Everyone has some sorts of indicator from their body. Your body tells you to go, slow down, or
stop right now. You listen to those signs, at least in most cases. When your stomach rumbles, you know you're hungry. When your belt buckle pops out, you slow down your fifth round of circling the buffet table. When your tongue is on fire, your eyes are watery, and your ears are smoking, you take the last dip of that curry dish.
I have to admit that I have a body indicator for fried food. Some people I've met said they loved fried food. And you can tell that they do love fried food and that they have eaten a lot of fried food -- it comes through the pores of their face. Your body doesn't lie. I'm not that type of person who have cravings for fried food but sometimes I feel in the mood for fried food. The unfortunate part is that what I have is a Fry-O-Meter inside my body. Whenever I eat fried and especially deep fried food like French fries or egg rolls, my face would be blushed and my throat would get itchy. My Fry-O-Meter would alert me -- BEEP, BEEP, BEEP. In most cases, I would listen to it and take the last handful of the shrimp chips. In some cases, I'd ignore my Fry-O-Meter and the next day my glands are swollen, my tongue is full of little bumps, and my throat would be sore for several days. Then I would go into a stage of self-reprimanding for not listening to my body and my limit for anything deep fried.
I love seafood -- fresh or deep fried. Sushi, raw oysters, and steamed crabs are on my list of cravings but when seafoods are deep fried, they are at a higher level of expectations. When deep fried, the seafood is not only fresh but it has to provide texture, crispy and crunchy at first bite and soft and chewy inside. Some of my favorite seafood dishes are deep fried soft-shell crabs, deep fried oysters, and deep fried shrimp. I usually don't do any deep fryings at home because my husband would be complaining for days how the entire house smelled like deep fried oil. At the same time, my throat would be so sore from eating too much of it that I wouldn't be able to argue back. So the best is to venture to places that serve these deep fried seafood dishes. Because of my expectations of deep fried seafood and my Fry-O-Meter, I can't afford to limit to places like Long John Silvers or food courts that serve fish and chips. Thus I ventured far and near to find the best so if my Fry-O-Meter went whack, I knew that I had the best.
I have tried deep fried soft-shell blue crabs at several seaport restaurants but the best that I have found so far is from a local diner close to my work, Hauppauge Palace Diner. The batter is light and crispy and the crab shells are crunchy. When biting into it, the innards oozed out from the corners of your mouth and dripped onto the plate. The meat is fresh and soft -- like boiled crabs. A squeeze of lemon juice brings out the batter flavor but retains the freshness of the crab. No tartar sauce necessary -- it would mask the mixture of the original flavors. Since eating boiled crabs can be messy and time consuming, trying to find meat in every nooks and cranies while saltwater dripping down to your elbows (and then your phone rings! or you have an irresistible itch on your left shoulder!), on the other hand, eating deep fried soft-shell crabs is quick and easy. You would eat everything on your plate -- no mess to clean up later. The only thing is that I have to listen diligently to my Fry-O-Meter to convince me not to go for a second order.
