeated the process several times, and then took off the skins of the individual urids with remaining skins. It was easier, but still time consuming. I think that if I had begun with split urids, though, that it would have been much easier.
In any case I eventually ended up with a couple of cups of peeled urid, ready for drying and grinding into urid flour.
If you can find urid flour, or even just peeled urids, do yourself a huge favor and use those!
Peeled regular lentils on the left, peeled urids on the right
After I ground my two types of flour, I was (finally) ready to get started making homemade papadums.
The urid flour on the right is lighter in color than the lentil flour.
Homemade Papadums From Scratch
Ingredients
- 2 cups urid flour
- 1/4 cup water
- 3/4 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. whole cumin
- coconut oil (for kneading and possibly deep frying)
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- garlic powder optional, to taste
Instructions
- Mix together all of your ingredients until the ingredients just come together. You want to end up with a stiff dough, so don't add in more water than you need to. You may want to adjust the dough for salt and other spices. I made my first batch with only salt and cumin, but then decided I wanted to add a bit more spice. I added garlic and black pepper to the next batch, but would love to try out more combinations next time. I think turmeric would be a great addition to these!
- Knead and pound on the dough for several minutes. At first the dough will be sticky, but as you knead and pound on it, it will start to come together. You can grease your hands and counter to help keep everything from sticking; I used coconut oil.
- Take sections of the dough and roll them out on the countertop almost as thinly as possible. I used a round cookie cutter to make circular shaped papadums and then took each individual dough circle and tried to roll it out even thinner. (I found it easier to do it that way than to try to roll out all of the dough paper thin.)
- Once you have your poppadum circles ready, you'll want to dry them out so that you can store them. If it's sunny and warm out, you can dry them in the sun. If not, you can use a dehydrator or your oven at its lowest temperature. I used my oven with the fan on, and they dried pretty quickly. As they were drying, I set them aside to make room for new papadums.
- You are now ready to either store your papadums in an airtight container, or prepare them for eating.
- To prepare your homemade papadums, you can broil them in the oven, puff them in the microwave or deep fry them. I tried all three methods, but my favorite was the deep fried ones. The deep fried papadums crisped up instantly in the hot oil, becoming light and crispy, much better than the ones from the store. The broiled and microwaved ones also crisped up quickly, but they weren't as light and flaky as the deep fried ones.
- I followed the process and made homemade papadums with both types of flour. The urid flour made something very similar to the store bought papadums, but better. The lentil flour made a lentil cracker that wasn't as light as the homemade papadums. They were also good, but I liked the papadums better.
- This is the homemade poppadom being compared with a store bought, larger poppadom. Even with as thin as I got mine, the store bought ones were slightly thinner. It didn't present a problem, though.
Would I make them again?
If I could get ahold of either peeled urids or urid flour, most definitely!
Once I had my flour made, the process of making homemade poppadums was actually quite simple, and I loved the results.
What didn't I love so much?
Peeling all of the urid!!
I'm glad I did it because it was an adventure and a learning experience, but it's not something that I'd choose to do every day.
Next time I'd love to try other spice combinations, like adding turmeric and maybe a bit of cayenne. Cumin is still my favorite addition to papadums, though!
I hope you'll try making them and let me know how it goes!
I came across this site while searching for traditional Indian bread! Now I am a fan!!
I have to learn about all the different kinds of beans and how to use them.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Zo!
I’m happy to hear it! 🙂
I want to try with some of the others, too. I’d imagine you can make a papadum of sorts from all sorts of different legumes.
Great job! Loved reading about this adventure. I live in a place that doesn’t have a lot of the same convenience items as my home country so I’ve learned to make all sorts of things from scratch. I read this recipe, went out to find the flour and unexpectedly found pappadums! So I won’t make them just yet but good to know this resource is available. Thanks again.
Hi Michelle,
Thanks. If you do give them a try, I hope they go well for you! 🙂
I have a couple of good Indian markets near me and the variety of beans and lentils is surpassed only by whatvthey are called!
Urad beans are also called black gram.
Urad means black gram means bean.
So far as I can tell, Dal is a peeled bean or lentil.
So on my journey to get this fine ingredient, I ended up with a bag of Urad Dal (split matpe beans) from a company called Swad. It is peeled, split Urad beans. I see it on AmaOn but it really expensive compared to the market.
I have been making Dosas with them mostly but as soon as I work out some good chutneys I plan to make papadam.
Thank you for your blog it will definitely Ben helpful for me in the journey and hopefully you can find a matpe or urad flour source soon.
