crisps (or chips for americans) out of other veggies?

Question

could I like, slice zuchinni and coat with olive oil and bake as a healthy crisp alternative to go with salsa?

Answer 1

When you say "crisp", are you talking about thin slices of potato that are deep fried? I'm a little confused because I never heard of eating those with salsa. On this side of the pond, we eat tortilla chips with our salsa. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortilla_chip)

There's nothing very unhealthy about a potato, it's the frying. So trying to make a chip out of something else is, in my opinion, more for variety's sake than any significant improvement in nutrition.

To make crisps out of anything other than potatoes, you'd need to concentrate your experiments on other root- or tuber-type veggies. Things like sweet potatoes (yams), carrots, parsnips, turnips/swedes...things like that.

If you want fried veggies otherwise, look into making some tempura batter and frying up veggies dipped in that. I've had tempura-style cauliflower, onion, carrot, sweet potato, eggplant, and zucchini, and the were all pretty good. Serve with some sort of Asian dipping sauces like soy or szechuan, or even ketchup, malt vinegar, or Worcestershire.

If you dice up onions and mix into a tempura batter and dollop out gobs of that into your fryer, you'll get some really good onion fritters that'll melt in your mouth. There won't be any leftovers.

Answer 2

You can make crisps out of any veg. I love beetroot, parsnip and carrot crisps, I've had zuchinni, and aubergine(egg plant?) crisps too. You need to slice very thinly, use a mandolin if you have one, dry as much as possible, pat in a tea towel. Then either toss in a light olive oil and bake in the oven, or deep fry, very quickly in very hot oil. Enjoy!!

Well maybe not things like peas or beans!

Answer 3

Well, certainly all of the other answers include a lot of the foods that are most widely associated with American cuisine today...and with the resultant obesity problem...but I think I can suggest a few that are closer to what you were thinking of. Fruit desserts such as cobblers, buckles and crumbles were developed by German immigrants in the Pennsylvania area way back when, and of course these eventually gave rise to the quitessentially American dessert, apple pie. Barbecue, in all its varied forms, is also a classic American cuisine, divided roughly into the "dry" style of Texas and Kansas, and the "wet" style of the Carolinas, but there are dozens of regional variations. I'm talking about real barbecue here, not "grilling" which is simply a modern-day convenience developed in an effort to estimate the long, slow process of cooking tougher, more flavourful cuts of meat using the smoke from hardwoods. The Creole cuisine of Louisiana is also uniquely American, influenced both by slaves from the carribbean (particularly Jamaica) and the French-speaking Acadian exiles from the Canadian maritimes. Also, the Tex-Mex cuisine of the southwest U.S. is quite distinct, obviously with heavy influences coming from neighbouring Mexico. And, while this might be a bit of a stretch, I think consideration should also be given to "California cuisine" - generally lighter, healthier fare with a focus of fresh, local produce - as California was arguably the birthplace of vegetarianism, or at least was a major force in popularizing it. By the way, I'm Canadian.

Answer 4

The zuchinni would be mushy. To make it crispy you would need to coat it in bread crumbs and oil...therefore not so healthy. You can buy baked tortilla chips or easily make them yourself using flour tortillas cut into triangles, just bake at 350 for 15 minutes or so... sprinkle some salt on first. Or use PIta bread the same way...

Answer 5

Zuchinni (courgettes) wont be brilliant as you'll need lots of oil and very very thinly sliced to crisp them up, but YES you can do that. Other excellent veg for making crisps out of are beetroot, parsnips, carrots, turnips and celeriac (all root veg and less squidgy).
If you slice them with your potato peeler, they will be thin enough to crisp up nicely.
Enjoy

Answer 6

I think you can make crisps out of most vegetables and you don't have to use oil. Just slice really thinly and then cook at a really low oven temperature for 2 hours. You could make them out of sweet potato, carrots, parsnips etc... your imagination is your only limitation. You can do this with fruit too.

Answer 7

Yes you can, but I would dry them a minute of so on paper towel before coating oiling them. Also, I would salt before and just after baking. I don't think you will get them crisp, but it's worth a try.

Answer 8

i very often use veggies instead of crisps. if you bake them for a little while to dry them up then brush a little oil on an continue to bake til golden, you'll have the perfect snack. also, lasagne sheets baked with a lilttle seasoning and oil are also yummy.

Answer 9

try using sweet potatoes or yams.
slive very thin.
drain well.
deep fat fry them.
dust with cinnamon sugar when they come out of the fryer.
the zuchinni thing will work well too.
bagel chips are also very good.

Answer 10

other root vegetables make very nice crisps, like parsnip, carrott and beetroot. they soak up more fat than potatoes when fried, so if it's healthy you want, then oven baking is a good idea.