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Deep fry food technique

   

Unless you are using a electric deep fryer, it is quite difficult to maintain a constant oil temperature for deep frying. Many of us would be using just a wok or pan for deep frying at home. If you are one of these, just like me using a wok there are a few pointers or technique you must be aware of.
 

 

 

 

Maintain a constant temperature is crucial

1. Always heat up your oil to the required temperature before putting in your food or ingredients for frying. This is usually done by tearing a tiny piece of the dough or skin and drop into the oil and if it bubbles and float to the surface, the oil is ready for frying. This is to avoid soaking the food in the oil for too long.

2.When the oil gets too hot, many people make this MISTAKE of just reduce the  heat or lower the fire while leaving the food still soak in the oil.  This is wrong. The correct way is before reducing the heat, first scoop or take out the food from the oil, then reduce fire and wait for a minute or half for the oil temperate to drop before putting back the food back into the oil. Otherwise, the oil will soak into the food or ingredients and you will get a very oily result. No matter how hard you try to soak or drain out with tissue towel latter, it would not come out!

 

Prepare or wrapping your food for frying

3.Again, this is important, always try to wrap the food tightly or densely for frying. For example, Chinese spring rolls filled with meats are easier to deep fry than those filled with just veggie. This is because spring rolls filled with meat are very dense whereas those filled veggie are very loose with plenty of air pockets and space for the oil to sip inside. Extra care must be taken for frying these veggie rolls and to avoid soaking them in the oil for too long. 

 

 

4. Certain food like Woo Kok or yam puff may require you to duck them  in the hot oil several times to avoid soaking them in the oil. For crispy fried chicken, there must be enough oil to cover the whole chicken and most important the oil must be boiling hot in order to get a crispy skin.
 

Special crispy batter for deep frying ( Taiwan )

 


This batter is especially developed for deep frying of prawns, fish etc. The resultant fried batter skin is not only crispy but will not stick to the prawns or fish inside and instead just cover them in between.
This batter preparation may be stored in the fridge for up to three days and reused when necessary.

Batter ingredients
· 125 plain flour
· 1 tsp baking powder
· 1 tbsp potatoes flour
· 1 tbsp custard powder
· 2 tbsp oil
· 150–180ml water

Method
1. Mix all the dry ingredients together.
2. Add water slowing , a little at a time and constantly stirring to obtain a smooth paste. Test the consistency of the batter by dipping one of your fingers into the paste and if the watery paste sticks to your fingers without falling off then the batter is just right. Also test using a chopstick to divide the thin paste on your fingers and if the batter does not rejoin back together or fall off, the batter is just right for frying.


Method of frying - Two stage frying
1. Heat oil in a wok over medium heat.
2. Dip the prawns in the batter and put it inside the heated oil for just a few minutes. Scoop out immediately when the prawns just float and half cooked. Set aside to cool.
3. Replaced the cooled prawns back to the oil now using High heat. Constantly stirring the oil to distribute the heat evening. By now, you can feel the prawns skin is bit hard and crispy. Scoop out when cooked and golden brown.
4. Serve when cooled.
 

 

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