french fries | navratri recipe

i love french fries… who doesn’t!!!

let me tell you first these are not the perfect french fries, but they come very close to the ones we get in mc donalds or any other fast food chains.

i had got a recipe request for posting french fries. when i make french fries at home, i just chop the potatoes, rub some salt and directly fry them. the potatoes are not perfectly crisp like the mc donald’s french fries but for all of us, these home made quick french fries are alright.

when i got the request, i searched a lot of recipes on the web for that perfect french fries. i stumbled upon many and they all tell me to parboil the potatoes first, then fry it not once, but twice at different temperatures.

now being a busy woman, i cannot afford to spend a major chunk of my time cooking the potatoes, then cooling them, then frying them, cooling them and again frying them…. too much for me.

so i gave up the quest for the perfect french fries and even if some recipe comes closest to it, i will be more than happy & satisfied.

when i was going through the navratri recipes on anamika’s blog i stumbled upon her potato fries recipe. she has kept it simple and easy.

in this method, the potatoes are kept in cold water for 1 hour. i actually kept the whole bowl of chopped potatoes with cold water in the fridge. then drained & dried the potatoes with a napkin and later fried.

i have fried the potatoes twice. when i fried them once, i felt they were less crisp and limpy. so i decided to fry them twice…. experimentation while cooking, eh…

the result were french fries which were crisp as well as soft & tender from inside. the way the french fries should be.

this is also a navratri vrat or fasting recipe by the way, as i have used rock salt here.

i am presenting a step by step recipe so that you can see the texture of the potatoes in the different stages of making french fries:

1: firstly peel the potatoes and then chop them lengthwise to get long rectangular pieces. wash these potato pieces for a couple of times in water to get rid of the starch. in a bowl take cold water and dunk the potatoes in it. keep this bowl outside or in the refrigerator for 1 hour. since it is a tropical & warm climate here, i kept the bowl in the fridge.

2: after 1 hour, drain the potatoes and dry them with a napkin.

3: heat oil. the oil should be medium hot. now add the potatoes in the oil and fry them. i fried in two batches.

4: fry till the potatoes get cooked, but they should not brown from out. they should just get a crust from out without any color change. drain on paper tissues and let them cool down.

5: again heat up the oil and this time the oil should be hot. add the french fries to the oil and cook till crisp or browned.

6: drain on paper tissues again.

7: sprinkle with some salt, paprika and dry rosemary. serve hot with some tomato sauce.

recipe details for crisp french fries below:

french fries | navratri recipe

 

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Prep time

1 hour 5 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

1 hour 30 mins

 

easy crisp french fries

Author: dassana

Recipe type: snacks, starters

Cuisine: world

Serves: 3-4

Ingredients

• 4-5 medium size potatoes
• cold water
• dry rosemary or oregano or mixed herbs – as required
• red chili powder or paprika as required
• rock salt or black salt or regular salt as required

Instructions

1. chop the potatoes lengthwise.
2. rinse them in water a couple of times.
3. now add them to a bowl of cold water.
4. keep in the fridge for 1 hour.
5. the potatoes should be totally immersed in the cold water.
6. after 1 hour remove the bowl of potatoes.
7. drain and wipe dry the potatoes.
8. in a pan heat oil to medium hotness.
9. fry the potatoes till they cooked and soft.
10. drain on kitchen tissues and let them cool.
11. later again heat oil.
12. this time the oil should be hot.
13. fry the potatoes till they become crisp and browned.
14. drain on kitchen tissues again.
15. serve the hot french fried with a sprinkling of salt, paprika and rosemary accompanied by tomato sauce.

Notes

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.

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