Drop frying
Drop frying is a technique of cooking or frying food using few drops of cooking oil or fat. For this purpose, a traditional vessel known as a paniyaram or takoyaki pan is used. This is a thick pan having multiple semi-spherical molds. Once the pan is heated, few drops of oil are poured in each of these molds. Then the batter is introduced in these molds. After frying for some time on low heat, few more drops of oil is poured on the batter. Now the batter is rotated inside the mold, so that uncooked batter goes to the bottom of rounded cavity. Drop frying uses 70% to 80% less cooking oil as compared with deep frying. The poured oil is confined within the mold and does not spread. Hence, whatever little oil is available is fully utilized for frying the batter. Secondly, heat is focused within the cavity of mold onto the batter. Focused heat ensures that the food is cooked properly.
Traditionally, few select snacks were being fried using this paniyaram pan or takoyaki pan such as, Kuzhi Paniyaram or Paddu in India. Similarly, in Japan Takoyaki snacks were made using wheat flour batter. However, this pan can be used to fry a fairly large variety of snacks, as well as baking bread or cookies.
Drop frying is a low fat frying technique. Drop fried snacks will have less calories. Another significant advantage of drop frying is, it always uses fresh oil, which means a healthier snack, unlike in deep frying, in which the oil deteriorates with use.
History
In India, Paddu or Khuzi Paniyarm is a very popular dish. To make this dish, we need a special pan which is called Paniyaram pan. The batter is made using rice and urad dal (black lentil). Both rice and urad dal are soaked for few hours. Then batter is made by grinding process. The batter is allowed to ferment. Few drops of oil poured in all molds of the pan. Then batter is poured in these moulds. Once, one side is done, the batter is rotated inside the mold to complete the frying process.
Similarly, in Japan Takoyaki snack is a popular food item. It is made using all purpose flour, Dashi, eggs, soy sauce, chopped onions, pickled ginger, octopus and mayonnaise. Once the batter is made, few drops of oil are poured in each of the molds of heated Takoyaki pan. Then the batter is poured to make Takoyaki.
By and large, the Paniyarm Pan or Takoyaki pan was used to make above two popular dishes. Due to the special design of the pan, it is observed that with few drops of oil, it is possible to make these snacks. So, already, drop frying method is being used since many centuries. The same technique if used for frying other snack items, then, we can extend the utilization of this special pan.
Pan
In India, the paniyarm pan is in use since hundreds of years.
Earlier, it was made out of stone. In a flat stone, semi-spherical molds are carved and thus the pan was being fabricated.
Then came cast iron pans. Nowadays we get pans made out of thick aluminum sheet with non-stick coating.
This pan can be used both on gas stoves as well as on electric heaters and induction heaters.
List of snacks which have been successfully drop fried
| Solid Batter | Semi-solid Batter | Liquid Batter | Baking | Rolls |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hash Brown | Corn Cutlet | Kuzhi Paniyaram | Hot and Salty Donuts[2] | Sweet Potato Bread Roll[3] |
| Gulab Jamun | Mysore Bonda | Instant Paniyaram | Cookies | Canopy Chat |
| Sabudana Vada (Sago Snack) | Multigrain Dahi Vada | Coin Egg Bites[4] | Bread | Kachori |
| Malai Kofta Curry | Mangalore Buns[5] | Vada Pav[6] | Jeera Alu (Baked Potato) | Sweet Patties |
| Green Kabab | Urad Vada (black gram) | Cauliflower Wings | Dal Bati Churma | Bread Roll[7] |
| Paneer Tikka | Assorted Bhajji | |||
| Balusha (Mini Donut)[8] |
Advantages
- Drop frying uses 70% to 80% less oil. Hence it is healthier.
- Always uses fresh drops of oil (no reuse of oil). This is very significant advantage of Drop Frying. In Deep Frying, due to reuse, the oil deteriorates and the snacks become unhealthy.
- No residual oil. Unlike in deep frying where significant amount of unusable residual oil is left.
- Drop frying is very safe. No need to handle large quantity of hot oil. In deep frying, there are possibilities of fire hazards and hot oil getting spilled causing burn injuries.
- Drop frying is done on low heat, which gives good taste to fried items.
- In a single pan, different types of snacks could be fried simultaneously, as there is no mix up of batters.
- Very simple, hence anybody can do drop frying.
- To start frying, initial quantity of oil required is very less. Unlike in deep frying, where, we need significant amount of oil to start with.
- Less messy and tissue papers are not required for soaking excess oil.
- 33 Urad Vadas (small size) could be fried with 75 ml oil. Same number of Vadas if deep fried, will need about 350 ml of oil. Secondly, the paniyarm pan which is used for drop frying is also not very expensive.
See also
- Æbleskiver in Denmark
- Unniyappam & Neyyappam(both are sweet dishes) and Paddu(plain or spicy but vegan) in South India
- Takoyaki, a Japanese dish
References
- ↑ Deshpande, Uma (2014). "Drop Fried Healthy Snacks". amazon.com.
- ↑ Deshpande, Uma (2018). "Drop Fried Hot and Salty Donuts". Instructables.com.
- ↑ Deshpande, Uma (2019). "Low Fat Drop Fried Sweet Potato Bread Roll". Instructables.com.
- ↑ Deshpande, Uma (2017). "Drop Fried Coin Egg Bites Low Fat Breakfast". Instructables.com.
- ↑ Deshpande, Uma (2016). "Drop Fried Mango Mangalore Buns". Instructables.com.
- ↑ Deshpande, Uma (2014). "Drop Fried Vada Pav Video".
- ↑ Deshpande, Uma (2014). "Sweet Bread Roll". You Tube.
- ↑ Deshpande, Uma (2015). "Balusha (Mini Donut)". You Tube.
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