French Fries Recipes

 

French Fries

These are crispy french fries or finger chips that can be made at home easily. 

Prep Time      :  5 mins

Cook Time     :  25 mins

soaking time  :  30 mins

Total Time      :  30 mins

Cuisine           :  World

Servings         :  2

Ingredients

3 medium size potatoes or 2 large potatoes or 1 extra large potatoes or 315 grams potato

3.5 cups cold water

dry rosemary or oregano or mixed herbs - as required

rock salt (edible and food grade) or black salt or regular salt - as required

red chili powder or paprika or cayenne pepper as required - optional

oil for deep frying - as required

Instructions

Preparation

Firstly take the potatoes and rinse well in water. Then peel them. 

Then slice the potato in slices having 1 cm thickness. Before slicing, you can remove the top and bottom part of the potato to get a square or rectangle shaped potato.

Then begin to cut them in sticks having 1 cm width. You can also rinse these potato sticks a couple of times in water to get rid of the starch.

In a bowl take 3.5 cups cold water and dunk the potatoes in it. Keep this bowl outside or in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to 45 minutes. In a hot and humid climate keep the bowl in the fridge.

After 30 minutes or 45 minutes, drain the potatoes in a colander.

Rinse the potatoes with running water. Drain all the water. 

Then place them on a clean kitchen cotton napkin.

Place the second half of the napkin above and press, pat and dry the potatoes. The potatoes have to be completely dried before you begin to fry them. 

First frying french fries

Heat oil in a wok or pan. Keep the flame to medium-low or medium. This flame range will depend on the heaviness of the pan. For a heavy pan, keep medium flame and for a less heavy pan, use a medium-low flame. The oil should have a medium-low heat or have a temperature of 130 to 135 degrees celsius.

Now add the potatoes in the oil. You can fry in two to three batches. I fried in two batches. Do not over crowd the wok (kadai) or pan.

Stir often while frying them for uniform cooking.

Fry till the potatoes get cooked, but they should not brown from outside. They should just get a crust from outside without any major color change. Light browning of the edges is fine. Remove with a slotted spoon.

Place the half fried potatoes on paper kitchen towels. Stack 3 to 4 paper towels. Press some paper towels from top also to absorb extra oil. Let the half fried potatoes cool down at room temperature. 

After removing this batch, you can fry the second batch of potatoes. By the time you fry the second batch of the potatoes, the first batch will cool down. So in the same oil, you can fry the first batch of half fried potatoes.

Second frying - making french fries

Now increase the flame to a medium-high or high. Again here for a heavy pan, use a high flame and for a less heavy pan, use a medium-high flame. The oil should be hot on medium to medium-high heat having a temperature of 180 to 185 degrees celsius.

Add the half fried potatoes to the hot oil. Stirring often begins to fry the potatoes.

Fry till crisp and golden. Remove with a slotted spoon. place them on paper tissues again to remove the extra oil.

While still hot, take the french fries in a bowl. Sprinkle with some salt, paprika or red chili flakes, dried herbs or dry rosemary. You can add your choice of herbs and spices.

Gently shake and toss the bowl so that the salt, herbs etc mix well with them.

Serve these homemade french fries hot with some any dip or sauce of your choice.

Notes

Use potatoes with a high starch content. Russet, Yukon Gold and Idaho potatoes are a good choice. 

Soaking the potatoes in cold water help them to get crisp nicely and they get evenly fried.

Rinsing the potatoes in water or cold water helps to remove starch, which can cause the potatoes to stick together during the frying process.

Alternatively, For crispier french fries you can also soak the potatoes in salt water for several minutes before frying.