THE RECIPE LARDER

Beer Battered Onion Rings

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First and foremost let me be fiercely profuse in my apologies for just disappearing. I spent 3 weeks running around Europe having a mad time. First two weeks with my girlfriends in Ireland, and then with the husband and another couple in Germany. It was a sabbatical of enormous proportions.

The super special girls' trip.

The super special girls’ trip.

Our farm in Mahabaleshwar is well on its way to being planted. The rains were particularly vicious this year. We lost many trees and shrubs. But well, that’s the ebb and flow of life, and we are looking forward to some organic, homegrown fruits and vegetables.

I had my best friend over in Mahabaleshwar, and we kindled up the wood-fired oven and made ourselves some pizza. I make the dough using fresh yeast. When it is nice and plumply risen, I roll out small rounds and give it an initial dance into the fire. Once it’s mildly pre-cooked, I add the pizza sauce, cheese and toppings and send it for another jig. As a result, I get thin – and I mean ultra thin pizzas, with a crunchy crisp bite.

Nishi and me.

Nishi and me.

This time around, the wood was still wet from the rains. The fire would not catch, the hearth would not heat and the pizzas would just not pre-cook. After a few exasperated tries (the dough was rising, and would have spoilt) I picked up the rolled out pizza dough and flipped it straight into the flames.

I heard a collective gasp from my helpers. One started dancing on his feet, saying “ It will burn, it will burn”. I just grinned and took a tong and flipped it over to let it cook the other side. All this took just a few seconds. And out came the most fantastic precooked pizza. It had blown up like a pita bread, but the results were sooooo good. Crunchy, with oozing melting cheese which stuck to our palates and teeth.

beer battered onion rings

beer battered onion rings

What I am trying to say here is cooking is an art – agreed, but it is also instinct. When I give cooking classes, I always tell my students, don’t think too much. If you want to substitute an ingredient with another do it. If you want to increase the heat do it. There is no right or wrong in cooking. Some person somewhere must have had jam with goat’s cheese and then started the trend of serving preserves with cheese. To my taste buds – nothing tastes better!

beer battered onion rings with a sprinkling of chaat masala

beer battered onion rings with a sprinkling of chaat masala

Enjoy the beer battered onion rings. These are my favourite fried snack, and my kids love them.

Darned easy to make. Just a little planning, as the onions have to marinate at least for two hours before they can be fried.

I make a quick fix, cheat sauce with these onion rings. They taste way better than, some store-bought sauce (though mine is a mix of store bought sauces :P) The fried ring, with the tart hot sauce gives it an amazing balance. Of course, you can substitute it with any other sauce of your choice. But do give my recipe a fair chance too.

beer battered onion rings and a chilled beer

beer battered onion rings and a chilled beer

Baking powder is a crucial ingredient in this recipe, so don’t try to substitute or do away with it. It is what gives the onion rings the crisp and crunchy texture when mixed with a beer in the batter.

My friend and me feasted on them, in Mahabaleshwar. Hope you like them too – PS: they go really well with chilled beer!!!

 

Beer Battered Onion Rings
Print Recipe
My favourite snack, darned easy to make. It will be an instant hit amongst your friends.
Servings Prep Time
4 people 15 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
15 minutes 2 hours
Servings Prep Time
4 people 15 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
15 minutes 2 hours
Beer Battered Onion Rings
Print Recipe
My favourite snack, darned easy to make. It will be an instant hit amongst your friends.
Servings Prep Time
4 people 15 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
15 minutes 2 hours
Servings Prep Time
4 people 15 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
15 minutes 2 hours
Ingredients
For the onion rings
For the batter
other stuff
Quick Cheat Sauce
Servings: people
Instructions
To make the marinade
  1. Mix all the ingredients of the marinade in a vessel.
  2. Pull out all the rings of onions from the diced rounds. Each onion should be separated. The ring should be whole, without any cuts.
  3. Submerge the rings into the beer marinade and refrigerate for minimum 2 hours, and a maximum of 4 hours.
To make the batter
  1. Add all ingredients of the batter in a bowl
  2. The batter should be thick and should fall with a plop when dropped from a spoon.
  3. Give the batter a good mix with a whisk. It should have no lumps.
  4. Make this batter just before you need to fry the onion rings.
For frying the rings
  1. Pour oil into the non stick and heat well on slow to medium flame. It should not start smoking. If it does, let it cool down before popping in the onion rings.
  2. Wipe each ring, using a kitchen towel or a good quality paper napkin. Each ring should be completely dry.
  3. Dip one ring at a time, into the batter. Give it a quick flick to take off extra batter.
  4. Drop the ring into the hot oil.
  5. Work quickly and put in as many onions as you can, till the pan fills up.
  6. After appx 30 seconds (or when the batter looks well fried) turn the rings, using the tong, so that the other side can fry.
  7. Pick out the fried rings with the tong and place on a paper napkin to drain off excess oil. You can press it down slightly (not too hard) with another towel to drain off more oil.
  8. Sprinkle some chaat masala and serve hot, with the cheat sauce.
For the sauce
  1. Add all ingredients together and mix well.
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Fried Fish

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I grew up next to the sea, where the fishermen cast off the unwanted pieces of catch and left it for the dogs and birds. A friend, who lived in the North of India, would reach Bombay, and put his nose up in the air, would take deep breaths with a grin on his face. He said that the salt in the air invigorated him. Next time when I came back to Bombay from a trip, I  did the same thing. That’s when I knew what he was talking about, and that’s also when I realised that I cannot live away from the sea for too long.

