"In Bombay, a potato chip, usually described as a finger chip, is what Americans know as a French fry," Niloufer King writes in My Bombay Kitchen: Traditional and Modern Parsi Home Cooking. "American potato chips are known as wafers in Bombay, in both English and Gujarati. Parsis take wafers seriously. They're the first thing put onto the banana leaf for wedding and initiation banquets. There are several businesses dedicated to nothing but wafer production, where a vat of oil never sleeps. The proprietor sits near the vat, an enormous woklike affair, turning and draining and chatting, while minions in the back madly slice potatoes to keep up with an endless stream of customers.

"This is the way it used to be anyway. The same companies, Victory and OK, and probably others, now make wafers in factories or large sheds, not at the point of sale. They're still superlative, but nothing can beat walking away with a warm and slightly greasy brown paper bag that smells headily of newly fried potatoes.

"Use any suitable potato. ... Idaho russets are the usual recommendation, but skinny fingerling potatoes make ethereal miniature chips. Allow the equivalent of one full-size potato per person, plus an extra. A mandoline or Japanese Benriner slicer or box grater is the best way of getting uniformly thin slices. For easy slicing, choose potatoes you can hold comfortably.

"Potato wafers can be made ahead of time and reheated, but nothing's as good as getting them straight out of the pan."

POTATO WAFERS
Papeta Na Wafer
(Serves 4 to 6)

About 1-1/2 pounds potatoes
3 to 4 cups vegetable oil, for deep-frying
Salt to taste

Using a mandoline or box grater, thinly slice peeled or unpeeled potatoes. The slices should be floppy and translucent. Soak in a bowl of water for at least 1 to 2 hours to get rid of excess starch. Change the water if you need to. Some Parsi cooks add salt to the soaking water.

Dry the potatoes well, first in a salad spinner and then between towels.

Organize your frying station. Line at least 2 trays with a base of plain brown paper bags, laying paper towels over them. Heat the oil slowly in a wok or deep-fryer to about 370 degrees.

Use a frying basket if you have one. Drop the chips into the oil one by one so they don't clump together. Fry to a pale gold, keeping two things in mind — first, successive small batches always work better than overcrowding the chips; and second, King's grandmother's dictum, everything looks lighter-colored in the oil than out of it. Be prepared for a few initial mistakes.

Drain the wafers on the paper towel-lined sheets and sprinkle lightly with salt.