Is it just me or does every dish seem tastier with crispy fried shallots as topping? Noodles, soupy dishes, curries, rice… That beautiful golden color, the crunch when you bite, and the sweet caramel taste! And the aroma when you’re frying them – so heavenly…

For years I tried making fried shallots. They came kind of close, but not really. They were a little bit soggy, a little oily, not really crunchy, or they’d be burnt. I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong. I used to resort to going to Chinatown and buying big jars of the pre-made fried shallots, but inevitably after a few weeks of opening they would start tasting weirdly of preservatives and I’d have to throw them out.

Then a few years ago, while my mom was still alive and healthy, full of her usual energy and bright spirit and chatter, spreading her boundless joy on all of us – she was visiting, was cooking something and making crispy fried shallots for it. I watched her and was surprised. First, she used a lot oil to properly submerge the shallot slices and give them space to float and cook in the oil (unlike the tiny little quantity I used). She didn’t use high heat, she let it cook for a while, and stirred frequently. And when she did take them out, she spread them out to dry and cool down properly – at which point they became perfectly crispy. Basically the opposite of everything I’d been doing.

So since then I’ve been able to make crispy fried shallots (known as beresta in Bengali) that come out the way they should be. They’re actually really easy to make, it’s just that I didn’t know the method before. Here’s my mom’s method.