Crispy Fried Garlic and Garlic Oil Recipe

[Photographs: Vicky Wasik]

Like Thai-style fried shallots, crispy fried garlic is a savory, pantry-friendly garnish in style all through Southeast Asia, the place it is generally known as krathiem jiaw in Thai and tỏi phi in Vietnamese. We attain for it on a regular basis to deliver allium crunch to vegetables, noodles, stir-fries, curries, salads, homemade chili crisp, and a lot extra. Getting ready your individual fried garlic is straightforward—this recipe offers directions for making it on the stovetop and in the microwave—and provides you the bonus reward of fragrant fried-garlic oil, a flavor-boosting pantry ingredient in its personal proper that can be utilized for making all the pieces from fried rice to mayonnaise.

The important thing to success for fried garlic lies largely in timing: it is vital to intently monitor the garlic all through the cooking course of to make sure that it does not find yourself too darkish, which is able to give it an acrid taste. As with fried shallots, the garlic must be pulled off the warmth and drained simply because it reaches a pale golden brown; carryover cooking will take it the remainder of the way in which, producing crunchy, golden-brown bits. And one of the best ways to make sure success is to fully arrange your workspace earlier than frying, as you will want to maneuver shortly on the finish of the cooking course of.

When you pressure the fried garlic from the oil, you unfold it out on two layers of paper towels, season it with salt, and a mud it very frivolously with powdered sugar. The sugar-dusting, a trick that I picked up cooking in eating places, helps to subtly mood the pure bitterness of the garlic, with out making it candy or sacrificing its crunch. As soon as cooled, the crispy fried garlic and fragrant fried-garlic oil will be saved for weeks, though with all their attainable makes use of, it is extremely unlikely they’re going to final that lengthy in your kitchen.