Homemade Doritos
When I was a kid, one of my favorite snack foods was Doritos, specifically the Zesty Nacho variety. (The Cool Ranch was pretty good, too.) Passing by a Halloween display of chips in a store recently reminded me of those crunchy triangles and inspired me to try making my own. As it turns out, it’s very simple to make DIY Doritos! This batch is more about the “zesty” concept than the cheesy “nacho” one — I liberally sprinkled my chips with chili powder — but you could shake on some grated Parmesan to add a cheesey dimension.
Since these chips don’t have to be cooked at an overly high temp, you have plenty of choices when it comes to your cooking oil. (Most oils should not be heated past medium temp; several — such as flaxseed and walnut — should not be heated at all.) I prefer unrefined coconut for its vaguely sweet/mostly neutral flavor, but unrefined peanut is another good choice — it lends a faint nutty savory character to the chips. Extra-virgin olive oil would work, too, or go with butter if you want an incredibly rich-tasting chip.
Butter would be my choice if I were aiming for a dessert chip. Then you could sprinkle the butter-fried chips with cinnamon and sucanat! And if you toss them with vanilla ice cream, you’ve got yourself the “deep-fried” ice cream that used to be popular at Mexican restaurants.
Homemade Doritos
Heat a generous dab of unrefined coconut oil or a generous splash of unrefined peanut oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Your goal is to have the bottom of the skillet completely coated with oil. Tear whole-grain corn tortillas into bite-sized pieces and place in skillet. For maximum crispiness in your chips, only cook a single layer of chips at a time. I find that my 6″ skillet can accommodate about half of a ripped-up tortilla per batch. Cook for 3 minutes, then flip each chip carefully with heat-proof tongs. Cook another 3 minutes or until chips are browning around the edges and are hard when you tap on them with the tongs.
Pull chips out of the oil with the tongs and place on a folded paper towel to drain. Repeat as needed to make as many chips as you’d like. When the pan begins to dry out, add another dab or splash of oil.
Sprinkle chips with sea salt and chili powder, tasting to see if you’d like to add more seasoning. (I am huge on chili powder and like to add a LOT to my chips.) Other tasty seasonings include dill weed, Italian seasonings, curry powder, grated Parmesan, and Ethiopian berbere. If you’d rather go the sweet route, sprinkle on cinnamon and sucanat. Serve immediately while chips are still warm and crunchy.
Enjoy!
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Tags: berbere, chili powder, corn chips, Doritos, Parmesan, savory chips, sea salt, snack, sweet chips, whole grain
