A delicious Indian takeaway menu item that you can enjoy with spiced onions. Why not try fresh frying Indian restaurant style poppadoms as part of your next fakeaway curry night?
When it comes to ordering from your favourite Indian restaurant, it’s always a smart decision to order extra poppadoms. Whether eaten with chutneys or sauce, they’re impossible to resist! Typically made from black chickpea or lentil flour, the light and crisp texture of perfectly cooked poppadoms is a great contrast to soft, fluffy rice and curry sauces.
Ingredients For Indian Restaurant Style Poppadoms
You can easily find precooked poppadoms in supermarkets, but the light, crisp texture of freshly fried is much better. This isn’t ‘making from scratch’, but by purchasing ready to cook poppadoms and frying them yourself, you’ll be able to make restaurant style poppadoms that exactly match those you might order. You’ll find packs of ready to fry poppadoms in supermarkets quite easily, or you can buy bigger boxes from Chinese supermarkets or online. These keep well for a long time (months), so you can cook up a batch of Indian restaurant style poppadoms any time you choose!
How To Make Indian Restaurant Style Poppadoms
To fry your poppadoms you’ll need oil that is very hot – around 190-200C. This can make the oil cloudy after the poppadoms are cooked. To save on oil, I like to use smaller pan and break the poppadoms into 3-4 smaller pieces before frying. You can, of course, fill a large pot and fry them whole if you’d prefer.
Step 1: Oil
Heat oil for deep frying to between 190-200C. Break each ready to cook poppadom into 3-4 pieces.
Step 2: Fry
Using tongs and working quickly, drop 1-2 poppadom pieces at a time into the oil and immediately push down into the oil so that they are completely covered. The poppadoms will puff up and be fully cooked in just 1-2 seconds. Lift the cooked poppadom pieces out of the oil, drain off any excess oil and set aside on kitchen paper. As you fry more poppadom pieces, you can lean the cooked poppadoms beside each other to help drain off more oil.
Step 3: Serve
The crispy poppadoms will cool down and be ready to serve in just a few seconds. Serve your poppadoms with spiced onions or your own favourite chutneys. If you want to keep them or make ahead, put the cooked poppadoms in a sealed plastic bag or sealed container to ensure they keep their crispiness. They’ll keep well for a couple of days at room temperature.
I hope you try frying your own Indian restaurant style poppadoms. If you do, let me me know in the comments how it went!

Indian Restaurant Style Poppadoms
Equipment
- 1 Deep Fryer
Ingredients
- oil for deep frying
- 4 ready to cook poppadoms
Instructions
- Heat oil for deep frying to between 190-200C. Break 4 ready to cook poppadoms into 4 pieces each.
- Using tongs and working quickly, drop 1-2 poppadom pieces at a time into the hot oil and immediately push down into the oil so that they are completely covered. The poppadoms will puff up and be fully cooked in just 2-3 seconds. Lift the cooked poppadom pieces out of the oil, drain off any excess oil and set aside on kitchen paper. As you fry more poppadom pieces, you can lean the cooked poppadoms beside each other to help drain off more oil.
- The crispy poppadoms will cool down and be ready to serve in just a few seconds. Serve your poppadoms with spiced onions or your own favourite chutneys. Leftover fried poppadoms will keep well in a sealed food bag or container for 2-3 days.
Indian Takeaway Style Poppadoms Recipe FAQ
How long do fried poppadoms keep?
Fried poppadoms will stay fresh and crispy in a sealed food safe bag or container for up to 3 days.
Can I microwave ready to fry poppadoms?
Yes! Try brushing the ready to fry poppadom with a little oil and microwave for 40-60 seconds until puffed up.
What can I serve with poppadoms?
Crispy poppadoms are perfect with mango chutney, spiced onions or with your favourite Indian curry dishes.
Where can I buy ready to fry poppadoms?
You can buy ready to fry poppadoms in Chinese supermarkets or online.
Do you like this Indian restaurant style poppadoms recipe? If so, buying a copy of my book might appeal to you! In The Indian Takeaway Secret you can find a host of restaurant and takeaway style recipes that you can make at home. You’ll learn how to make vegetable pakora, lamb seekh kebabs, curry, rice and more! You can buy The Indian Takeaway Secret in paperback or kindle form here.
- McGovern, Kenny (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 320 Pages – 12/14/2017 (Publication Date) – Robinson (Publisher)