Crispy fried onions for biryani famous as Birista onions help to make a perfect biryani flavor that everybody seeks in restaurants and weddings.
About Birista
Birista or brown onions are thinly sliced crispy fried onions that we use in biryani, korma, pulao topping, dal, Indian soups, and curry. These onions are fried in oil on medium heat till golden fried and show an extremely crispy texture. You can easily crush them with your hands.
Homemade birista or fried onions are clean, and hygienically deep fried so I always make it at home rather than taking store-bought.
Many people ask, how to make crispy and crunchy fried onions at home?
Yes, it's easy and you can make it in few minutes just by following a few rules and some secrets that will keep your Birista crispy for a long time. Check my tip section of this post to know those secrets.
Why is it specifically For Biryani?
If you want to make special (daig wali biryani) then you must need crispy fried brown onions in biryani korma as without that the flavor will compromise or you will not get the actual daig wala flavor in biryani.
Crispy onions can easily be crushed with hands without getting soggy and that's the requirement to make good biryani and korma. We don't need fried onion paste only need hand crushed onions so making it 'crispy' is a compulsory task.
How To Make Crispy Fried Onions (Birista)
Selection of Right Onions For Birista
It's always important to find the right onions to fry that can hold the shape and get fried without deformation. Pakistani and Indian purple onions are the best to do this task. If you will go to the store, you will find a variety of onions and many people make it with white onions which is common but don't use it for this recipe.
You can store the fried onions so it's easy to make them in bulk or simply make according to your usage. Here I am making with 3 medium size onions.
Start with Peeling and Slicing
First, peel the skin of the onions and wash it so it will not be tearing after washing. Now cut into thin slices. You can use a professional knife or any other gadget, onion slicer as per your availability and convenience.
I am convenient to make it with my hands so used my knife and cut the slices. My intention is to cut extremely thin slices as they become more crispy after frying.
Declutter the Onion Layers
After slicing, place it in a strainer and wash it with your hands to declutter all the layers of onions. Now release the water from the strainer. You can keep it as it is for some time to release the excess water from onions.
Drying
Then spread the onions on absorbent paper to make them dry. Not 100% dry, just need to make sure that water is not dripping from the onions. It will take around 30 minutes to completely dry depending upon your surroundings. (You can keep it under the fan, or just keep it in a chiller environment to make it dry).
Now we are ready to fry the onions. So let's delve into the process of frying with precision to make perfectly crispy onions.
How to Fry Onions For Biryani
Frying birista onions is a vital part of all this effort. In a frying pan add cooking oil. Use any canola or sunflower oil to fry onions. (Olive oil is not for this job).
Switch on the stove with a high flame as you see the oil is smoky. Turn the flame to medium and add all the onions to the oil for frying. For half a minute don't run the spoon as the onion will start to get the first texture and the spoon can disrupt that formation. Just sprinkle a couple of pinch of salt as it will help to release natural water in onions so they will be more crispy and crunchy after frying.
After half a minute, run the spoon in onions and keep flipping to get an even brown color. Make sure to fry on medium heat so the onions can cook from the inside and stay crispy for a long time. It will take around 8 to 10 minutes to fry all the onions.
Be conscious and vigilant when onions start to change color and this is the time when it rapidly changes color to brown. Little negligence can turn it into dark brown that we don't want. (It happened to me so many times so alerting in advance!).
As the onions turn brown, immediately take them out and keep on absorbent paper to stay oil free.
Tip: Use your hands to shuffle onions after frying. This little trick will make all the difference to make it crispy for a long time.
Quick Tips
- As per my experience, always choose medium size onions for frying. Big size have long layers and thick texture that can retain moisture and become soggy after frying.
- Thin slicing is very important so focus on uniform size and the same slicing pattern.
- The best way to slice a medium size onion is to cut them in half and then take the half part and slice it with a professional knife.
- Sprinkle salt while frying will release all the moisture in onions and make them super crispy and crunchy in texture.
- Always add onions in hot oil and as it gets the first hardening layer then turn the heat to medium to low to cook from inside.
- Never cook onions at ultra-high temperature as they will quickly turn dark and will become soggy after a few minutes.
- Make sure to take out onions in a way to drain excess oil. Tilt the spoon or any other hack that you can apply.
How To Store Birista
It's easy to store the homemade birista in packets at home. After frying, when it comes on room temperature then you can place it in airtight bags and keep it in a cool place. Avoid to place in the refrigerator or freezer. The shelf life of homemade fried onion is 1 week. It can be increased if you are using AF Packaging.
