Purple Potato Chips

I love discovering new things to play within the kitchen.  Discovering these purple potato's was so much fun!

I am encouraging you to try and find purple potatoes and surprise your friends or family with purple potato chips.  

ENJOY!

Recipe:  Purple Potato Chips

This is David Leite's recipe from Leite's Culinaria.  His site and the original recipe can be found here. My notes are in red.

Peanut or canola oil for frying I used canola.

2 large baking potatoes, peeled if desired I used purple potatoes


1. Pour enough oil to reach a depth of 2 3/4 inches in a deep fryer or a large, deep pot. Do not overfill the fryer or pot as the oil will bubble up when the potatoes are added. Heat the oil to 325°F (163°C). Line a baking sheet with a paper bag cut open or with a wire cooling rack and place it next to the stove.

Reaching this temperature takes longer than you think, this was my error in the past.  Using a thermometer made a huge difference for my chips.

2. Meanwhile, set up a turning vegetable slicer with the straight blade. Cut off both ends of a large baking potato and attach one end of the potato to the grip at the end of the handle; the other end of the potato should sit flush against the blade. Turn the handle, pushing toward the potato with gentle pressure. The potato will rotate through the blade, forming extremely long ribbons of potato.

I used my mandolin set on the smallest width and sliced them into a bowl of water.  With 5 small potatoes, I got about 3 cups of chips.

3. Place the potatoes on paper towels and pat dry; they should be very, incontrovertibly dry before they go into the hot oil, as any residual moisture will cause the oil to bubble up and spatter even more.
4. Carefully add some of the potato ribbons to the hot oil, working in batches. Add only enough potatoes to make a layer that is no more than 2 inches thick. Fry the potatoes until they are golden brown on the bottom. Using long tongs, gently turn the potatoes over. Continue to fry until the potatoes are evenly browned and crisp, about 6 minutes total, depending on the thickness of your ribbons.

I found with the purple potatoes, I knew they were done when they started to turn a slight brown color on the edges and middle…but not too much or you will burn them.
5. When the potatoes ruffles are done, use tongs to carefully lift them onto the paper bag or rack to drain. Serve the ruffles on a platter with a generous sprinkling of fleur de sel.

I found that the oriental round wire scoop that I bought to remove tempura veggies worked great to remove the chips.