Thanks so much for the info!
I hope it went well for you!
Tracy,
Thank you for this recipe. I’ve been looking for one for a while now.
I did find split Urid beans recently and ground them up in my spice mill. They are drying out as I type;)
Very easy to make, the rolling (to get thin enough) is a bit of a b$¥ch though. (As you mentioned)
I might try them next time and use my pasta roller (LOL)
Contrary to the notes, I did find I had to add a little extra water to pull it all together ([Tbs] ish). It may take a bit longer to dry out ….we shall see.
Two of mine are at university and coming home in three weeks. They can’t wait to try (huge curry family)—-guessing I better put some muscles on the rolling arms.
Thanks again. Popadum and lime pickle chutney here I come!
Hi Gerald,
I’ll have to try making these again. I have some split urid beans on hand now, and would like to make a video of the process for the blog. 🙂
I can’t remember how difficult it was anymore. I only remember the peeling part being horrible. Ha!
I’ll have to check on how much water I have to add this time around. Perhaps mine were more hydrated because of the peeling process. (Although I did need to dry them, so I’m not sure why it would differ.)
I hope they go well for you. I’m sure they’ll be delicious! Enjoy your family time. 🙂
What you are calling Urid looks like mung beans/mung dhal?
Hello Ivargas,
No, they aren’t exactly the same, but you are right- they definitely look the same. I have both at home. I can try to get a picture later on today.
I was actually going to try to make papadums with the mung beans, but haven’t gotten around to it yet.
Essentially the same thing. Urid lentils are also called urad dhal depending on the geographical location.
Hi, I tried to make this but it is not coming out the same way at all. I soaked the red lentils and grinded with vitamix. I used the ratio of flour to water but it barely mixed everything. It was still powdery and clumped little pieces, so I added more water. Then, I rolled it out so its about 1/16″ thick and put it in the oven. What came out was this hard chunk, no bubbling or crispiness. Am I doing something wrong?
Hi Michelle,
I never tried any of mine in the oven. That is probably your problem.
In the oven, you are making more of a cracker.
To get them to bubble and get crispy, you either need to deep fry them in oil or microwave them. I’m not sure why microwaving works to puff up papadums and also things like prawn crackers, but for some reason it does.
All of that said, I never got to experimenting with red lentils, so they may behave differently than the lentils I used too.
Hi! I shop buy my papadams (because I only just discovered this amazing recipe this evening) but I find if I dip the papadams into a bowl of water and put them in a really hot oven , say 250° they bubble up nicely. Not having a microwave and an aversion to deep frying means I really had to experiment there. But my husband does love a papadam so it was totally worth it
Hi Sophie,
Thank you for the awesome tip!
I’ll have to try that next time! 🙂
That is a lovely endeavour. Welldone for your determination and sharing with us! I would have given up at the urid peeling stage.
Su
Hahahaha, Susan,
Don’t think I didn’t consider it at some point in the peeling stage. 😉
Luckily I’m a bit stubborn (and curious).
Hello 🙂 do u know if i can use any other flour maybe wholegrain? I would really like to try them but i can’t find these urid flour :s
Hi Maria,
You can try to make something similar with another type of flour, just like I made some similar crackers with “regular” lentils, but they will really be just that, a different type of cracker and won’t be papadums. The lentils made a nice cracker, but they tasted a lot different from the papadums and the texture and everything was different.
I’m sure you could still make something interesting that tastes nice. You could also try grinding up a legume that you do have nearby and giving that a try. I’ve been meaning to try with chickpea flour but never got around to actually making them yet.
I am a retired pork butcher, whose grandparents came from Germany, is still cure my own bacon and make own sausages
That’s awesome, Michael!
I’ve been making chorizo at home, but have yet to try some other cured meats.
I think I will try it with gram flour
I’d be interested to hear how it goes! 🙂
I think gram flour is urid flour.
Hello!
Actually, gram flour is made with garbanzos (aka. chickpeas).
That said, I’d think you could make a similar type cracker with gram flour. I haven’t personally tried it, so I don’t know how it would work out. It probably would taste quite a bit different than papadums, though.
Hi Tracy.
Came across your website when looking up how to make Poppadoms.
I am going to see if I can get some of the Urid Flour that you tried.
I live in the Canary Islands and some products are hard to source, but I always try. ?
But until then, I am going to try and make some using Garbanzos…Chick Peas.
I’ll let you know how they turn out.
Will also try the Celery Salt as I am a HUUUUUGE fan of it for my Roasts, Soups and “Original” Bloody Mary’s.
