I was looking for a crunchy, savory, healthy snack. After a few google searches I hit upon a site called jugalbandi.info and a recipe for masala baked nuts and pumpkin seeds. It looked intriguing but I really wanted to make it with tempeh. Sadly, when I went to open my package of tempeh, I found that it had gone bad. So I thought and thought. I looked through my pantry and found an unopened bag of puffed lotus seeds. HMMM. So I proceeded to make this recipe with the lotus seeds. OK, I was eating them while they were baking in the oven. I kept opening the door and snatching a few just "to test if they were done" of course. They came out suitably crunchy and so much fun to eat. They have a coating kind of like a pakora, but these are baked. I adapted the recipe, which calls for chickpea flour, rice flour, and other spices. The batter I made is just chickpea flour with a touch of almond flour, some garam masala, cayenne, and salt. I used almond four to give it some fat (the original recipe was for baked nuts, so the fat was already in that). The puffed lotus seeds are almost pure protein (although you would have to eat a whole bag (200g) to get about 8 grams of protein) and almost no calories. Virtually all of the calories in this dish are from the flours; and most of that is from the chickpea flour. I used Bob's Red Mill. You can see the nutrition info at the right. What a powerhouse snack!
All in all, a great snack that is easy to make.
Masala Baked Puffed Lotus Seeds.
One bag of puffed lotus seeds 200 grams
1 cup of chickpea flour
2T almond flour
salt to taste
your choice of spices to taste (I used garam masala and cayenne)
1/3 cup of water
another 1/2 cup of chickpea flour
Place the lotus seeds in a large bowl. combine the 1 cup of chickpea flour, the almond flour, salt and spices is a big measuring cup or bowl. Add the water and whisk until smooth. pour into the lotus seeds and mix until coated. Then sprinkle on the additional chickpea flour (you can spice it if you like) and mix until coated, should still look floury. Spread onto a baking sheet line with a silpat. (you will probably need two sheets for this amount). Bake in a 350F degree oven for 10-15 minutes. After that time use a spatula to mix the seeds. If they appear to be dry on the outside, slip out the silpat and continue to cook them on the baking sheet for another 15 minutes. Cool and store in an airtight container if there are any left.
