Cooking Journey: Crispy Fried Jalapeños (and Pickles!)

 

I was going to start by saying, "I'm not sure what prompted this craving" but, I know exactly what caused it. I had some leftover jalapeños in the fridge and I used half of one in my breakfast this morning and thought. Hmmm, what else could I use these in/make with them? My mother isn't a huge fan of anything super spicy (yes, jalapeños included) so I figured whatever I made was either going to be for myself, or I was going to have to disguise the jalapeños. Turns out, my dad finished what he was doing earlier than expected so, I had someone to share these with! I am glad he came home because I'm not sure I could have eaten them all myself (who are we kidding, sure I could, but it's less embarrassing to admit we each ate half.) 

The recipe I followed can be found by clicking HERE! 

This recipe calls for 5-6 large jalapeños but I had 3.5 medium sized ones. Large ones? I'm not sure what constitutes a jalapeño as "large" but, I digress... I also had a (very sad) jar of pickles at the back of the fridge that had next to no pickle juice left in it so I figured, I'll probably have extra batter, I should try frying some pickles, too. 

Flour, salt, pepper, chili powder, garlic powder, vegetable oil, beer, eggs and jalapeños 

First step, I cut the stems off the jalapeños and then I cut them lengthwise and scooped out their guts (read: seeds). 

I cut the pickles the same way as the jalapeños, I just didn't take a photo of them!

The next step we make the batter, essentially we are just mixing all of the ingredients together, except for the vegetable oil! That's what we will use to fry the spears. 

I modified this recipe slightly as I wasn't using nearly as many jalapeños and I learned from making the sesame chicken, I ended up with a TON more batter than I needed. I also opted to use 1 egg instead of the suggested two. Pictured above are all of the dry ingredients in the bowl. The photo below includes the egg and the beer. 

Once everything is nicely mixed together, it says this batter should be slightly less thick than pancake batter. Honestly, this batter was probably about just as thick as pancake batter but I didn't find that affected or ruined the jalapeños. 

Not pictured: me plopping all the spears into the batter. I basically used the same technique (if you can even call it that) as I did when I made my Sesame Chicken. Ensured each piece was coated evenly, heated the oil, held my breath and hoped for the best. 

This recipe actually does tell you what temperature to keep the oil at (365F) but, naturally, I don't own a thermometer so, I guessed! It says to maintain this temp throughout the entire cooking process but, that's just impossible! I did what I could, I ensured the oil didn't get too hot. That's when your food tastes like burnt oil or grease. Just kept an eye on what the oil was doing and how quickly the spears were browning. Basically if your oil is smoking, thats bad news. I was also under extra pressure because the vegetable oil I used for these jalapeños was the ONLY vegetable oil I had left. No room for error. Measure twice, cuss once. 

In the sesame chicken blog I just posted, I talk about how I hardly deep fry anything and how afraid I was and here I am, frying everything. I guess you could say I'm basically a professional, now (jk I'm far from it.) Pictured above you can see the jalapeños frying in the oil and the ones on the right are chillin' on the paper towel/cutting board set up. Again, same way I made my sesame chicken. 

I thought about making a tasty lil' chipotle dipping sauce or something creamy and ranch-y but, I got lazy and used regular ranch and spicy mayo! Not together... I put the dips into separate bowls. I just like having variety. 

Both the jalapeños and the pickles came out... If I'm being honest... Better than I expected! My dad really enjoyed the batter these were coated in so, that was a bonus! He claims he's not picky but... He's a tough critic. If they're dad-approved then I think they must be pretty good! This beer batter is nice and light and doesn't taste oily, greasy or heavy! This would be really delicious on fish, in my opinion! Perhaps next time I try this beer batter it will be on fish... Stay tuned ;) 

Pictured above are just the fried jalapeños! The pickles are pictured at the very top of this blog (in the bowl on the right, as indicated in the photo).

These are a crowd pleaser because they pack a little bit of heat, some good crunch and lots of flavour! Like I mentioned, these would for sure be kicked up a notch had I had a few fun, homemade dipping sauces but, they were delicious on their own! 

Do you like when stuff is beer battered? Do you have a preference? Do you like fried jalapeños or pickles? What's your favourite bar appetizer! 

xo