Fry night

Some of you might think why fried food night? Isn't that unhealthy? but we were just trying it for one night, plus we had plenty of tea to help with the oily foods we were going to eat. The idea of fry night came about when a friend of mine wanted to make samosas that she learned from her cooking class. Since her kitchen was in a small NYC apartment with no windows, I offered up my apartment in Brooklyn with a windowed kitchen and big living space. Also, another friend was talking about frying up some other things, such as pickles, cake wrapped in wonton skins, and corn dogs. So we decided to pick some things we would like to have fried. We came up with the list below of things to fry.

Things we fried:
pickles
oreos
cake wontons
snicker wontons
bananna spring rolls
bananna fritters
samosas (vegeterian and meat)
vegetable tempura
cornflake crusted fried chicken
corn dogs

I made a simple fry batter (recipe below) that was very versatile (batter can be used for many different foods you want to fry) and a cornmeal batter (used for the corn dogs). My friend made the samosas while others made the other foods. I was frying most of the food. below is pictures of the food before and after fried.

The batter, cut up veggies, and hot dogs (top left); vegetable tempura before fried (center);
cake and snickers wonton (top right); cornflake rusted fried chicken (bottom left);
fried wontons, banana fritters and egg rolls, and fried oreos (center);
fried cake and snickers wontons, samosas (bottom right)

The pickles were a suprise hit. They were better than I thought. It was a good balance of soft batter, crunchy sour pickle taste. Some of you might have had fried oreos at a street fair before. After you use the batter recipe below you will never pay those high prices at those fairs again. It is so easy to make and they come out soft and cake like. Very tasty. The cake wontons were also another suprise hit. The cake tasted like soft pound cake and the outside wonton skin gave a contrasting crunch. The snickers on the otherhand melted in the wontons so not much taste, just sweet and crunchy.

Fry batter:
(adapted from the recipe Fried Chocolate Sandwich Cookie by Emeril Lagasse)

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup milk
Vegetable oil for frying

Directions

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and the milk. Combine the milk mixture with the flour mixture, stirring just until well blended.

In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan, add enough oil to come 1/3 of the way up the sides of the pan, or about 1 1/2 inches deep. Heat oil to 360 degrees F. Take whatever ingredient you want to fry and dip in the batter. Carefully place in the hot oil. Fry until golden brown about 2 minutes. Place on a paper towel lined plate and serve immedietely.

If you are planning a party or need any catering, you can email me at fancindy888@yahoo.com. I can cater any type of party.