I usually take out french fries from McDonald's or Jollibee and buy potato chips but now, I will be going to teach you on how to make homemade french fries and potato chips. This recipe is healthier and you don't have to put salt or any spices for this snack to taste good. Others attempted to make perfect fries, but after frying these, the fries turned into soggy potato slices.
Potato chip snacks are full of artificial flavorings while french fries (Frenchies and other frozen ones) are a bit expensive and has preservatives that will make your hands sticky if you will touch those.
Making and cooking this in an old fashioned way is the best pot luck or gift that you can bring to parties without spending too much.You could make this during weekends or just slice the potatoes today, dry these tonight and then fry these tomorrow.
Here are the procedures:
1. Peel the potatoes and slice these to your desired thickness. I was using a slicer bought from Divisoria more than a year ago and hey!, it still works. Be careful though.
2. After slicing, soak these on a cold water. The colder the better. Tip: If you want to fry these after 2 hours, just soak these on a bowl, place this on the freezer within a few minutes until it is cold enough, and then, put this out of the freezer and place this with other foods below inside the fridge.
Why do we have to soak these slices on the water?
Because cold water removes the starch that makes the potato slices stick to one another.
3. Planning now to cook the fries and chips? But wait, you have to make sure you will drain the excess water and dry these out. For effective draining, instead of using a strainer, place the slices on a plate (don't make these overlap) and then, place the plate under the sun.
If placing these outside is impossible, just place a table napkin, katsa (unbleached muslin fabric) or sheets of tissue before putting the potatoes. Reminder: have at least 2-3 folds because placing only a single sheet will make the draining process useless because it will make the tissues too wet and it defeats the purpose.
4.Heat the pan until a smoke comes out. Put oil. (I was using vegetable oil) Wait for the oil to become warm and then, you can now place potato chips and slices. But be careful, don't put too many slices and these must be spaced out properly in the pan. Why? because if the fries or chips were overcrowded in a frying pan, there's a tendency that the remaining water will mix with oil and instead of having fried potato chips and french fries, you will end up with boiled ones.
If you want the crispiest fries and chips, just cook these longer until become brown. Then, lay these on a table napkin or tissue and leave these until become dry.
Tip: Have 2 plates or bowls, while the slices that were already fried were drying out, just put these on another bowl when a new batch of fried slices comes.
Out of 2 medium-sized potatoes and after I already ate a few slices, wow! This snack is good enough for two persons.
Yum! Crispy fries and chips can now be served. In our case ( I and my family), we did not use salt or any spices, we just eat these on their own. You can use spices or dips if desired.
Homemade french fries and homemade potato chips are great! Since you already have knowledge on how to make homemade fries and how to make potato chips, you can turn these into a business. Aside from spending less in eating authentic foods, with exercise, you can now add this snack to your healthy diet.
