If you have children, and they are attending a party or other social event where commercial food will be served, it is also easy to make an alternative at home, like home-made chips.
Commercial chips (or anything else deep-fried) available at take-away shops and restaurants are full of free radicals because they are made with cheap, nasty oil, which is continually heated. Beautiful chips can be made at home and are a healthy alternative.
Free radicals are present in cheap vegetable oils like canola, and the numerous bottles in the supermarket labelled “Cholesterol Free”. The level of free radicals present in these oils increases astronomically when they are used for deep frying, especially when the oil is heated to very high temperatures over and over again. Free radicals cause oxidative damage, which creates inflammation in the body. The inflammation damages cells and results in premature ageing. If you do need to buy commercial chips occasionally for a children’s birthday, use a plain, unflavoured chip that is cooked in sustainable palm oil (while it is good to avoid regular palm oil, not all palm oil is damaging to the environment), such as Thomas Chipman. Avoid all commercial chips cooked in vegetable oil.
4 Large potatoes
Coconut oil (cover 2 cm of a small saucepan)
Salt
- Use a mandolin with a crinkle cut blade.
- To achieve the waffle cut, slice the potato in one direction, turn 180° and slice in the other direction.
- Heat the oil in a small saucepan until it reaches 165°C. Note: Don’t let the oil exceed 170°C or it will go past its smoking point ad be damaged.
- Cook in small batches, stirring to ensure they are all covered by the bubbling oil and not sticking.
- Once they are golden brown (when oil reaches 160 to 165°C again), remove, place on a paper towel, and sprinkle with salt.
Note: This recipe is from the Fat Revolution Cookbook, which is a LCHF (low carb, high fat) cookbook, perfect for families and for those who don’t need to be super low in carbs. If you would like to be strict keto (no root vegetables, fruit, nuts), use the Easy Keto Cookbook.