Mici cu Cartofi Prăjiți
Recipes with Mici
The terrace plate: mici and fries together, the way most Romanians actually eat them at a summer outdoor restaurant. The fries are cut thick, fried until golden, and salted heavily. Muștar on the side. A cold beer is implied.
Prep Time
20 min
Cook Time
25 min
Servings
2
Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients
- 8 mici (store-bought or homemade, see mici-la-gratar recipe)
- 600g floury potatoes (e.g., Russet or Maris Piper)
- Sunflower oil for frying
- 1 tsp coarse salt
- Romanian muștar (sharp mustard) to serve
- Sliced white bread to serve
- Fresh tomato slices (optional)
Steps
Peel the potatoes and cut into batons of roughly 1.5cm thickness. Soak in cold water for 20 minutes to remove surface starch, then pat completely dry with a kitchen towel.
Heat sunflower oil in a deep pan to 160°C. Fry the potatoes in batches for 5 minutes until cooked through but not coloured. Remove with a slotted spoon and spread on a wire rack. This is the first fry.
Raise the oil temperature to 190°C. Fry the potatoes again for 3–4 minutes until golden and crisp. Remove, drain briefly, and season with coarse salt while hot.
While the second fry runs, grill or pan-fry the mici over high heat. A cast-iron griddle pan gives the closest result to charcoal for indoor cooking: 4 minutes per side on maximum heat, turning twice.
Plate the fries in a pile alongside the mici. Add a generous spoonful of muștar and the bread. Tomato slices alongside, dressed only with salt, are traditional on the terrace plate.
Tips
Double frying is not extra work: it is what separates crisp fries from soft ones. The first fry cooks the potato; the second fry drives out the surface moisture and creates the crust. Skipping the first fry produces uneven results.