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Crispy Fried Shallots Oil
Crispy fried shallot oil (葱头油) is one of my favourite condiments which can be topped over almost any dish. I particularly love these fried shallots over plain porridge, fried rice or oyster sauce vegetables. I love them on its own as well – I can eat it as a snack. In my earlier attempts in deep frying the shallots, I burnt them, because I found out that even though deep frying shallots takes considerably longer than making garlic oil, the shallots go from light golden brown to golden brown really quickly. Hence you need to watch the flame very carefully especially during the second half of the cooking.
More Home-made Oil Recipes:
- Garlic Oil Recipe (pictured above)
- Fried Lard Oil Recipe
- Rendered Duck Fat Recipe
- Rendered Chicken Fat Recipe
Check out the step-by-step photo guide below for the various stages of cooking the shallots. Note that the actual timing will depend on the heat of your cooker. Generally, it takes about 12-15 minutes to cook the shallots.
STEP-BY-STEP PHOTOS
Peel shallots and if you rinse them before slicing, dab dry with a kitchen towel first. Slice thinly and uniformly to ensure even cooking.
Heat oil to medium. As you can see in the photo above, there are tiny bubbles which indicate that the oil is starting to be heated. You can add a small piece of shallot to test the heat before adding all of them.
When oil is heated, add sliced shallots. This is look of the shallots after adding them to the the oil for 1 minute. They are dancing and bubbling mildly in the oil so I turn up the heat up very slightly.
At the 10 minute mark of cooking, you can see parts of the shallots browning. At this point in time, you have to give the shallots your fullest attention (no multi-tasking) because they can become burnt quite quickly from this point on.
At this point in time (when the shallots start to brown), I add 1/2 tsp salt. The salt helps the shallots to be crispy and also adds flavour.
At this point in time, more than half the shallots have turned golden brown. This is where I turned off the stove – the shallots will continue for a few more minutes in the hot oil even with the stove heat off, until all the shallots turn a lovely golden brown.
When the fried shallots are cooked, separate the shallots from the oil using a slotted ladle. Blot out excess oil by draining the shallots on kitchen paper towels or tempura paper. Store the fried shallots in an airtight container in the fridge.
Run the shallot oil through a fine sieve to get particle-free oil. This oil has been infused with the wonderful aroma of shallots. Keep it covered with lid and use it in your cooking and stir-fries – it adds a great flavour to your cooking.
i hate the splatter of putting food into hot oil. possible to put in the shallots in before the oil gets hot, then turn up the heat after that? would the shallots still brown?
it won’t really splatter if (i) you pat dry the shallots (if they are wet) before you slice them and (ii) your oil is hot with just a bit of bubbles but not over heated. I’m really chicken when it comes to oil splatters but I did not encounter any when I make this.
I love these two. I can smell the goodness when I mix shallot oil with chicken oil
I loveeee fried shallots on anything savoury! My favorite condiment!
I haven’t tried shallot oil tho…and i’ve failed frying my own crispy shallot numerous times! T_T
I burn them very often too hehe
Fried shallots and shallot oil are absolutely essential to the famous Kolo Mee of Kuching.
In order to make shallots more crispy, u can cut and soak in the salt water for half an hour before you fry. This is what I learn from my Indonesia maid,just to share with you
That’s a great tip! Thanks for sharing. After reading my post, my friend shared me another tip, which is to add some salt to the oil at step 2 – the shallots will be more crispy like you said :)
I love this! I remember my mom used to make them with bacon drippings…;-)) Fat, but really good, esp. in winter time…
extra sinful, extra nice :)
Well, you do know I love fried shallots, ya? They make anything plain so “un-plain”. Love adding them to noodles soup too and fried rice vermicelli/noodles. And I actually tossed them in to pasta when I never cook any tomato or cream sauce. Very good !
yes I know! :) I think shallots make the best ‘snack’. and your shallot pasta sounds really fushion and yummy – something I will like definitely hehe
This is a must in my cooking, too. It’s so good with everything.
Fried shallots, love it! I store them in the refrigerator just to keep them crunchy :)
I love love love fried shallots! Just warm rice with fried shallots will do for me :)
Great illustrations and explanations. I would leave the sliced raw shallots to dry out on paper towel for a few hours. It makes them crispy after frying.
These are my grandson’s favourite. Whenever they come over for their meals, fried shallots is a must for them.
thanks for sharing your tip. Oh another way people grain the oil is to place it in a sieve with a plate underneath it. I forgot to mention that in my post hehe