It was early morning when my mom and I got started, long before everyone at stand out for their daily activities but I was at home at the moment helping my lovely mom getting started with planning to prepare potatoes chips, at first i thought it was for the family 👪 then she said “No i am using them to start my small business.” It was one of those mornings where you feel like something good is about to happen. The kitchen was quiet at first, but as soon as she got moving, it came to life with the sounds of knives chopping, oil bubbling, and our quiet conversations in between you know how sons and mothers get along when they are together that's how it was for us and yes I started to enjoy the feeling of being in the kitchen with her.
We began by gathering everything we needed. The recipe was simple, but we had perfected it over time. For our fried potatoes, we used:
Fresh Irish potatoes (big ones that be good for frying them like chips)
Salt
Black pepper or original pepper it depends on what you want to use
A pinch of chili powder (optional, for spicy customers)
Groundnuts oil (a lot of it for deep frying)
First, we washed all the potatoes thoroughly.
Even though we were going to peel them first, my mom said “it was important to wash off the dirt so it wouldn't transfer on to the chopping board or knives.” After drying them with a clean towel, then we started peeling and I took one bowl and she took another. My hands moved slower than she hers, she's an expert and i was the one taking the one taking the pictures too 😁 so that's why I was a bit slow but she never made fun of me. She reminded me gently. “The more you do it, the faster you'll get.” and i made sure to put that in mind and kept enjoying what I have done so far.
After peeling, we rinsed the potatoes again and sliced them into long, medium thick strips. Not too thin so they wouldn't burn and not too thick so they don't cook all the way through
Once we had a full bowl of sliced potatoes, we soaked them briefly in salt water for about 10 minutes. My mom explained this helped to remove excess starch and added flavor from the inside out. Then we drained the water and patted the slices dry with a kitchen towel so they wouldn’t make the hot oil splash.
Meanwhile, we poured groundnut oil into a better deep frying pan and set it on a medium heat. We had to wait a few minutes for the oil to get hot enough so nothing should get ruined in any way.
We had the potatoes and fried the potatoes in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan so we don't feel disappointed about anything cos we spent a lot of time making things happen. As we cooked the kitchen began to smell absolutely delicious like every childhood memory of street snacks and home cooked dedicacy rolled into one.
Each batch took about 6_8 minutes. Then my friend showed up from nowhere to the door and guess who was at the door? 😏 Yes it was my brother and my photographer @lareaiyela and he saw how everything was taking place. After he showed up we waited until they turned golden brown and crispy on the outside because my mom was busy with something else then she came back to check how things were going. Using a slotted spoon, I helped her scoop them out and lay them on a tray lined with plastic bowl.
While they were still hot she sprinkled our special seasoning mix on them: a blend of salt, pepper and just a little chilli powder for those who liked a bit of heat. My mom wasn't really big on seasoning but she wanted the spices to stick to the hot oil and coat the potatoes evenly. She had a good eye for when to add just a little extra.
Once all the potatoes were fried and seasoned, we let them cool for a few minutes before packaging. ''Let's use a potato chip pack''she called it that 😂 but I will just say lineal because that's what it is, so the chips stayed fresh and warm. Each lineals got an equal portion, and we tight it up very well then i got ready for other things too. So Mom did kept some remaining for us, so we had to taste it first to see how everything went with getting it done so we can fry more because you need alot to sell out for people.
While we worked, we talked about everything her plans to expand her small chips business, the new customers who came through to place orders the night before, but I wasn't available to witness that though and how proud she was of how far we had come. I liked those conversations the most. They made me feel like we were more than just a mother and child we were partners.
Images originated by me
After we finished packaging, she checked her list of pre orders. Some customers had requested a few so they can sell them and she gets her share of it, while others needed in their shops around our street. She organized them neatly before she left to make the deliveries, she looked at me with a smile and said, ''Thank God it is successful.''
Clean up was our final step. We washed the pan, wiped the basket, plastic bowl and eat the leftovers because they was delicious 😋. By then, the morning sun had fully risen, and the whole house smelled like golden fried goodness.
That morning wasn’t just about making fried potatoes chips.
It was about hard work, but teamwork and learning the value of starting something from the scratch. I saw how much effort my mom put into every details, even though she got a cut on her hand when making the potatoes into a a good shape she didn't stop at all and it made me proud to be a part of it.
Helping her gave me a glimpse of what it means to build something with love, discipline, and purpose.I gained something even more valuable: the experience of turning a simple recipe into something people actually paid for and the joy of doing it with someone I love. My amazing mother really enjoyed spending time with her on everything for real and I hope you guys also enjoy my blog for you today. One love. 🚀 ❤️