FOOD AND TRAVEL

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Making Perfect Birista - Crisp Deep Fried Onions


Roti (Indian unleavened bread made on daily basis) and fried onions, if you know these two things, you can cook a meal. Thats what my mother always professed. 

Strange that it may sound, one may still believe a regular bread making a way to a meal but how fried onions. I hear you on that. " I will never fry onions, I can do without birista on biryani", I used to say.

As a eldest child in the house of four children, one would expect me to be a loving and caring daughter for my parents and an elderly guiding sister to my siblings. But I was a rather rebellious child. I never stopped telling mom how boring and torturous it is that a woman tolls in the kitchen whole day, as if there is nothing more to life, always declaring that I will never enter the kitchen. 

But my mom wasn't easy on us . Even after hundreds of  arguments she would still ask me to atleast see her making roti. There were times she would do the emotional blackmailing, after all she labored behind four children in the house. Each one came with there own set of trouble attitude. If I was an aggressive and rebellious child, the other sister was a shy and ultra sensitive , and yet other sister was so different from all us, she worried us. Top it with baby brother in a house of three girls. And only because I love her so, I would give in and come to kitchen to help her make roti. From kneading the dough, rolling out the roti to cooking it, she would make me do one component of it from time to time.

The next step was to make fried onions. She would say "Its requires patience and keeping an eye and mind on what going on the stove, this will help you later ". Of course, I never gave in to the idea. I always thought she was exaggerating the importance of fried onions. After constant arguing, burning quiet a few kilograms of onions, she finally succeeded in teaching me the two things. That was the end of my journey in the kitchen.

I had never made a cup of tea or coffee (yes, not even instant coffee) for myself let alone others. Regardless of this attitude, when I first stepped into the kitchen in my new home, I felt no fear. Armed with my mother's recipe I cooked up the meals from the very beginning based on Andaaza (estmation) cooking. I found myself getting at ease immediately. I was fascinated. The girl who claimed cooking was not for her wanted to cook whole day. There were times, I would make 3 main course meals a day. Not to say our grocery bills was sky rocketing. I knew I had to calm down, but I almost never did until I decided to pursue a corporate career My enthusiaum continues, but unlike before I have to deal with a lot of pre planning and time saving meals to get through the day.

It might not make sense, but I do credit my easiness in the kitchen to what my mom taught me "Roti and fried onions if you can these two things, you can cook a meal". Cooking everything else is a creative outlet, but roti and fried onions are a rather tedious and time consuming. If you get through this, you feel like cooking a real meal is pleasure.

I often make fried onions in bulks and store it. Here are some of the way in which I use it :

1. Biryani is not complete without fried onions. Garnish with fried onions to give your biryani an authentic taste. If you making biryani with precooked meat (chicken or meat) add fried onions while layering.

2. When plain rice just isn't doing it for you, try serving your rice with sprinkling of fried onions, coriander and mint. You will always want a jar of fried onions on your side.

3. Meat love onions and Indian based meat recipes love fried onions. Garnish mutton stews, chicken curries with fried onions and people have to think your an Indian food pro.

4. Make fried onions sauce for your curries. Yes, you read me right. Next time you add yogurt, cream or making tomato based sauce, try adding a tbsp of crushed fried onions to it. Gives a different dimension of smoky and sweet flavor.

5. Add crushed fried onion  in your meat patties, kebabs, cutlets or burgers. 

6. Add fried onions, salt and lemon to yogurt or cucumber raita.

What else do you do with fried onions? I would love to hear.

Deep Fried Onions

Ingredients

7-8 red onions (medium size) *
Oil for deep frying

Note:

* I was out of onions otherwise I double this quantity.

Method:

The key to crispy fried onions is thinly sliced onions. Yes, so thin that you see through the slice. Its not like someone is going to arrest you for a few thick slices, but try your best.


Heat oil for deep frying  in a wok/kadai on low heat. Make sure the oil is only hot enough so that when you add the onions it sizzles. You don't want it to be too hot or smoking. Add all the onions to the kadai depending on the size of kadai, the onions should submerge in the oil.


 Let it cook till it bubbles. And then turn up the heat to medium low.


You want to cook the onions without much stirring till they start to get a color.  Too much stirring leads to uneven cooking and you will end up with not so crispy onions. On the other hand, not stirring enough might lead to burning.You need to watch it. Once the onions goes to that light golden, it doesn't take much time to go to brown, dark brown and black!


Once you see they have attended a light brownish color. Switch off the stove. The onions will continue to brown.


Remove the onions and let them drain in a  large sieve rather than a tissue towel. 


