Cocoyam is a root vegetable with edible tubers and leaves. In this chips recipe, I will share with you how to use cocoyam tubers to make a tasty crunchy snack called cocoyam chips.
There are many foods in African cuisine in general and the Nigerian cuisine in particular, there are also a lot of easy snacks that can be prepared from the comfort of your home with simple and healthy ingredients.
There are different types of cocoyam namely; white cocoyam and red cocoyam. As a matter of fact, they are named with their colour, also in other cultures cocoyam is called taro roots.
Apart from using cocoyam to make chips, it can be used to make cocoyam pottage and also as a soup thickener.
In the same vein, other edible tubers are such as potato, yams can also be used to make delicious meals whose recipes can be found in the Yam & Root Recipes section in the food blog.
This snack is perfect for munching at any time of the day and it is also a popular street food in Nigeria just like fried yam, cocoyam chips is simple and can be prepared with easy to get ingredients from the market and your kitchen as well.
All you need to make this snack are in the list below.
Ingredients needed for cocoyam chips
- Cocoyam
- Salt
- Vegetable oil for frying
- Water for cleaning
Kitchen utensils needed
- Frying pan
- Knife
Now I will proceed with the simple step by step instructions on how to use the ingredients listed above to make this delicious crispy snack from the comfort of your home.
How to make cocoyam chips
- Get a bowl of clean water
- Peel the skin of the red cocoyam with a small kitchen knife or a peeler
- Put the peeled cocoyam in water immediately after peeling to avoid discolouration
- Repeat this process until all the cocoyams have been peeled
- Place the peeled cocoyam onto a tray and thinly slice them
- Sprinkle some salt on the cocoyam slices
- Pour vegetable oil into your frying pan and allow to heat up
- Put some slices of onions in the oil and fry for 2 minutes – this is done to make the cooking oil nicely fragrant.
- Removed the fried onions with a spoon
- Put the sliced cocoyam in the hot oil
- Fry till it shrinks but not burned.
- Turn it and fry for 2-3 minutes
- Then line your basket with kitchen napkins for absorbing excess oil
- Scoop the fried cocoyam out of the hot oil into the lined basket
- Reapeat the process till all the cocoyams have been fried
- Allow to cool down completely
Crunchy cocoyam snack is ready to be enjoyed as an appetizer, a snack or a side dish.
Serve with ketchup, garlic dip, hummus, pepper sauce, avocado dip or any dip of your choice.
If your cocoyam chips is not crispy, it may be because it was cut too thick, not properly fried or the oil temperature was too low while frying.
Also, for a healthier alternative you can bake or air-fry your cocoyam sices.
You can watch this free video tutorial to use as a guide to make your own chips at home.
It is easier to produce this snack in bulk and store in your kitchen for whenever you are craving something to snack on in between meals or to entertain your guests.
How to store cocoyam chips at home
After producing in bulk you can store the by following these steps.
- Get airtight containers with lids or airtight sealable food pouches
- Allow the chips to cool down completely after frying
- Air dry the contains to make sure there is no moisture in them
- Fill the containers or pouches and seal well
- Store in a cool and dry place.
Stored chips can last up to 2 weeks at home
You can also use white cocoyam to make this delicious snack too. All you have to do is to use white cocoyam instead of red cocoyam and follow the same steps outline above.
Here is a self-help video for easy understanding on how to make cocoyam chips with white cocoyam.
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