Recipe - How To Make Crispy Shallots

Crispy shallots are used commonly for garnishing, as a topping for food to give added flavour. They are also very useful as condiments, as a seasoning for a variety of dishes. The famous Hill Street Singapore Char Kway Teow added the crispy shallots in the frying of the kway teow.

crsipy shallots

shallots

The tedious part is to peel the shallots and cut them finely. But it is worth the effort because the crispy shallots will make a simple dish taste wonderful.

For convenience, crispy shallots can be bought off the shelf in supermarkets. However, the freshly made crispy shallots give a lot more fragrance.

The traditional way is to dry the cut shallots in the sun before deep frying. This saves cooking time and also save on oil. The catch phrase nowadays is quick and easy. So the finely cut shallots can go straight into the frying pan.

I use the microwave oven to deep fry the shallots.

For 100 grams of shallots, the cooking  time is about 10 minutes. Actual time depends on capacity of oven.

Peel and cut the shallots finely. Put the shallots in a bowl and cover the shallots with oil.
Heat on high for 3 minutes. Take out the bowl and stir the shallots with a spoon. This is to ensure that the shallots are evenly fried.

Caution: The bowl is hot.

Reheat on high at intervals of 1 minute and stir the shallots. Once the shallots start to brown, reduce the heating time to 30 seconds each. The shallots are ready when they are golden brown. Drain on kitchen towel and keep in air-tight container.

Here's a 1 minute video on how to make shallots using wok.