017 - French Fries! (A Greasy Love Story)

Who here loves French Fries? McDonalds? Wendy's? If there’s one thing that we can agree on, is that French Fries are like the best thing that could ever happen in the world. I love french fries, I love it so much that I started to make one by myself, and said goodbye to those frozen stuff. 

Great french fries only needs 2 things: good potato and double frying. What's double frying? That's when you fry a potato until its cooked but still limp, and fry it again until its crispy, golden, and delicious. This food will steal everybody's heart. Guaranteed!!

You will need: 

2 large potato, cut into either thin or thick strips. I like mine think, crispy, and fluffy. Take into account that thin fries will cook very quick, making it easy to overcook! Remember, nobody likes crispy and burnt fries.

Large amount of cooking oil. Choose neutral flavored oil. Peanut oil worked best since it has high smoking point, but its not exactly cheap. I stick to palm oil.

Optional: seasonings of your choice. Now here's where you create your own touch. The sky is the limit. Go nuts on dry ingredients! 

Here's how I season my fries: salt+garlic powder+paprika+pepper+parsley. Once you tasted this seasonings, say bye bye to McDonalds shaker fries.

Ready? Here We Go!

Step 1 - Wash your potatos thoroughly. Peel the skin if you want to. Then cut your fries into desirable size, soak it in cold water for at least 10 minutes to remove any excess starch. You will need to replace the water for about 2-3 times, until the water became crystal clear.  Once soaked, rinse it under cold running water, and pat dry using kitchen towel. THIS IS MANDATORY. Hot Oil and Liquid are fire hazard! (No, I'm not joking)

Cut the whole potato in half

Of the halved potato, cut in in half again.

Cut to desired size

End product

Spread the potato evenly

Cover with cold water

Let soak for few minutes to remove starch, repeat as necessary 

Prepare kitchen towel

Lay the potato evenly 

Remove excess moisture 

Dried and ready to go!

Step 2 - Heat your oil, medium heat. You know the oil is ready when you see bubbles forming from the bottom. To test it even further: drop a piece of potato. If it bubbles like crazy, you’re good to go

Blazing hot and ready to go!

Step 3 - Dunk your fries, few handfuls at a time. PLEASE RESIST THE TEMPTATION TO COOK IT ALL AT THE SAME TIME. Cooking everything at once will significantly drop the temperature and will ruin your end product! At this stage, the goal is to cook it, but not crisp it. Your fries will look lumpy when it’s done.

One at a time. BE CAREFUL.

It bubbles!

Nearly done

Step 4 - Pull it out of the oil into a colander or tray lined with kitchen towel. Get as much oil off the potato as possible. Now here's my hack: lay the potato evenly across a flat surface, and cool it off with a small fan. This way, the potato will drop its temperature faster that when it hits the oil one more time, it'll became 'shocked' from the heat and will turn crispy in return!

Remove excess oil as much as possible

Already done, still lumpy, ready for another frying

Step 5 - Now heat your oil (use the same pan, its fine!) With the highest heat you can ever have at home. Let it heat for around 3-5 minutes. 

Step 6 - Once sizzling hot, drop the fries, handful at a time. Watch it as air bubbles escapes and leaves you with nothing but potato with crispy exterior and fluffy insides! Fry it for about 2-3 minutes or until it reaches your desired crispiness!

Golden brown. Just the way i like it

Step 7 - Pull it out, let it drain on paper towel, and throw in your seasonings! 

Salt

Paprika

Garlic Powder

Dried Parsley

Freshly ground Pepper

The seasoning mix

Step 8 - Plate!

GLORY, GLORY, HALLELUJAH. THE MOTHAFUCKIN’ FRIES IS DONE, AND IT’S EVEN BETTER THAN THE GOLDEN ARCHES~!

I'M OUT, I'M GONNA DUNK IN WHILE IT'S STILL HOT. ADIOS

Peace

xx

016 - Chicken Teriyaki! (Or pretty much anything you like)

I’m back people!!

Holy moley, my Japan trip was a blast!! Going to Japan during the Winter/New Year Holiday is easily the best AND worst thing to happen. Why is it ‘worst’ you might ask? NY Holiday in Japan is almost the same as Ied Holiday here in Indonesia; Most shops and sights are closed, and people are flooding the temple (which is one of the sights you probably want to see), and it’s a point-of-no-return situation if you ever got stuck inside the crowds. But nonetheless, it was friggin’ majestic.

I tasted a lot of Japanese local food while I was there. I managed to try Japanese Natto, Soba, Ramen, Udon, Tempura, Katsu, Crab Legs (This thing is the bomb!), and the ever so famous Harajuku Crepes. But for me, The breakfast in my hotel in particular was exquisite. Oh yeah, I stayed at Washington Hotel over at Akihabara. It was 3 stars I think, but the standard was far higher than 3 stars hotel in Indonesia. The breakfast buffet costs ¥1.300, and it offers a wide array of Japanese cooking. If you’re a fan of western style breakfast, you’ll probably be disappointed.

Now, since I’m still on a state of Hangover from my Japan trip, I’m going to show you how to cook (probably) one of the easiest Japanese dish you can do, CHICKEN TERIYAKI. 

‘Teriyaki’ is a method of Japanese cooking in which foods are broiled/grilled with a glaze made from Sake, Soy Sauce, Mirin and Sugar. Simple as fuck ain’t it?

Here’s everything you need:

200 grams of Chicken Thigh Fillets. It HAS to be from the thigh, breast won’t do it because it has less fat content.

2 tbsp of Mirin

1 tbsp of Sake

1 tbsp of Japanese Soy Sauce

1 tbsp of Brown Sugar. Feel free to substitute with white sugar if you don’t have brown sugar.

THAT’S IT. Very straight forward ain’t it?

Ready? Here We Go!

Step 1 – Fillet your chicken thigh if you haven’t done so. For those who got creeped with the thought of deboning a chicken, ask your butcher to do so, making 2 cm cut of bite size pieces. Set aside for a while. Don’t forget, like I always said in previous post, always ensure the chicken are in room temperature before you cook it ;)

Step 2 – Get a small bowl and pour in your sugar, sake, mirin, and soy sauce. Stir to combine, set aside.

Brown Sugar

Sake

Mirin

Soy Sauce

Mix!

Step 3 – Heat your non-stick pan on medium high heat. Since I have chicken skin from my fillet process earlier, I’m going to use it instead of oil. After all, chicken fat ALWAYS tasted better than oil x)

Step 4 – Throw your chicken skin in, let it cook until the fat dissolves into oil. This should take around 2-3 minutes. Once the skin turns golden brown and there's melted chicken fat all over the pan, take it off.

Step 5 – Throw your chicken thigh in, and let it sit for around 1,5 minutes to caramelize.

Step 6 – Flip your chicken, and let sit for 1 minute.

Step 7 – Throw your teriyaki sauce mix in, and stir. At this point, turn the heat down to low. Let the sauce simmer until it becomes sticky, and no excess liquid visible

The Alcohol starts to evaporate

The alcohol is gone, but much liquid still remains.

The liquid is turned into sticky syrup, nearly done!

Step 8 – Plate

Ah, this is without a doubt my favorite Japanese dish ever. Eat this with hot white rice and go explore the savory heaven.

Peace

XX