The balmy salty air, the smell of drying fish, the clash of the waves, the grains of sand under my feet, the sea which answers your questions if you ask them of her. This is home, and that’s the reason why the smell of fish never offended me.

I am primarily a vegetarian. But I had to post this recipe for my meat loving readers.

Fried Fish

Fried Fish

 

I have a friend. Actually, she is my best pal, and her husband is an amazing cook. I believe his mutton dish (which he slow cooks for hours) have actually made people lick their fingers till they had sores.

Finger lickin good

Finger licking good

They had invited our entire gang (our kids are high school mates). All our friends had gone deathly quiet while eating his fish. Other than looking up to take another piece, (and fresh, hot ones were being served continuously), I could not meet any of their eyes, or talk to any of them. “Such was the taste”, they said later. “We forgot you guys (who did not eat fish!) existed!”

Fried Fish - Indian Style

Fried Fish – Indian Style

I was thrilled to see so many people sniffing (it can be spicy) yet stuffing their mouths with fish after fish. (Needless to say, they were all rolled home – no one could walk!)

The foodie in me was very excited, and on my recent visit to Bangalore (where my friend has shifted, much to my continued disgust!) I decided to get her to make some fish, so that I could take some pics and rob her recipe 😉

She has an amazing house, opening on two levels, to two different gardens. I clicked the pictures under the shade of a tree.

The recipe is disturbingly simple. The trick she says is, to marinate it for days and days. They wash the fish, then marinate it, put it next to each other in a dish, cling wrap it and leave it in the freezer for as long as they can. A minimum of 4 days to a maximum of 10 days or more. The longer it marinates, the better it tastes.

Yummy Indian Style masala fried fish

Yummy Indian Style masala fried fish

They mostly like to use Surmai, (Kingfish) as it has only one central bone. If Surmai is not available, they go for Pomfret. Indigenous fish like Surmai, Pomfret, lend better to this very Indian, desi recipe.

They buy a huge fish (when its Surmai), and cut slices, no thicker than half an inch. It is immediately washed, marinated and frozen, once it got home. When they want to fry it, they take it out of the freezer section and pop it into the normal refrigerated section for appx 2 hours. Once thawed it can be fried anytime you require. All it takes is a frying pan and some olive oil. The marinade splatters all over, while cooking, It’s a mess to clean up, so you can put a lid on the fish, while it cooks, then take it off and make it more crisp, at a later stage.

fried fish

fried fish

Squeeze fresh lemon juice over the hot fillet, and eat it with freshly cut onions and green chillies. Pop a beer!! The combinations is amazing.

Cheers!!

Fried Fish
Print Recipe
Absolutely easy, and the yummiest fish ever!
Servings Prep Time
1 Serving 20 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
20 minutes 4 days
Servings Prep Time
1 Serving 20 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
20 minutes 4 days
Fried Fish
Print Recipe
Absolutely easy, and the yummiest fish ever!
Servings Prep Time
1 Serving 20 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
20 minutes 4 days
Servings Prep Time
1 Serving 20 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
20 minutes 4 days
Ingredients
Fish
Marinade - for one slice of fish.
Other things
Servings: Serving
Instructions
Marination
  1. If using a Surmai, cut into half inch thick slices. If its a Pomfret, debone. Wash the fish slice. Wipe dry using a paper towel.
  2. Mix the salt, turmeric powder and red chillies with the vinegar and make a thick paste. Put the vinegar a little at a time. The paste should not get runny.
  3. Marinate both sides of the fish. The marinade on both sides should be thickly applied.
  4. Keep next to each other in a dish. Fish should not be kept on top of each other as the marinade will get stuck to each other. Cover with cling film.
  5. Freeze the marinated fish for a minimum of 4 days.
To fry
  1. Thaw fish in normal refrigerated section for appx 2 hours.
  2. Add oil to the non stick pan.
  3. Let it heat, but should not smoke.
  4. Slide a slice of the fish, and cover with lid. While cooking the marinade splashes all over, so its better to cover with a lid.
  5. After 5 odd minutes, open the lid and turn over the fish, so that the other side cooks.
  6. After another 5 minutes, take off the lid and fry the fish on both sides till it gets a little crisp and brown.
  7. The marinade will now look brown / black.
    The marinade will now look brown / black.
  8. Fry as crisp as you like. The marinade has cooked, so if you want it less crisp its okay to take it off the fire.
    Fry as crisp as you like. The marinade has cooked, so if you want it less crisp its okay to take it off the fire.
To serve
  1. Serve hot, with lime, onions and green chillies. And Oh!! Open a beer!!
    Serve hot, with lime, onions and green chillies. And Oh!! Open a beer!!
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