Deep fried mushrooms

deep-fried chestnut mushrooms

While I had oil hot in the new fryer I did a few extra foods. One of these was deep fried mushrooms.  I was amazed at how tender and succulent they were, and how non-greasy.


Put the deep fat fryer on at about 175C.  Make sure it gets up to temperature, then I recommend agitating the basket and making sure it comes up to temperature again.  This avoids variations in the oil and reduces the risk of the mushrooms lowering the temperature too much.

When I first started frying I lifted the basket out of the oil, placed the food on the basket and then lowered it slowly.  I did this to reduce the risk of the fat frothing.  However, this technique means that the food sticks to the basket.  If you can manage to lower the food slowly into the oil so that it begins to cook before you let go then you don't get it sticking to the basket.  If the pieces of food are small, as in the mushrooms, you can lower them in a slotted spoon and swirl it as it goes down.

I based it on this battered mushroom recipe

Battered mushrooms

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/deep-fried-mushrooms/Detail.aspx

·      100g - 150g flour

·      150 water

·      1 egg

·      1 tsp garlic salt

·      mushrooms

Whisk dry ingredients, whisk in egg and water, cover mushrooms with batter and deep fry for about three minutes – until the batter is crisp.  If you want it to be a more golden colour quicker put a little sugar in the batter.  Gluten-free flours don't brown in quite the same way as wheat.

I simply substituted my flour (urid 40%, tapioca 40% and cornmeal 20%) and added some chili powder and paprika for a bit of extra zip.  Make the batter thick enough that it doesn't all drip off the mushrooms.  By adjusting how thick the batter is you can get mushrooms with a thin crisp skin or a thick bubbly coating.  I did a variety of thicknesses and decided I liked the ones where the batter was quite thick.

Drain on a rack or paper as wanted.  If you have the fat at the right temperature you should find that very little oil comes off the food.

very little fat left on paper

crisp, succulent and lightly golden