A great tortilla chip substitute

If you’re a chips and salsa nut living in China like me, and who is as broke-ass as I am, one of the things you may miss from home is chips and salsa.

Salsa is easy to make and cheap. There are thousands of recipes online that will make you around 10 cups of salsa with local ingredients that cost US$1.00. However, chips remain elusive. Foreign import stores have them, but at a budget slaughtering 30元 per bag.

Enter my idea:

大饼 (da bing). Yes, da bing. The wonderful oil-laden layered flatbread costing 3元 per sheet. I got this idea from when we used to fry quartered flour tortilla shells to make our own chips at home. Cut a da bing in half; then in half again; then in half again; then stack up the pieces. Proceed to cut triangles out of it, as many as you can for the sheet. Trim off the edges of the da bing because they just cause problems. Discard the edges.

Pry apart the plies to make as many chips as you can, as thin as you can, and toss them on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and bake on 170^oC in a convection oven until the chips are dry and shake apart easily. Don’t forget the salt or they won’t curl during baking, so using them to pick up salsa will be a pain in the ass.

I know, it’s not the same as corn tortilla chips. However, when you are poor and without options, it’s a wonderful alternative to Lays potato chips or, God help me, shrimp chips.

Yes, one time I was so desperate I ate salsa with shrimp chips.