The onions need to be spread on an open surface without being crowded. The key is to allow air to crisp it up while it cools. Toss them around while they cool. When completely cooled store in an air tight container upto 2 weeks or freeze for longer periods.
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35 comments

  1. Omg! My mom says the same thing about Roti and fried onions!! Hehe but i make my onions crisp by adding little salt just as they start turning brown! ( this works wonders! ) makes them quite crisp without having to brown them so much! Try out this little secret and let me know :)

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  2. @clingnclang Welcome to the blog :) Yes, I agree I know a few people who had salt and it lends to a slightly lighter colored barista which are as crisp. But I feel that for longer use, they tend to become soft in the jar. So glad you made that point, it would help my readers :D

    Some people also add sugar, though I have never tried that.

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    Replies
    1. Hi thanks for the tips, a quick question, can i use fried onions instead of sauteying onions till brown which is required by many non veg curries and is time consuming process

      Regards,
      Shiva

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  3. Thank YOU (big time) for adding this, I never thought I would find a recipe for making this lovely crispy onions, I am palestinian-jordanian and we use crisp onions on a dish called (mjaddarah), made of lentils-rice-cumin and adorned with this lovely onions, which I never got right (will give it a try today ;),
    thanks again(to you and to your wise mama!)

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  4. Thanks for the tips!! What couldn't you eat crispy fried onions with?!? They're awesome! I put them on top mujaddarah or Persian stews.

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  5. Ohhh... I'm really bad at making birista, so I love this post. The amount of oil it needs honestly repulses me. So when frying the onions, I don't use enough and obviously I don't get the desired result. I think for now I'm perfectly happy enjoying birista when someone else makes it :)Hopefully in the future when I make khichda I'll refer to this post.

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  6. I never thought that the fried onions that go on top of biryanis are such an effort.I love fried onions on my bharwaan baingan or any spicy sabzi too!
    What a way to start Ed preparations...would love to know other delicacies from you too.
    By the way...in total contrast..as a child I loved cooking..Infact i m cooking since class 7 ..mainly coz my granny used to give us money whenever I cooked smthing good...tht was the motivation :)

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  7. @Ruba Hey there :) So glad you enjoyed the post. I just googled "mjaddarah" and it looks to be quiet similar to the Indian "khichdi" which is a preparation of rice and lentils as well. I love to adorn khichdi with fried onions and I can see how much you will enjoy mjaddarah with it. Thanks once again!

    @Karen So everyone knows mjaddarah except me haa ? So glad you liked the tips :)

    @Sabera I initially started the post like " I hate deep frying" but I figured I have written it quiet a few times on the blog and I still end up deep frying! But can I say it ? " I hate deep frying"

    and I totally forgot mentioning khichda for using fried onions. Thanks for mentioning!

    @Tanvi Tussi toh expert ho :) Nothing could convince me to enter the kitchen!

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  8. oh i've never needed to store them so no idea..but does adding salt make them soft if you store them?

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  9. @clingclang So glad you checked back :) Basically the salt helps the onions to draw out the moisture thus helping them become crisp faster without much browning. Which is great if you use the onions immediately. But for longer use what I experienced is, when I add salt, it stays crisp for ready use but when stored it gets soft. I think this is due to the fact that the enough moisture is not drained out, due to the fastened process. A better option would be I suppose to add salt and brown it for a bit longer. But then for me its defeats the purpose of adding salt.

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  10. Kulsum, yes it is simmilar to khichdi, only probably a lit lighter on the peppers :) I will give Khichdi a try (I will try to find if you have a recipe in here for it)... by the way, just made the birista yesterday :) perfect recipe!

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  11. ♥ the lesson your Mumtaight you...in perspective, Mum is always right! Fried onions is the way to go. I love the versatility of this beautiful ingredient. It's always part of my almost every Indian dish!

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  12. This is a brilliant idea i such a lazy bum that i used to bake onion instead of frying them in whole batch and another reason i scared of frying or just terrible....will give it a try soon...and regarding being a bib sis,I'm the 2nd and youngest most demanding in house ha haa love it....poor you big sisy :P

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  13. absolutely love fried onions....tho' i have never tried deep frying them, just pan roasting..
    must try this.

    thanks,
    pb
    http://kamalkitchen.blogspot.com

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  14. Love the fried onion and the variety it gives to the curries and rice recipes. Nice to have dropped here, lovely site. Best wishes.

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  15. Lovely and crispy
    http://shanthisthaligai.blogspot.com/

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  16. I love your take on fried onions. Cooling on mesh rather than paper - maybe this is the secret. Even on Italian dishes fried onions are tasty. Canelleni beans cookd then tossed with spinach, garlic and chilli are great when topped with fried onions. Thanks for sharing your recipe <3

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  17. Oh..the Chinese love their fried onions too. And I too used to be afraid of using so much oil, but, after overcoming that fear.. it was effortless! And so delicious. I love your food blog..stumbled on it via pinterest! Thanks..

