Delicious fried potatoes

You should choose the right type of potatoes for frying. Such potatoes should contain 20% starch, and they should also retain a light color for a long time. If you take soft potatoes (for boiling) with starch of 15% or less, then they will not fry well, even if you use different tricks. Therefore, it is best to buy potatoes in the vegetable department or at the bazaar, where there is a large selection, and they will tell you the variety you need.

Use a vegetable peeler or knife to remove the skins from the potatoes. Potatoes should be clean and light-colored, without dark spots or damage.

Clean the potatoes from any dirt and dry each tuber with a clean cloth or paper towel. There should be no moisture left. Otherwise, the potatoes will not be fried, but will turn out boiled.

Cut the potatoes into thin sticks of equal thickness, about 0.5-1 cm. If the sticks are of different sizes and thicknesses, the thinner ones will burn, and the thick ones will remain raw.

Dry the cut potatoes with a paper towel. During cutting, juice was released that needs to be removed.

Heat a frying pan with a thick bottom. If the pan has a non-stick coating, it will be great for frying potatoes.

Pour a portion of refined sunflower oil into the frying pan; the oil should completely fill the bottom of the frying pan. Lack of oil will not allow the potatoes to fry evenly; they will begin to burn during the cooking process. The oil is poured once and heats up well; you should not add cold oil during the frying process.

Carefully place the potatoes into the hot oil, in no more than 2 layers. The first layer should touch the bottom and fry in oil. You cannot salt the potatoes at this stage!!! Because the salt reacts with the starch and oil, the potatoes will start to fall apart. Fry potatoes over medium heat without a lid.

You can stir the potatoes after about 3.5-5 minutes, when the bottom layer becomes a beautiful golden color. Frying time depends on the thickness of the bottom of the pan and the power of the stove.

Turn the potatoes over so that the top layer is on the bottom. And fry raw potatoes. You don't need to turn the potatoes too early, otherwise they won't brown and will break.

Turn the potatoes over again after about 3.5-4 minutes. When the second layer turns brown, turn the potatoes carefully so as not to break them. It’s better to take a special spatula; I don’t recommend using iron utensils. I reduce the frying period by 1 minute each time. It looks like this: I turn it over for the first time after 5 minutes, then after 4, 3, 2 and after 1 minute at the end. All potatoes are fried for 15 minutes without a lid or salt.

Use a slotted spoon to remove the crispy, fried potatoes so that any excess oil remains in the pan. If the potatoes are too oily, you can place them on a paper towel to remove excess fat. And when the paper towel or napkin absorbs the oil, transfer the potatoes to a plate. Salt the potatoes at the very end; I recommend doing this already in the plate. If you salt the potatoes in a frying pan, you will damage them again when stirring. And there is still unnecessary vegetable oil in the pan, which is not advisable to mix again with the finished potatoes.

Serve hot, crispy fried potatoes with soft centers. You can add green onions, dill, tomato or white sauce to it to taste. If all the steps are completed correctly and all the cooking tricks are followed, you will get very tasty fried potatoes. Bon appetit.