Perfect Paprika Potatoes

Nothing like some alliteration to start off a recipe! 🙂

Let me start off by saying that I’m not a big fan of deep frying, yeah I said it. Anyway once in a while I break my own rules, ha!

This recipe isn’t for the hands off cooks, since it needs your constant attention to ensure the potatoes cook to a crunchy finish. That said, it is reasonably easy to follow.

Ingredients:

5-8 big potatoes, peeled, washed and wedged

Oil for frying

Salt

Black Pepper

Paprika

Tools/Equipment:

Paper towels

Slotted Spoon

Serves 3 people

Once you have peeled, washed and wedged your potatoes, dry them out on a paper towel covered plate.

As the wedges are drying, in your sufuria add your oil. I don’t have a fancy schmancy pan so I just used a plain old aluminium sufuria. I added oil that was just enough to deep fry the potatoes. If you have a deep fryer, use it 🙂

The secret to the perfect potatoes is one, the oil being at the right temperature, two, ensuring the pan is not overcrowded and three, frying them twice or even thrice if you have the time :-). Twice frying is good enough.

To test the oil temperature, use the handle of a wooden spoon. Once the oil is preheated dip the handle into the oil, if the oil starts bubbling steadily then the oil is hot enough. In case you are using a cooking thermometer, you are looking for a temperature between 360 and 375°F.

Now, let’s fry these babies.

Add just enough potatoes into the oil. Overcrowding the sufuria will lead to the temperature dropping and we don’t want that happening. Fry over medium heat.

Since we are going to twice fry our potatoes, the first time is to ensure the potatoes cook in the inside, we are not looking for them to brown. Fry for 5-7 minutes. Once cooked,using a slotted spoon remove onto a paper towel covered plate to drain any excess oil.

Repeat the frying the procedure with the rest of the wedges. Remember to let the oil heat up with every batch.

Once all are fried, now we are ready to fry them for  the second time. This time round we want the potatoes to turn a golden brown colour.

Once more heat your oil, add the once fried potatoes in batches.

This stage should take about 3-5 minutes, keep a close eye to ensure the potatoes don’t burn. Once cooked, remove with a slotted spoon and place the potatoes in a bowl covered with some paper towels.

At this stage, we season the potatoes with the salt, black pepper and paprika.

Sprinkle some salt, black pepper and about a tablespoon of paprika over the potato wedges.

Add the rest of the wedges that you’ve fried twice and add a teaspoon of paprika.

Toss the wedges to ensure they are well coated. Taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly.

Serve and enjoy.