There is a widely-prevalent myth that frying foods in slightly colder oil makes it absorb more oil while frying in very hot oil makes the food absorb less oil. Reality is absolutely the opposite. Frying food in slightly cold or moderately hot oil actually makes the food absorb less oil as compared to frying it in very hot oil.
The reason for this is because when we fry foods, the water in the food heats up & evaporates and its place is taken up by oil which then also cooks the food to a crispness. Now the evaporation of water in the food depends on the temperature of the oil at which it is fried. When food is fried in moderately heated oil, the evaporation is less and so less oil will take up the space occupied formerly by water in the food. In case of food fried in very hot oil, the evaporation of water content in the food will be very high and as a result more oil will enter and occupy the space left empty by evaporated water and in turn making the overall fried food greasier.
The reason the myth came into place is because foods fried in moderately hot oil still contain water content in them as not all the water has been evaporated and this remaining water together with some of the oil that has been absorbed gives the sogginess texture and a general greasiness feeling while eating. On the other hand foods fried in hot oil are very crisp and therefore the firm texture masks the total oil content inside it and gives the feeling while eating that it contains very less oil.