Crispy Fried Onions recipe | Golden fried onions | How to make perfect birista for biryani step by step photos. Tips on how to store or freeze fried onions. Golden fried onions are beautiful golden deep fried onions, we usually use for making biryanis. Not only biryanis, but these golden fried onions also goes in variety of dishes. i.e. Kormas, curries, kababs, pulaos and so on. These crispy fried onions are called as birista or beresta. Here is how to make perfect birista (beresta) at home with step by step photos. As we proceed, I will also mention how to fry the onions and store fried onions.
Crispy fried onions are so much loaded with flavour, that one cannot resist just picking it up and munching on it. Now, I have to confess this, my and my son are a die hard fan of golden fried onions. We grab a spoonful and simply munch on it 😛
Recipes Using Crispy Fried Onions (birista):
How to store fried onions (Birista)?
To store fried onions, all we need to do is, take a clean zip pouch or an airtight container. Transfer the crispy fried onions into it and freeze in a freezer until any use. Whenever, you need it, just pop it out of the freezer, scoop the required amount and immediately put it back into the freezer. No need to thaw it, just throw in the dishes and you are done.
Most noteworthy, please do not store fried onions in refrigerator or at room tempertaure. Strictly, freeze it in a freezer. Beresta when stored in a refrigerator or at room temperature goes rancid within 4-5 days reducing the shelf life and taste of it. Storing them in freezer keeps it absolutely good even for a year.
Frying the onion slices in a big batch definitely makes the job easier later 🙂
Now quickly let's go through how to make perfect birista at home.
How to Make Perfect Birista (Golden Fried Onions recipe) below:
📖 Recipe
How to Make Perfect Birista | Crispy Fried Onions Recipe
Ingredients
For fried onions:
- 2 kgs Onions (thinly sliced)
- 4 cups Oil (for frying)
Instructions
- First, Peel and wash the onions well
- Now, pat dry or wipe them and slice them thinly. Be sure to slice all the onions of same thickness. This will ensure uniform fried onion strings.
- In a heavy bottom pan or kadhai, heat oil.
- Once the oil is hot, drop the sliced onions and them until golden and crisp.
- Lastly, spread them onto a clean kitchen towel and allow it to sit for 7-8 minutes.
- Transfer them into a clean air tight container and store it in a freezer.
- If you are making a batch of say 5 kgs of onions, then fry them in batches.
- A step by step photo is posted below in the post.
Notes
- The time mentioned above is based on 2 kgs of onions, and will vary depending on the quantity.
- The remaining oil need not be discarded, but instead can be stored in air tight container in a refrigetor.
- You can very well use it in making your usual daily food.(vegetables, non-veg curries, gravies, etc). It will enhance the aroma and flavour of the dish.
Patricia Tomrell
This is the exact type of receipe I was looking for. You are amazing! Thank you.
Farrukh Aziz
Hello Patricia,
Happy to hear this, thank you 🙂 !
Reny
I've been doing this for few years now after seeing it here.
So easy to cook up a biriyani and other delicacies.
Farrukh Aziz
Hi Reny,
Thanks you very much for leaving your feedback 🙂
rajan govender
DO WE NEED TO USE SAFFRON
Farrukh Aziz
No, not at all, fried onions do not require saffron.
Khurshid Karimi
Some companies sell very crispy fried onions which are a disaster when used for cooking. The reason is that to make the process easier and better looking, wheat footrest is added. It is akin to battered fried onion rings.
The taste and gluey consistency that results is unmistakeable.
These will be perfect in nihari which anyway requires wheat flour in the recipe, but in a worms or a biryani, you are heading to a disaster.
So make your own biriyan as shown.
Pitfalls:
1. Drain the oil quickly in one go rather than scooping out fried onions from the oil. The end process is rapidly leads to burnt/ charcoal onions with a horrible taste.
2. For the same reason, removing biriyan from oil to its cooling should be very rapid.