Garlic is an essential ingredient in most Asian dishes, whether it is fresh garlic, minced or chopped, or fresh garlic in the fridge or fried garlic in oil. These are must haves in the Asian kitchens.

Growing up, one of my responsibilities was to peel the garlic and pound the cloves to use for garlic oil later. One will know when someone in the kitchen is preparing fried shallot or garlic; the amazing aroma will fill the whole kitchen/house.

Today I am going to talk about crispy fried garlic in oil – because this is one condiment that I use the most in my own kitchen.

Crispy garlic in oil

The Asian style garlic oil is where the garlic is deep fried in oil for a few minutes until golden brown, and then cooled and stored in a jar.

The oil is fragrant and can be used for stir-fries. The crispy garlic, once sieved from the oil, goes well with anything. It adds aromatic crunch to vegetables, noodles, stir-fries, home made chilli crisps, steamed seafood and meat, and so on.

porridge garnished with crispy garlic and shallot

If you love garlic, do get some fresh ones when they are on sale. It is recommended that you chop them rather than pound, and crisp them in oil so that they can last for a long time. In fact, the crispy garlic is so useful, it is worth the hours spent peeling and chopping the garlic.

To prepare the garlic, here are the simple instructions:

  • Fresh garlic – chop (knife or blender / food processor).
  • Heat sufficient oil in work/sauce pan on medium heat.
  • Add chopped garlic and stir continually and evenly until garlic starts to bubble.
  • Continue to stir, and scrape down the garlic on the side of the pan/wok.
  • Once garlic is starting to turn light golden brown and crispy, turn off the burner.
  • Gently and quickly pour oil and garlic into a clean container (preferably not plastic).
  • The residual heat from the oil will continue to “cook” the garlic until it becomes crispy and golden brown without being over-cooked.

Here is another very quick and simple way to make Garlic Oil

without having to peel & chop fresh garlic.

For busy families, I have found a very simple and quick way to make Crispy Garlic Oil – using oven roasted garlic granules.

Here are the steps:

  1. Heat the oil until hot (not boiling – this is important, as boiling oil will burn the garlic granules).
  2. Add garlic granules and let it cool!!! The hot oil will gradually brown the garlic granules and not burn them.

That’s it – 2 simple steps!

 If you use garlic oil very often, you will love the garlic granules!

You can get the garlic ganules from Nyonyalicious Store