A poppadom, also spelled papadum or papad, is a thin, crisp disc made from a dough of lentil, chickpea or rice flour, dried and then fried or roasted until it puffs. Poppadoms made from urad dal flour are among the most common. In the UK they are a familiar starter at Indian restaurants, served with chutneys and pickles.
At 9g, one poppadom is the lightest portion of any food in this dataset. Dr Unwin’s South Asian foods chart gives it a glycaemic index of 70, at the start of the band conventionally called high.
The chart prints the teaspoon figure for a single poppadom and no glycaemic load, so the load here was back-calculated.
Poppadom sizes vary. Restaurant poppadoms are often larger than 9g, and mini or cocktail poppadoms are lighter. Frying adds oil but not carbohydrate, and a poppadom puffed in a microwave or over a flame is otherwise the same food.
The dips served with poppadoms, such as mango chutney, lime pickle and raita, are separate foods. Mango chutney is made with sugar; raita is made with yogurt and is on the same chart.
The calculator counts one poppadom per tap, so a basket of several can be added one at a time.
The numbers
- Glycaemic index
- 70
- Available carbohydrate
- not printed on this source
- Glycaemic load
- 4.1, back-calculated from the teaspoon figure
- Teaspoons
- 1.5
Teaspoons printed on the source: 1.5
Glycaemic load: 1.5 × 2.73 = 4.1
Source
Read from a published chart: South Asian foods (sugar infographic). Dr David Unwin. Public Health Collaboration.
The teaspoon-of-sugar method is the work of Dr David Unwin, and his sugar infographics are published by the Public Health Collaboration at phcuk.org/sugar and used here with PHC's permission. Full provenance for every food is on the sources page.
Side by side
-
Poppadom
1 poppadom (9g)
1.5 teaspoons
- Cassava flour
100g dry flour
12.4 teaspoons
- Raita
1 serving (100g)
0.2 teaspoons