Nacho Cheese “Corn Chips”

Nacho Cheese “Corn Chips”

I am leaving this recipe on my blog so as not to break links on any forums I have shared it on.  But I have come to the conclusion that these just won’t stay crisp long enough after frying to call them “chips”.  As they cool, the centers soften up.  Not what I’m looking for in “chips”.  But they were crisp, if browned properly, when eaten hot.  I

Man, I have often wondered if you could deep fry jicama, but I honestly just didn’t believe you could hide the sweet quality of jicama enough to bother to try it.  I also didn’t think I could ever slice it thin enough to work for something like this.  So I bought a little folding Rival slicer and tried jicama on it today  to have with my bunless burgers.  The nacho cheese corn chip version shown above was sprinkled with a mixture of nacho cheese popcorn seasoning, corn bran and sea salt.  This is the closest to a true tortilla chip as I’ve come to in my my attempts to come up with one.  Though crispy fried jicama usually tastes more like potato chips, this combination of seasoning gives it more of a corn chip flavor.  These are suitable once you get to the grains rung of OWL due to the tiny bit of corn bran.

The corn bran, virtually pure fiber and no carbs, I have only found at Honeyvillegrains.com.  But sadly, they only sell it in a huge bag, so it’s probably not worth your trouble to buy just for this recipe (though it was cheap, as I recall).  I keep mine in my freezer and have been using the same bag for a couple years now with no ill effects during storage.  It is used in very tiny amounts to add a slight corn flavor to recipes.

I used Kernel Seasons brand of cheese popcorn seasoning I get at Walmart where the popcorn is shelved. Yeah, yeah, I know it’s not the greatest product in the world, for anybody, but this tiny amount shouldn’t kill your daily carb count and brings sooooo much cheesiness to these nacho chips.  If you can get pure powdered cheese, that would be a healthier choice.

If you omit the corn bran, you can enjoy these during Atkins Induction.  These are great with burgers, just as a snack, or would compliment your next Mexican food dinner quite nicely!  ENJOY!

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INGREDIENTS:

6 oz. peeled jicama, (that’s about 1/4-1/3 of a 6½” jicama)

Oil of your choice 1″ deep or more (I use palm shortening)

1/8 tsp. corn bran (optional, I order at Honeyvillegrains.com)

1/4 tsp. nacho cheese popcorn seasoning (or pure powdered cheese if you can get it)

Dash sea salt

DIRECTIONS:  Mix seasoning and salt in a paper plate.  I poured mine into an empty salt shaker I keep for such purposes.  Set some paper towels on newspaper  by your stove-top for draining purposes.  Next, peel and slice jicama VERY thin.  I used a Rival fold-up slicer set on the thinnest setting, but a mandoline set on the thinnest setting would also work.  You’ll just never get them thin enough with an ordinary knife.  My food processor doesn’t slice this thin with either of the blades I have, but maybe you have a thinner blade than I.  You’re aiming for 1/16″ thick cut on the jicama.

Heat oil in a deep skillet or deep fryer.  Drop about half the slices in so as not to crowd or cool off the oil to much.  The bottoms will begin to brown first, so I flipped mine over several times to get the most even browning.  You want these quite brown, but of course, not burned.  Any white areas in the center will NOT be crispy, but rather chewy.  But if these are browned well, they will be crisp even after they cool off!  I was most impressed with that fact.  When brown, lift out of oil with slotted spoon onto awaiting paper towels. While still hot and oily, sprinkle with the seasoning mixture on both sides.  Fry the second half of the chips and season as well.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 1 serving of about 20-25 chips (depends on size).  Entire batch contains:

186 calories

13.7 g  fat

15.4 g  carbs, 8.5 g fiber, 6.9 g NET CARBS

1.2 g  protein

161 mg sodium