Low calorie Banana (Plantain) Chips and Potato Chips (can be Oil-free , Salt free ) using Microwave

I love my Microwave (not exactly mine, but our apartment's) ! and the person who invented it too ! That's what I can say after I made these easy, low-calorie munchies last week. I was surprised to find that the crispiness was no different than when fried in oil. You can even use a low calorie oil spray and a wee bit of salt to enhance the flavor. After making these I swore, I would never deep fry Banana or Potato Chips in oil in my kitchen. Let me share my excitement with you now:


Here is how I made it: Its easy, breezy tasty :)

Gadgets needed:

• A microwave
• A mandolin slicer (in India its called 'Chips maker' in some places, popular brands include 'Anjaly'). You can get a Mandolin slicer in US too, I got these from a Calphalone store, but we just bought it as a side purchase after buying a gorgeous Calphalone Infused Anodised Stir Fry Pan. The Mandolin cost just $10, but its worth buying as its a great addition to your kitchen gadgets. This one even had a handle to hold the food while slicing, thus giving extra safety.
  

If you don't have a 'Chips maker' , no worries, you have your knife to your aid. Cut slices as thinly as possible , make sure they are of equal length as it helps providing uniform heat in the microwave while 'they turn to' Chips ;)


Plantain chips



Seasoning:

Oil just a pinch or can be totally avoided
Salt, a very tiny pinch, or can be totally avoided.
Chilly powder, Asafoetida - a pinch

Note: I have used very little seasoning, as while using Microwave , you should be very careful while seasoning, if you are doing it before Microwaving it, as a pinch of seasoning has very very potent flavor while cooking in Microwave. Its best to add these after the Chips are done and when they are just out of the Microwave.

Vegetables that can be used : Potatoes (Preferably Potatoes good for frying purpose, else they may lose color and turn brown, but taste is intact though), Raw Banana (Plantain), Taro, Bitter gourd.

Potato Chips (don't mind the color as I used a Red Potato variety which I didn't find quiet good for frying because of the color they turn into, but taste was equally good)


Method:

Slice the vegetable into very thin uniform slices. Spread the slices on a Microwave safe flat bottom vessel, (I used my Silicon Baking Pan which is also Microwave safe). Arrange in such a way that no two slices overlap each other . A little overlapping here and there is alright if space is a constraint.

Microwave under high power for 4 minutes if you have filled the plate with the slices in every nook and corner , or 2-3 minutes if less slices are used. Keep checking in between. This can give you an approximate time for cooking these.
Tadaa ! Your chips are ready to savor !

This way of making chips has more of advantages than disadvantages I feel:

Advantages:

• Control over the amount of oil, salt, or other seasoning
• Less power , as I read somewhere that Microwave consumes less energy than other electric appliance.
• Less fume and hence less cooling of the kitchen needed when compared to deep frying on a cooking range.
• Less cleanup, and nil wastage of oil
• No guilt feeling of storing the same oil for frying the next time, as no oil / very negligible amount of oil was used in microwave

The only thing I noticed was, if you have a small microwave/ small microwave vessel, then you can 'fry' only so much chips at a time. But then I don't think it matters so much.

Hope you all will like these.

I am sending these and one of my previous entries (look below this sentence) to (Microwave Easy Cooking)MEC-Savoury Snacks (started by Srivally of Cooking for all seasons) and hosted this time at Priya's Easy and Tasty Recipes.

My previous entry participating in this event are:

Bittergourd Fritters

I am planning to post a Cake recipe next time, so wait and watch dear readers :) Till then, wave a 'bye bye' to the Winter (today it snowed here in Framingham, I think this might be the last snow of this winter) and welcome crisp Spring !

Love
RV