Keep well and happy.
Regards.
David.
Hi David,
That sounds wonderful! I’m sure “garbanzo poppadoms” would turn out great, and yes, I’d really love to hear how they turn out.
I have to admit that I’m a bit jealous hearing that you live in the Canary Islands. I love more tropical climates and am sure it must be beautiful there. Someday I’ll make my way there and see them in person. Of course, yes, there is the disadvantage that not everybody sends to the islands. It is much easier to source things here on the mainland these days. 🙂 I guess there are advantages and disadvantages of living anywhere.
Have a lovely week!
You can buy urad flour at Amazon: http://store.patelbros.com/swad-urad-flour/
Hi Laurie,
when I wrote the post, it was available on the Amazon in the US, but it wasn’t from the one in Spain. (Or maybe it was, but it had to be imported at a ridiculously expensive amount.)
I’ve since been able to order it through a local store, but thanks for the heads up. I’m still glad I went through the entire process once so that people could see it. 🙂
After several attempts at making these from scratch (peeling urad beans and all), I have found that the easiest way for me to do this without access to already ground urad flour is to use chickpea flour or red/green lentil flour. Peeling the urad beans was literally painful and I did not have the patience for it. @Adaobi, your method of peeling the beans in the processor did not work for me, unfortunately. Would love to hear if there is an easier way to do that. Until I get my hands on some urad flour from the UK, I will stick with chickpea flour, which worked the best for me and is available in abundance in my country. SO YUM. Thanks for the recipe, Tracy. Loving your blog.
Visited Singapore and bought some urid (whole) and am not looking forward to the unskinned result, but I think I’ll just live with it because while I am a make it from scratch cook, I’m not that obsessive.
Will also use the prepared papadum in packages, as well. Thanks for the post.
Hi Chris,
I originally tried with the unskinned urid, but wasn’t very happy with the result. That said, yes, removing the skin was a big hassle and not something for the faint of heart.
I hope they turn out well for you!
Can you post more info on how you soaked, peeled, and ground the urad beans please? I managed to get a pack sent to me from England. That is how much I am craving pappadoms.
Wow, Eli,
You’re brave! 🙂
It was a bit of trial and error, really, and it’s been awhile since I did that, so I’m trying to remember.
I probably soaked them for a few hours, enough to get them to swell, and for the peels to loosen a bit. I think if you had halved urad beans, it would be easier. If not, you have to sort of press against them to break the peel so that it will come off easier.
I found that working in small batches was easiest. I put them with water in a jar and shook it as hard and as quickly as I could to loosen the peels, and then filled the jar with water, carefully pouring off the peels that would float to the top. They don’t float as well as I thought they would, but they would go up far enough to be the first thing that gets poured off, leaving the urad beans in the bottom of the jar. It isn’t a quick process by any means. I’d suggest watching tv or something to keep yourself entertained!
Once peeled, I dried mine in the oven at the lowest heat fan setting until completely dried.
I actually have a grain mill, which is what I used in this case to make the flour, but I imagine that a blender would do a good job of making a decent flour too. I use my blender to grind flaxseeds all of the time. If you need to later make it finer, a coffee grinder usually does a good job at making a fine powder. I’ve made powdered sugar, when I needed it at the last minute, with mine.
Luckily for me, I can now get my hand on the peeled urad beans. That really makes the process simple for me. Peeling is a bit of a hassle, but I’m glad I did it and was able to try it out. 🙂
I wish you the best of luck!
Thank you so much! I’ll let you know how I get on!
Great! Looking forward to it! 🙂
Hi Tracy
Pleasant surprise to come across your blog. I believe urad beans have a component which “raises/ferments” their batter. I have eaten papads made of lentils other than urad. In this case
they are prepared with khar ( word used in India which I think is bicarbonate) which helps to raise it
in the frying process. Have you any info in this regard ?
Hello Carlos,
Thank you so much for your comment!
I hadn’t heard about the component you’re mentioning, and I find your comment very interesting! That would make a lot of sense as to why the urads made a lighter papadum than the lentils. I’d have to look into it, as I had no idea. I haven’t been making them lately because I’ve been trying to stay away from so many fried foods, and my microwave, the other alternative to cooking them, broke down. 😛 That said, I’ll eventually do some more experimentation with different legumes to see how different ones turn out. I’ve been curious to see what would happen when a mung bean is used, seeing as they look so similar to urads. 🙂
If you do any experimentation yourself, or find out any more info, I’d love to hear about it!
