How Do I Coat Fried Breaded Zucchini Better?
I received an email from Glenn asking "how to coat fried breaded zucchini better".
He asked, "My father just asked how to make the breading on fried zucchini stick (better)? He just made some but the bread crumbs didn't stick to the zucchini very well. He dipped zucchini slices into egg and then bread crumbs. The bread crumbs ended up kinda burned, oiley and fell off, but the zucchini was fine. Thanks for any tips you can give."
Breading Vegetables For Frying
When breading veggies (or anything) the rule is: dry sticks to wet and wet sticks to dry. Wet and wet doesn't work; dry and dry doesn't work.
In order to get your breading to stick on your zucchini (eggplant, green tomatoes), first pat the veggies dry as much as possible. Then dredge them in a bit of seasoned flour (cornstarch or rice flour to make a crispier end product).
Next dredge the vegetables in your wet batter - either an egg wash or egg-buttermilk combination or you can try a tempura batter consisting of 1 cup ice water, 1 egg and 1 cup flour.
Finish with a dunk in some panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) or other dried, seasoned fine bread crumbs.
I recommend deep frying for fried veggies since the outer coating will have a tendency to burn if they're sitting in a hot pan. If you are going to pan fry, use about ½ inch oil, keep your heat moderate and be very gentle when turning them.
If you have a favorite technique or recipe for fried vegetables, please post in the comments section below.
cas
For the coating to stay on the vegetables, refrigerate them for an hour,(longer even better). The batter will stay on the veggies when you saute them.
suwanee
this sounds good. I think I would dredge in the buttermilk first and then coat with the flour or cornmeal.
Bee
I would use a touch of beer to fluff the batter. Makes it a lighter crispier coating.
Frank Brown
I just fried a batch of Zucchini and squash and it turned out great. I mix 50/50 flour and cornmeal for the dry dusting. Salt and pepper to taste. I mix 2 parts cornmeal i part flour add 1 egg and milk to create a wet coating the consistancy of pancake mix. heavily dust with the dry then dip in the wet nand put in a medium hot pan or skillet with 1/2" cornolla oil or peanut oil. I used a cast iron skillet. rotate when it gets to a nice golden brown. After removing from the oil, place them on a platter covered with paper towells and salt to taste while the surface is still wet. Eat plain or dip in Ranch Dressing. Enjoy and Good Luck
Sam
Along with other tips, specifically for zucchini I stab the slices (about 1/4 inch thick) with a fork to texturize the surface. Lots of little holes. Then I soak them in egg for a minute or so to let the egg penetrate into the zucchini. then they go in flour, back in egg wash, finish with panko. I rarely have problems with the batter sliding off with this method!
G. Stephen Jones
Thanks for your tip. Will have to give it a try.