Fried Pickles

I'm sitting here racking my brain trying to remember who introduced me to fried pickles, because I owe them a massive thank you. Uncharted territory here in the UK, these delicious snacks are a bit of a staple at bars all over the states and I think it's high time we embraced them with open arms and mouths. Skeptical? In all fairness you probably have a right to be. But cast your doubts aside for a moment and take a chance on these beauties. And while you're making them, I'll go try and explain a deep-fried mars bar to some of my friends from across the pond...

It's a well-known fact that anyone who doesn't like pickles is awful, just totally awful. Not me, I love them, aways have. So much so that when I was a little kid a friend and I, having eaten all of the pickles in the house, decided to quench our thirsts with a big glass each of the watery brine from the jar. Or, as we figured, 'pickle juice'. (We were strange children and that was not a particularly pleasant beverage so if you have the option, I would suggest just eating pickles.)

Slice the pickles, or gherkins if you will, lengthways. Mix up a simple batter that's about 1/2 a cup (70g) of flour, a couple of teaspoons of smoked paprika and cayenne, and a dash of salt and pepper. Slowly add about 175ml of cold water, mixing until you've got a smooth, thick batter that coats the pickles evenly. Bung your pickles in the batter and give it all a good mix before shaking off the excess. Get some vegetable oil nice and hot then deep fry your pickles in batches for about 2 minutes before fishing out with a slotted spoon and draining on kitchen roll. Hot, crispy, tangy.

Pull together a nice little dipping sauce by combining a dash of milk, a few tablespoons of mayonnaise, a teaspoon of horseradish and tomato puree, a hit of cayenne and some salt and pepper. Scatter, grab, dunk, crunch, chew, swallow, repeat. These guys are the bomb.

Ingredients
a handful of dill pickles
70g plain flour
smoked paprika
cayenne
vegetable oil
3 tbsp mayonnaise
dash milk
tsp horseradish
tsp tomato puree