Great post, thank you for sharing your urid adventure.
Ha ha
Thanks! An adventure it was! 🙂
Hi there. this is a question rather than a comment. I’d love to try this but it’s difficult to get such exotic ingredients where I live. Are urid lentils/beans the same thing as mung beans?
Hi Eli,
The mung beans are a bit different, but they look almost exactly alike when you have them right next to each other.
I’m guessing you could still make a type of papadum with the mung beans, but they’re not going to be exactly like the usual papadums.
I have both at home, and I’ve been meaning to give it a try, but haven’t gotten around to it yet.
Hi! My mom grew up in India. She said to rub a bunch between your palms after soaking. Rub like if you wanted to start a fire with a stick. Did that make sense? It’s a lot of work. Bravo for making them. I’m Indian American and haven’t tried.
Hi Alpa,
Interesting. So I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one to have done the crazy amount of work to peel them. 😉
If I were going to attempt it again, I’d try her method, but since I can now find the peeled variety, I think I’ll stick with the easy route from now.
In any case, I’m glad I got to see the whole process through from beginning to end. 🙂
This looks amazing! I can’t wait to try it!! One question though: do you have to dry it? Or can you use it fresh? If you do have to try it, what temp and how long in a dehydrator? Thanks!
Hi May,
I haven’t tried frying them fresh. Perhaps you could try and see how it works?
I dry them because that’s always the way I’ve seen them ready to use when sold, and it’s easier for storing so you don’t have to make them all at once. I’m not sure how they’d hold up fresh.
I dried mine in the lowest heat of my convection oven, but a dehydrator would also work. (I’m not sure what the normal temperature settings are on them.) How long it takes really depends a lot on the thickness of your papadums. I just occasionally check on them, and take them out when they are brittle. I hope that helps!
I just found your blog and I LOVE it. I wanted to suggest an easier way to peel lentils and beans after soaking. Just use your food processor. Pour the soaked beans into the processor with a little water, and pulse 2 or 3 times. Transfer to a bowl and add more water and stir. The skins will rise to the top.
I always peel beans this way.
Hi Adaobi,
Thanks so much!
That sounds like a great idea. I’m not ready to go through the entire process again any time soon, but I’d definitely try your method next time.
I luckily found some peeled ones locally since then and use them for making papadums now. It was fun to see the whole process from beginning to end, though. 🙂
Hello, nice article, thanks. Which kind of oil do you recommend for frying the poppadums in?
Thanks, Pat.
You can really use any oil that you normally use for deep frying. I like frying in saturated oils like coconut oil, lard, or ghee, because they are said to be more stable under the high heat of deep frying, but it’s really up to you. It depends upon what you have had on hand and what you feel comfortable deep frying in. They have turned out pretty much the same no matter which oil I use; they just taste a bit different if you use an oil with a strong flavor. So, I guess the main thing is…Just don’t use an oil that gives off a flavor that you don’t like.
Wow, these look brilliant! Impressive amount of work you did there. Now I know what to do with the urad dal I bought at an Indian market here in Munich! I have a Vitamix dry grinder container so can whip up that flour in no time. Can’t wait to try these!
Hi Gale,
I hope it works out well for you, and that you like them as much as I did.
I was actually lucky this week. I went back to the store and asked if she could order the peeled urid (urad) for me, and she told me she would! I should be able to pick them up this weekend! Yay!
I’m so happy. Peeling them wasn’t very fun, but I’d love to make these again. 🙂
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Wow, totally impressive! 🙂 <3
Thanks, Megan. 🙂
We had dinner at Prune, here in NYC, last night and they put papadom on the table in lieu of bread which I thought was brilliant! I’ll be on the lookout for that flour.
You have inspired me to have a go at making them myself, these look amazing.
Hi Sara,
Do try them. They really are simple if you have the flour. 😉
Those macadamia nut tarts look amazing. They remind me of the pecan pies I used to love as a kid- only better. (And I love making homemade ice cream!!)
Tracy you’ve out done yourself here! I am officially de-throned as the self professed queen of ‘make it from scratch’ My husband LOVES poppadoms can I send him over??
Haha–
One of the links I sent you to the place for gluten free shopping here in Spain interested me because they had peeled urid dal available, but shipping costs were a bit steep for just one item. Too bad the Amazon in Spain doesn’t have them available like the one in the US!!
I really liked the homemade poppadoms, but didn’t love peeling the urids!!
If I buy some peeled urids, I will happily make you all some homemade poppadums when you come over. 😉