Don't be confused with caramelized onions, frozen onions and brown onions. All these are prepared with the different cooking methods. Here we are only talking about homemade crispy fried onions.
How to Use Fried Onions (Birista)
It's a multipurpose recipe that you can use in so many ways not only in Indian recipes but also in western and international cuisine.
Korma: Authentic korma recipe with a grainy (danedar) texture is not possible without the addition of hand-crushed crispy onions.
Biryani: In the same way, it's the main ingredient to make daig wali biryani. Check my biryani recipes where I used brown onion not only in curry but also in toppings.
Rice Toppings: Yes, you can add it as rice toppings like peas pulao, chicken pulao, butter rice, or even in desi khichdi.
Dal/lentils tadka: If you have stored your friend onions then add them in your dal tadka (Tempering) and it really makes a big difference in taste.
Burger and Sandwiches: Asian restaurants and cafes make local style burger with the addition of birista onions that adds a good taste to chicken patti.
Pasta Toppings: Yes, I have tried this as my son loves the taste of fried onions. Make desi-style pasta topped with cheese and sprinkle little chunks of crushed onions and bake it and it will make a great taste in pasta.
Dynamite Fries Topping: One of the famous fast food chain make dynamite fries topped with fried onions. It's popular in UAE.
Q & A
Air fry onions basically fry in an air fryer which is a simple, easy, and healthy way to avoid deep frying. You can peel, slice, wash and dry the onion slices and air fry in a preheated air fryer at 392°F or 200°C for about about 20 minutes. Drizzle the oil and shuffle the onions before placing the onions tray in the air fryer basket. After 10 minutes, open the air fryer and drizzle a little more oil and shuffle again, and air fry for 10 minutes. It will be ready to use according to purpose.
The best way to avoid deep frying is to use Air fryer onions. Otherwise, bake it, or stir fry but it will not make a texture like a deep frying crispy onion.
Yes, it's vegan and gluten-free! Make sure to fry the onions in vegetable oil and sprinkle kosher salt.
No, it's not exactly a French crispy fried onion but you can use it as a topping in several French dishes like salads, soups, and baked pasta.
You Might Like This
Fried Onions For Biryani (Birista)
Materials
- 3 Onions Medium Size
- Cooking Oil For deep frying
- 2 Pinches Kosher Salt
Instructions
- Use Red/Purple onions as they have the best texture to fry raw onions with a crispy texture.
- First peel the skin of onions and wash it as it will not be tearing after washing. Now cut into thin slices. You can use professional knife or any other gadget, onion slicer as per your availability and convenience.
- After slicing, place in strainer and wash it with hands to declutter all the layers of onion. Now release the water from strainer. You can keep it as it is for some time to release excess water of onions.
- Then spread the onions on absorbent paper to make it dry. Not the 100% dry, just need to make sure that water is not dripping from onions. It will take around 30 minutes to completely dry depending upon your surroundings. (You can keep it under fan, or just keep it in chiller environment to make it dry).
- In a frying pan add cooking oil. Use any canola or sunflower oil to fry onions.
- Switch on the stove on high temperature as you see the oil is smoky. Turn the heat to medium and add all the onion in oil for frying. For half minute don't run the spoon as onion will start to get first texture and spoon can disrupt the formation. Just sprinkle pinch of salt as it will help to release natural water in onions so it will be more crispy and crunchy after frying.
- After half minute, run the spoon in onions and keep flipping to get even brown color. Make sure to fry on medium heat so the onions can cook from inside and stay crispy for long time. It will take around 8 to 10 minutes to fry all the onions.
- Be conscious and vigilant when onions starts to change color and this is the time when it rapidly changes the color to brown. Little neglegence can turn it to dark brown that we don't want. (It happened with me so many time so alerting in advance!).
- As the onions turn brown, immediately take them out and keep on absorbent paper to stay oil free.
Notes
- As per my experience, always choose medium size onions for frying. Big size have long layers and thick texture that can retain moisture and become soggy after frying.
- Thin slicing is very important so focus on uniform size and the same slicing pattern.
- The best way to slice a medium size onion is to cut them in half and then take the half part and slice it with a professional knife.
- Sprinkle salt while frying will release all the moisture in onions and make them super crispy and crunchy in texture.
- Always add onions hot oil and as it gets the first hardening layer then turn the heat to medium to low to cook from inside.
- Never cook onions at ultra-high temperature as they will quickly turn dark and will become soggy after a few minutes.
- Make sure to take out onions in a way to drain excess oil. Tilt the spoon or any other hack that you can apply.
Hinz
Here is a simple, quick and easy way to make crispy fried biryani onions with tips and secrets. Might be it will help you in your kitchen...