Fried Basil?
I have seen the use of fried sage leaves in recipes (usually as a garnish) but wondered if it might be possible to do the same technique with basil leaves. I assumed their texture might not lend itself to frying like the sage leaf does but I thought I'd ask!
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Yes you can fry basil!
There's just a difference in treatment between sage & basil, because it's so much more fragile and prone to discolouration. You should first blanch the basil in boiling salted water for 5-10 seconds and quickly cool in ice water. Then dry thoroughly before frying in oil or butter.
This will set the colour for the basil and keep it a nice green colour.
Thank you so very much!
The blanching is an excellent technique to use when making pesto or pistou. Keeps them nice and green.
I have specifically seen fried Thai basil served on top of spicy Thai dishes... Chili fish I think. Nice and crisp and eaten by the forkful!
Be careful when frying it cuz it will splatter quite a bit!
Yes, a restaurant here does it and they also fry lemon slices, also delicious. Tyler Florence has a recipe for it.