One of the most popular condiments in Indonesian cooking is fried shallot flakes. A bit tedious to make, but you can make them in big batches and store them in airtight containers. These can last for one week in room temperatures or two weeks in refrigerator. We love to sprinkle some on top of soup dishes, fried noodles or fried rice. 

These crispy shallot flakes are sold in packages, but it is not difficult to make it yourself. It is important to slice the shallots as evenly as possible. If thicker flakes are preferred, the whole batch should be of the same thickness. A mandoline would be extremely helpful, but to get the kick of it, I sliced them all myself. Took an hour, roughly, and yes, I was that slow. I don’t own mandoline myself. I wonder whether I can use a slicer? Anyway, that’s for future experiment

Ingredients

1 kg shallots

4 cups cooking oil

pinch of salt

pinch of tapioca flour (optional)

Instructions

• Peel and slice shallots. Wash them under running water for a few seconds. Drain and pat dry slowly by spreading the shallots on top of clean and dry kitchen towel. It is important to dry them as much as possible to shorten the frying time
• Sprinkle some salt (and tapioca flour – if used) on top of them. Leave for 5 minutes
• Heat cooking oil in heavy pan / wok over high heat, until light smoke comes out from the surface
• Toss in the sliced shallots and cook for 5 – 8 minutes, until they turn light brown and all the moisture is cooked out
• To get them perfectly golden, remove them from the oil a few seconds before they actually appear done 
• Remove shallots from oil with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel lined plate as they will darken slightly as they sit). Let cool
• Store in an airtight container, lined with clean paper towel on the bottom and top of container