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  18. Thanks a bunch for this recipe but more so for ideas to use it. I knew how to do it before but never thought of doing in big batch and store it (duh...since i freeze + store + make big batch of so many other things). I am surely going to do this coming weekend for Biriyani and will store leftover for later use. (Q: can i put it in zip-lock and put it in regular freeze? or in freezer?

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    Replies
    1. Shweta, I have never tried freezing them. I just make sure to drain them properly and store in a container which last for about a week. If you do end up freezing them, do let me know how they stay!

      Delete
    2. Hi Kulsum,
      We keep them frozen for months... however, we don't actually make them at home.. we buy them ready-made at a local caterer in mumbai. Saves us some trouble :)

      Delete
  19. Your mom was so right about fried onions making a meal. I toss them in everything from omlettes to focaccia. Love the crisp, smoky sweetness of them!
    This is my first time here. Your blog is beautiful!

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  20. I use them in "waghaar" for my dals :) Adds a different flavour altogether!

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  21. Thanks for sharing this tip. My dear friend Nilu is out of town and I desperately needed to make berista so I will try this out. Otherwise the other option is caramelised almost bitter onion made by the "cook"

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    Replies
    1. Hey all went pretty well taste also good but after a while onions softened....y did they not remain crisp?

      It was quite useful as I din wish to use cornflour.
      Thanks.

      Delete
  22. Thanks for the tips! I really had no idea why my onions weren't crispy enough always. I'm going to try this temperature change and airing to crisp method.

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  23. Hi Kulsum,
    Can't thank you enough for posting this. I've had enough experiences with improperly cooked/ charred onions, that I really needed to know how to do this. Coming from a household where biryani was never made, nor were fried items, I had stumbled badly trying my hand at biryanis. First was learning how to make the rice and now I've learnt how to make perfect fried onions, thanks to you. I tried this with 7 large onions today, using a medium sized saucepan. Made it in 3 batches. The first 2 batches were crispy and perfect. The last batch turned out mushy, maybe because I overcrowded the pan, but thats alright I will use them to make a qorma or something. Thank you!
    -Joyce

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  24. Hi Kulsum

    I just wanted to share my method of making fried onions, which is a little contradictory to your method. I do stir continuously in gentle strokes all the way, until it turns golden, and this actually helps in the even browning of every slice on onion. I was surprised to read the part where it was suggested that continuous stirring leads to uneven browning.. In your pictures, I did notice how some onion flakes were still pink in parts while some were golden already, also the different shades of brown and blackish brown in the final result all point out to uneven browning. Check out the picture in this blog, of evenly browned fried onions, made using continuous stirring like I do - http://www.wikihow.com/Image:Make-a-Chicken-Biryani-Step-1.jpg

    ReplyDelete
  25. Hi Kulsum

    I just wanted to share my method of making fried onions, which is a little contradictory to your method. I do stir continuously in gentle strokes all the way, until it turns golden, and this actually helps in the even browning of every slice on onion. I was surprised to read the part where it was suggested that continuous stirring leads to uneven browning.. In your pictures, I did notice how some onion flakes were still pink in parts while some were golden already, also the different shades of brown and blackish brown in the final result all point out to uneven browning. Check out the picture in this blog, of evenly browned fried onions, made using continuous stirring like I do - http://www.wikihow.com/Image:Make-a-Chicken-Biryani-Step-1.jpg

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi there! thanks for your comment. This is an old post and my recipe writing skills I believe has improved since but the post says that 'don't stir the onions until they start to color (or sizzle a bit) that is because when so many onions are added to the wok at once, the temperature of the oil falls drastically and until the oil comes back to the temperature, stirring the onions interrupts the process and makes them soggy. Once though the oil is back to sizzle it is good to stir to get color and crispness all around but not repetitively in my experience.

      P.S. - the photos are taken with flash and so the extremity in contrast

      Delete
  26. Hi there.. thanks so much for posting.. but now what id like to know is the measurements. I now have batches of fried onion but how much is equivalent to 1 onion. 1/4 cup? More? Thanks again

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  27. Thanks for the tip to turn off stove when they start going brown.

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  28. Hi, I also have the same question as the 2nd to last person that commented. I have brista but don't know how much equals one medium onion. Please help.

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  29. Hi,
    I am pretty sure I commented here before, but for some reason, I cant see it right now, so I'll post it again.

    I have a lot of brista but I don't know how much corresponds to 1 medium onion. Can you pls help? Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Hi...
    What I do is..I cut onions thin but length wise and spread it in air to let a little dry..say ..for...5-7 minutes.Then i deep fry.

    ReplyDelete

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