Vinegar Salt Fried Pickle Chips with Dill Ranch

Difficulty: Easy | Prep: 15 min | Cook: 10 min | Total: 25 min | Serves: 4 | Dietary: Gluten-Free, Vegetarian

Pickles are already sour. Fry them in a crackly batter, hit them with Chooki's Vinegar Chicken Salt while they're hot, and you've got the salt and vinegar chip's weirder, better cousin. Sounds wrong. Eats right. They're usually gone before the dip bowl is half empty.

Step 1: Dry the Pickles

Lay the pickle slices on a double layer of paper towel and press them dry, then do it again with fresh towel. Toss them in 2 tablespoons of the cornflour so they're lightly dusted all over. That dusting is what makes the batter grip.

Step 2: Make the Dip and Batter

Stir the sour cream, mayo, dill and lemon juice together and pop it in the fridge. In another bowl whisk the rest of the cornflour, the rice flour and 1 teaspoon of the Chooki's, then pour in the soda water and whisk until it's about as thick as pouring cream. A few lumps are fine.

Step 3: Fry in Batches

Heat about 2cm of oil in a deep frying pan to 180°C. A drop of batter should sizzle hard the second it goes in. Dip the pickles a handful at a time, let the extra drip off, and fry for 2 to 3 minutes, turning once, until pale gold and crisp. Lift them onto a wire rack, not paper towel, so the bottoms stay crunchy.

Step 4: Season While Hot

Sprinkle the last teaspoon of Chooki's over the pickles straight out of the oil so it sticks. Pile them up and serve with the dill ranch.

Tip: Dry pickles are the whole trick. A wet one steams the batter straight off, so let them sit on the paper towel while the oil heats up. Cooking for a coeliac? Check the pickle and mayo labels too.