Fried garlic is commonly used by Filipinos to garnish or flavor their rice and other dishes. While I cannot really establish the health benefits of fried garlic, we cannot deny how aromatic they are. They make our dishes and rice more delicious. They are usually available in stores, sold by plastic containers. But now, I will teach you how to made homemade crispy fried garlic. You can also make this and sell to your friends online. It’s one way to earn while we are still on quarantine. Just remember to practice food safety while preparing your fried garlic.
Eating Raw Garlic
Raw garlic has much more health benefits than fried ones. My father swears on the efficacy of fresh garlic when his former officemate suddenly had very high blood in their company’s warehouse. Without medicine and being far from the hospital, that guy was in a dangerous position. But they had garlic in the kitchen, so this guy chewed on a few cloves and drank water. He calmed down and they were able to bring him to the hospital to get proper medical treatment. At least, the fresh garlic was the first aid.
However, not a lot of people can keep on chewing fresh garlic to maintain blood pressure. It has a very strong flavor as well as a pungent effect on your breath. Yeah, garlic breath is not exactly attractive.
Fried garlic, on the other hand, is just so yummy. And since we live in a city where the Bacolod chicken inasal is a signature dish, we always eat it with garlic rice. We eat a lot of rice with this combination.
At home, we use a lot of fried garlic for my homecooked dishes. That is why I decided to make a big batch so that we can just get from the container whenever we need som.
How to Make Homemade Crispy Fried Garlic
You can make as much homemade crispy fried garlic as you want, especially if there are many of you in the family who like it. Honestly, you can also make extra money during the quarantine for the Covid-19 by selling this. As you stay at home, this will make you productive and earn some money on the side.
But in my case, I just want to make some for my family. I no longer have the energy to do it.
I wanted to make more — but I got lazy at four. Haha It rhymes!
Four heads of garlic, that is. After that, I got tired of peeling and mincing. And since this is just for home consumption, nobody is checking me anyway if I have peeled enough.
This is the joy of homecooking, I can stop if I can’t take it anymore.
Ingredients:
- 4 heads of garlic, minced
- Salt
- Cooking oil
Procedure:
Add some salt into the minced garlic and shake to spread the flavor all around.
Slightly heat cooking oil in a pan or pot that’s just enough to cover all the garlic and let them float a bit. I used a ceramic casserole.
Making sure that your heat is on low, add the minced garlic. Simmer and fry until you reach the desired color, stirring occasionally.
Turn off the heat immediately and using a metal strainer, drain the oil. Transfer the garlic into a container. Let it cool completely before covering.
You can now use this as topping for your rice. It also makes for yummy and aromatic arroz caldo. Enjoy!
Kitchen Hack
Cooking Tip: Why Low Heat
I did not wait for the cooking oil to be really hot before adding the garlic so that these will cook evenly. On high heat, the garlic will burn immediately upon impact and make it bitter. Fry the garlic on simmer. You will see little bubbles while frying and in just a few minutes, the air will be filled with the pleasant aroma of fried garlic. You will have to watch closely while cooking because this can easily be overcooked. I did not time it because the cooking time will depend on how big the batch of garlic you are cooking plus how big your pot is. But my estimate for my four cloves was 8 minutes.
Other homecooking recipes
Meanwhile, check out these other recipes that you might like to prepare at home:
- DIY Shabu-shabu Hot Pot Recipe for the Family
- How to Cook KBL (Kadyos, Baboy, Langka): Ilonggo Comfort Food
- Health Benefits of Oyster Mushrooms + Recipe
- Suaje on the Rocks Recipe
- Creamy Baked Scallops with with Sliced Potato Recipe
- Balut Recipes for the Craving Mama
- Cha Misua | Chinese Birthday Misua Recipe
- Baked 40-Clove Garlic Chicken Recipe (Modified)
- Cooking with Crab Fat Paste (Aligue)
- Cooking with Chorizo | Cocina Estella Spanish Chorizo
- Shrimp Etouffee: A Cajun Seafood Recipe
