Snack foods are important. Well, they are important to me. I like to eat quality snack foods whenever possible rather than being captive to ordinary off the shelf type stuff. I mean...grocery store snacks are (sometimes pretty) good and they are certainly convenient...just buy and munch...but they are not always (or needn't be) as good as what you can rustle up on your own.
And that's why I like to
make my own popcorn instead of relying on microwave (unless I'm in a hurry and then, well, microwave it is).
I have recently begun to make my own tortilla chips. Store bought chips are okay. Some are better than others (I particularly like the Tostitos Scoops variety because you can get the right amount of dip on them) and if you are in a hurry then that's where you need to go. But...
...making your own chips is really pretty easy and the results are surprisingly good.
Start with a package of soft flour tortillas from the grocery store. Since we have so many people in the country from south of the border now, there probably isn't a store in the US that doesn't carry them. Cut the tortillas up into chip sized triangles. I usually stack three or four tortillas together to make quick work of cutting them up. While you are cutting up your chips you can have a pan of hot oil warming up...medium heat. I use a medium size cast iron skillet* and about 3/8" of oil in it. You also need something to manipulate the chips in the skillet. A fork will work but one of those deep fry scoops with the openings to let the oil go back in the pan is the easiest to use. After the oil is warmed up (about five minutes on an electric range...your mileage may vary) I throw in about four of the soft tortilla triangles at a time. It doesn't take long...maybe 45 seconds, tops. I flip them over about half way through to get a consistent result. You can vary the cook time to get chips that are crispy on the outside and sort of soft on the inside (which is kind of nice for variety's sake) or crispy all the way through. Fully cooked will have a light brown color and soft on the inside will be more of a golden color. I try and drain most of the oil back into the pan as I remove the chips but then I throw them onto a plate covered with a paper towel to dry them out completely.
After you have a pile of these they are best (in my opinion) when they are mixed in with some store bought chips in a large bowl. I like this because of the variety. Some times I'm grabbing a super hard and thin Tostito or Dorito chip and sometimes it's one of my homemade chips.
The second half of this snack is the dip. In this case, since we are dealing with tortilla chips, the dip is going to be salsa or picante sauce. I've never been much for picante sauce, myself, but I really like salsa. Finding the right salsa can be an exercise in frustration, though, because (if your grocery store is like mine) there are so many to choose from. It's like trying to find a good barbecue sauce**...same problem. One of these days I will venture into making my own but for now I'm just too lazy and there are just too many store bought varieties to choose from. Sometimes the best salsa can be found in the deli section of a grocery store where the stuff is made up fresh in the store itself. Sometimes not...it depends on the ability of the deli staff. What I do like in a salsa is a thick texture rather than liquid-like or soupy consistency. I like it to be finely minced so that there are no big chunks of stuff to fall off the chip. I like salsas with cilantro and chipotle and, if it's available, green chile (I like green chile on everything, just about...it's a New Mexico thing and we are located close enough to NM that it's everywhere in our area...even Pizza Hut and Subway have it as an ingredient). I tend to also like the hotter varieties...I don't bother with "mild" anything when it comes to salsa...medium to hot. Sometimes I will mix the medium with the hot. I'm not much of a fan of jalepenos...it's not the heat or the spiciness of the things, I just don't care for the jalepeno taste. But that's me.
Okay, so if anyone else wants to chime in on their favorite chip snack the rest of the thread is yours.
*I suppose you can use a deep fat fryer but I currently don't have one. Maybe soon, though. I've watched an episode of "Deep Fat Fry Masters" and I am tempted to try some of that stuff.
**Current favorite barbecue sauce is "Sweet Baby Ray's." Great on ribs. Or brisket. Or pulled pork. Good stuff.