Dredge fried foods in semolina for a crispy coating

Learning new ways to use familiar ingredients is one of my favorite parts of cooking. It’s exciting and humbling—In the grand scheme of things, I know no shit about shit. The latest example of this is semolina.i was only using it When I was baking bread until about a week ago, I was delighted to learn that it also gives the best coating for fried foods I’ve never tried before.

I first heard about this technique from a cookbook author Nik Sharma’s TASTE Cooking Article on Semolina, originally published in 2018, has resurfaced on social media in the past few months. I instantly fell in love with the title, “Rougher than flour, crispier than bread crumbs.” I love crunchy fried foods, hate working with bread crumbs, and happened to have a lot of leftover semolina from when I vowed to “make fresh pasta in earnest.” (I did not do it.

It turned out to be more than that. First, I have to talk about the texture. Semolina is a coarse flour made from durum wheat, but when fried, it becomes something halfway between cornstarch and cornmeal. Like cornstarch, semolina forms a very thin crust in fried foods.However, unlike cornstarch, the chewiness you get from semolina is crunchy, not crispy. It’s surprisingly thick, yet less grainy and grainy than cornmeal. You can see how thin the coating is in this photo.

Besides its excellent texture, semolina has proved to be easier to use and far more versatile than other dredges (or batters) I’ve tried. I used it in the eggplant slices, fried tofu cubes, and of course the chicken thigh schnitzel situation pictured above. Simply press the surface of the food onto the semolina. All the dishes were done perfectly which was a bit of a surprise. We usually use a different kind of dredge for each, such as white flour for eggplant, cornstarch for tofu, and traditional three-phase breadcrumbs for chicken, but apparently that’s no longer necessary.

All you need to make your own semolina dusted fried snacks is the food you want to fry and some semolina flour. Dryer foods (cauliflower, mushrooms, green beans, etc.) may need to be soaked in beaten eggs or milk. mayo brush It helps the flour stick, but anything that releases its own liquid should be able to pick up enough flour on its own. Once in, you have a perfectly crunchy, hassle-free fried snack.