The best fried oysters I ever had were the Poh Boy sandwiches in New Orleans. Three years ago, when I was tagging along with my sister who was there for a conference, in the four days that I was there, I had two Poh Boy sandwiches. The trip to New Orleans was a food excursion for me. Basically, I tried everything that was unique in New Orleans or whatever that was mentioned in the Eyewitness tour guide book --from boiled crawfishes to gumbo to jambalaya. We strategized wisely so the dishes fit into our schedule and meal plan -- beignet and coffee de lait in the morning at Cafe de Munde, muffaletta for lunch at Central Grocery, and shrimp etouffe for dinner at the Gumbo Shop. We knew we had to try Poh Boy sandwiches for lunch and it didn't need to be at any special place. We walked around looking for signs and asking passerbys until we were exhausted, hungry, and ran out of time before my sister had to get back to her afternoon session. When we finally found one, a small family take-out restaurant behind our hotel, we ordered the sandwiches and hurriedly took them back to our hotel room. My sister ate quickly and took off. On the other hand, I sat in our hotel room, savoring on every bite while sipping Louisiana Barg's root beer between bites. The chopped lettuce, tomatoes, and the special dressing balanced the crispiness of the deep fried batter. The oysters inside were soft and tasted almost raw. I had such a craving for more Poh Boy sandwiches that the night before I left New Orleans, we went for dinner at Acme's, which fortunately didn't have such a long line that night. Even though my sister already had dinner from her conference, I ordered for two -- a plate of raw oysters, crawfish remoulade, deep fried soft-shell crabs, hush puppies, and a Poh Boy sandwich. She gave me the look, questioning if I can finish all these. I reassured her and gave the excuse that since it was my last day, I can indulge myself. She helped only with the raw oysters, the rest depended on the size of my appetite. I ate them in the order that they came in. So by the time I got to the Poh Boy sandwich, I was completely full, so full that I couldn't taste the food anymore. But I was determined to have the last taste of the fried oysters to finish my mission. I popped one in my mouth and couldn't even chew on it. By that time, my Fry-O-Meter had already reached its limit with the deep fried soft-shell crabs and the hush puppies and it went BEEP, BEEP, BEEP which only I could hear it. I picked up each oyster and removed the batter with my hands and finished them one by one, leaving the fried batter behind. The next morning my flight was at 5 am and my Fry-O-Meter was accurate and punctual as usual. My indulgence in deep-fried the night before got the best of me -- my throat was sore and my voice was hoarse. Stuck at the airport for three hours due to a severe rainstorm, I was tortured by my weaknesses. Water was the only thing that my body could take in for that day.
I'm not too fond of shrimp or fried shrimp. But my mom's deep fried shrimp is something that my Fry-O-Meter can't say no to. Whenever I'm visiting my parents in San Diego, she would make deep fried shrimp, if I'd beg. My mom doesn't like to feed us "hot" food. In Asian culture, there is feng shui and then there is yin and yang of harmony for everything. The yin is feminine and the yang is masculine. As well as for food, each is classified as having a quality of "cool" (yin = water) or "hot" (yang = fire). My mom has memorized a list of what food is cool or hot. Any food that are healthy and good for you are considered "cool", mostly vegetables and fruits. Any fried, deep fried, or barbeque dishes are "hot" -- and too much of "hot" food will cause an imbalance in your body, which you would develop sore throat, mouth blisters, enlarged lymph nodes, ulcer, cancer, etc. Thinking about it, my Fry-O-Meter is like my mom or my id. To get rid of her conscience that she is feeding us "hot" food, my mom would balance out her deep fried shrimp or her infamous egg rolls with a bed of lettuce and sliced cucumbers. She'd also made a drink called "nuoc ma" (means "cool water" in Vietnamese), which came from artichoke leaves boiled for hours or a packet of dried crysanthemum flowers, which we required to drink after eaten her "hot" food. My mom's deep fried shrimp dipped in "nuoc mam" (fish sauce) eaten with white rice is next to heaven. The batter is light and crispy and the shrimp is just right -- not too overcooked. I'd continue eating to my last bite and disregard my Fry-O-Meter beeping loudly in my ears or that I have to drink a gallon of "nuoc ma" to balance out the "hot" in my body or that I'd develop mouth ulcer and throat cancer later in my life.
1. Combine 1 1/2 cups of cold water, flour, and 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Mix well.Recipe for deep fried shrimp
Ingredients:
Batter can also be used for deep fried oysters, vegetables (zucchini, sweet potatoes, etc.) and bananas (add 1-2 tablespoons of sugar into the batter).
1 package of tempura batter flour (recommended T.L. Corporation "Elephant Brand")
3-5 lb. of fresh medium/large shrimp
2. Devein and remove shrimp shells except the tail.
3. Coat shrimp with the batter.
4. Add shrimp to a pan of boiling oil over medium heat.
5. Cook for 5 minutes or until the batter turns golden.