Beer Breaded Garlic Mushrooms

I've been loosing weight recently. As I've not been putting much effort into healthy eating or been to the gym, this can at least in part be attributed to the deep fat fryer remaining in the cupboard for the past few months.

I created a recipe for Mint Double Chocolate Torte a couple of weeks back, but have been to scared to actually make it. Whilst I'm quite convinced that it'd be lovely, it'd also be rich and loaded with calories. I got as far as making the base for it this time last week, then chickened out.

This is probably a step forward in my life; I've been wanting to find a healthy diet that I enjoy without feeling like I'm constantly denying myself tasty food. I've tried 'dieting' in the past and whilst it gives short term results, it's an unpleasant experience and doesn't fix the longer term problem - wanting to eat foods containing more calories than I know I'll burn.

It's not all doom and gloom though - I still hate most vegetables and had a most enjoyable, gluttonous meal on Saturday night. Whilst I'm considering trying some more raw recipes this week, last night I bowed to Twitter pressure to deep fry and had a go at making breaded mushrooms. I'd not had any in years - all I've found recently have contained egg.

I've not breaded anything before, but it was surprisingly easy - the tester one came out perfectly. I guess that most people use egg to help the breadcrumbs stick, but this is easily substituted for batter (and gives me an excuse to sneak some booze into the meal).

Ingredients (serves 3-4):

• 150g Baby Button Mushrooms
• Beer Batter
• 1 tsp Garlic Granules
• 4 Slices Fresh White Bread

I started by making up a bowl of beer batter, to which I added a tsp of Garlic Granules. I think on reflection that I could have added 2 tsp.

I lightly toasted the bread, then made into fine crumbs using my kitchenaid blender on slowest speed (I expect a food processor would also work).

The mushrooms I washed and cut the hard stalks off, then heated the oil to 175^oC.

Toss each of the undried mushrooms in a bowl of flour, then transfer to the batter. Ensure they're entirely coated, then roll in breadcrumbs. If you do it with a reasonable amount of speed then you shouldn't have issues coating all sides.

Immediately after rolling; drop each into the hot oil using a spoon just above the surface. You'll probably want to try one first, then do the rest in a couple of batches.

Try to add all mushrooms in each batch to the oil within a couple of minutes of each other, then fry for 5 minutes. Turn them a couple of minutes into cooking, to ensure they crisp evenly.

Drain off as much oil as possible and transfer to a bowl with kitchen tissue. Set aside until required, then fry again for 1 minute to re-heat. Serve with garlic mayonnaise :)