Crunchy Garlic Pasta Chips

This is one of those appetizer recipes that came about from an afternoon of experimenting with everything in the cabinet. I was in one of those moods where I just wanted to create something new with mundane ingredients, this time being a box of rotini pasta I had leftover. I wondered what would happen if I just deep fried the rotini instead of the usual boiling of pasta routine we all know and do. Sure enough, the rotini came out perfectly crunchy and not at all oily. Season with a sprinkling of garlic powder and salt and voila, you get Crunchy Garlic Pasta Chips. Maybe one of the big potato chip companies will come knocking on my door one of these days to license my recipe.

Ingredients

4 cups dry, uncooked rotini or any curly short pasta

Vegetable oil for deep frying

2 tablespoons butter

3/4 tablespoon garlic powder

Salt for sprinkling

Method

In a wok or large frying pot, heat the oil on medium high heat. Cook the dry pasta for just a minute or 2 until golden brown. Depending on the size of your wok or pot, you may have to do this in two batches. Drain fried pasta on paper towel lined baking sheet or plate. Transfer pasta to a large mixing bowl and set aside.

In a small pan, heat the butter until thoroughly melted. Drizzle the butter over the pasta evenly. Sprinkle the garlic powder and salt over the pasta and toss gently to mix. Serve immediately.