Recipe: Umami Fries

Image Credit: askwaikiki

French fries are a common snack that is enjoyed and loved by many from all walks of life. It is widely available from in most fast-food chains, street-side stalls and even established restaurants. Over the years, countries have adopted and added their personal twist to the recipe. Therefore, today, we will be showing you a delicious recipe on umami fries! We will be teaching you how to prepare an excellent umami sauce to go with your french fries. 

Umami, a loanword from the Japanese, which translates to “pleasant savoury taste”, and has been described as savoury and is the characteristic of broths and cooked meats. This word was first used in 1908 by Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda from a normalization of the word “umai” which means delicious.

Ingredients (6 servings):

Fries:

• • 4 pounds russet potatoes
  • Vegetable or peanut oil, for frying

Umami Sauce

• • 1 cup Vegetable Broth
  • 1 tsp garlic (minced)
  • 1 tsp fresh ginger (grated)
  • 1 tbsp blackstrap molasses
  • 1 1/2 tsp date syrup
  • 1/2 tsp jarred tomato paste
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1 1/2 tsp white miso paste blended with 2 T water
  • 2 tsp blended peeled lemon
  • 1 tbsp rice vinegar

Preparation Method:

Fries:

1. Peel and rinse the potatoes. Then cut them into sticks by cutting the potato in 4 or 5 vertical pieces, and then cutting each piece into sticks.
2. Place them in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Allow them to soak, 2 to 3 hours. Drain off the water and lay the potatoes on 2 baking sheets lined with paper towels. Blot with paper towels to dry them.
3. Heat a few inches of oil in a heavy pot to 300 degrees F. In 3 batches, cook the potatoes until soft, 4 to 5 minutes per batch. Remove each batch and drain on new/dry paper towels.
4. Once all the potatoes have been fried at 300 degrees F, turn up the heat until the oil reaches 400 degrees F. When the oil’s hot, start frying the potatoes in batches again, cooking until the fries are golden and crisp. Remove the potatoes from the oil and drain on paper towels.

Umami Sauce

1. Heat the broth in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger and simmer for 3 minutes. Stir in the molasses, date syrup, tomato paste, and black pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1 minute. Remove from the heat, and then stir in the miso mixture, blended lemon, and rice vinegar. Taste and adjust the seasonings, if needed.
2. Allow the sauce to cool before transferring to a jar or bottle with a tight-fitting lid.

There you have it – a great recipe on umami fries! Once you’ve tried this, you will never go back to your old way of eating fries again. You can also check out our recipe on Kimchi Beef Fries by clicking here. 

However, if you find it a hassle to prepare your own snacks, you can always order well-prepped snacks via foodpanda and have them delivered right to your doorstep.