Seaweed??? Yes seaweed!! I tried it for the first time today! Royal Kombu is the name and actually sounded “chinese” to me!! Well i have learnt something new today from my dear friend Carmen and i as usual want to share it with you. I know many of you will have their misgivings about seaweed but let me tell you the way it was made was lovely… it was crunch deep fried seaweed in a batter of gram flour spiced with some spices! Yes you read right! All of you know spices have their own medicinal properties..and what about seaweed? Well…lets ask Mr. Google???? Its a good source of iodine and also contains dietary fibre. People often eat this variety of seaweed because it contains rich amounts of iodine, calcium and vitamin B2. The Japanese include this in their daily diet..is that why they live soo long and are so healthy? Makes me wonder….

I found it quite nice… crispy and crunchy and different tasting..would i make it again? i guess yes…
INGREDIENTS:
25 grams of KOMBU ROYALE seaweed
1/4 cup of gram flour
salt to taste
a pinch each of turmeric powder, garam masala and Nitu Didi tanduri spice powder (that gives NO ADDED COLOR)
oil for deep frying… we used Extra virgin olive oil
carbonated/sparkling water as needed (soda water)
METHOD:
Soak the seaweed in ample water for about half an hour till it softensand cut it into thick strips.  Remove from the water and wrap in a clean kitchen towel. Dont throw away the water as it is good to water the plants with!!!
Heat the olive oil and start making the batter. Add the salt and spices to the gram flour. Make a thick batter with the carbonated water. Mix the seaweed with the thick batter and deep fry each piece by piece into the hot oil. Please stay away from the pan as it tends to splatter a bit, i dont want you all to get drops of hot oil splattering on you! Deep fry till golden and crispy. Drain well and serve!!
Its quite delicious!!!

NITU DIDI TIP: My daughter who is studying pharmacy just told me when frying with Extra Virgin Olive Oil the oil tends to lose its properties..what you then have is just the taste of the olive oil (which gives the dish an amazing flavor) but not the properties 🙂

If you want to make this and cant seem to find the seaweed do contact me..this can be made with any kind of seaweed….