I am a scientist who loves to cook because there are many similarities between working in a lab and cooking in a kitchen. I love to share my cooking experience with you and to inspire others to cook.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Crispy hash browns

A while ago I made some oven fries and two things made me think twice about making oven fries again. 1) Time consuming and 2) Oven consumes more energy. Therefore I decided to make "non-fried" hash browns. 






It is a simple dish to make since all this dish requires is potatoes and some extra effort in prepping the potatoes. After you peeled and grated the potato, you need to rinse the grated potato to wash away excess starch. Then you need to dry the grated potato before cooking it.



Here are the seasonings that I used :
salt, pepper, and dijion mustard. I would put some fresh herbs if I have them. 

(** one thing I learned after this experience: season the hash brown with salt AFTER it is fully cooked)



Next, just spread the potato in one thin layer and cook until the potato turned brown. 




I enjoyed making this dish and the flavor is so simple and delicious. In fact, I made this twice in a week. This hash browns is as good as it gets without the hassle of baking or frying.

The only negative part of this dish is that it requires a lot, I mean A LOT, of cooking oil, in order to make the potato crispy. 

I think I will try something a little different in the future, which is a hybrid of this hash browns and the oven fries. I will spread the hash browns on a baking sheet and bake it in an oven. Perhaps that method will require less oil. 

Added bonus: Roselle drink (Agua de Jamaica)

I might had this drink when I was little but I was re-introduced to it by my friend Ant. Apparently it is an everyday, all-occassions drink in certain parts of central America. Roselle is the name of a plant that belongs to the same species as the Hibiscus plant. To make agua de Jamaica, I simply washed the flowers and cooked it with water for about 1 hour. I also added some lemon peels to make it a little different. The juice has a slightly tangy flavor and I don't think it is necessary to sweeten it. I didn't do any research but I can venture a guess that this drink it filled with nutrients and anti-oxidant.