Depending on the season, you can do strawberries, rasberries, tomatoes, apples, pumpkins and so much more. While venturing around the property we came across green heirloom tomatoes and decided to give fried green tomatoes a try.
Having never really made fried green tomatoes, I kind of winged it. Here is what I came up with:
Fried Green Tomatoes
Green Tomatoes (as many as you want) cut 1/4 of inch thick.
(Sprinkle the tomato slices with salt and ground black pepper and set aside.)
1/2 cup rice milk
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (seasoned however you like. I use italian seasoning and a little black pepper)
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup of Panko
1/2 cup of Safflower Oil
Place the rice milk, flour, cornmeal, and Panko each in four separate bowls.
Coat the pan in Safflower Oil (make sure you have a good amount) and heat it up at a low temperature.
Dredge each slice of tomato in the soymilk, then the flour, then the cornmeal and finally the panko, and place into the warmed pan. Once you have filled the pan with tomatoes, turn up the heat to medium and cover.
I covered the pan while the tomatoes were frying to make sure that they were cooked all the way through. It's your call though. Cook for about 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown.
Remove to a plate lined with paper towels to absorb any excess oil, and sprinkle with some more salt and pepper while still hot. I did about two batches and layered them with papertowels on the plate.
That's it! Pretty easy right? These were delicious and a really interesting flavor that was a little sweet. I think that the Panko added a nice crunch, but you could totally skip it and just got with the cornmeal (that is the traditional way to make fried green tomatoes).
I served these with some awesome mashed potatoes. I basically boiled red potatoes and then mashed them with 1 tbs of garlic, 3 tbs of Earth Balance, 1/2 of a cup of scallions and fake bacon bits. I added a little salt and pepper to taste.
I also made Meredith's garlic bread which she has graciously veganized for me...recipe to come.
Oh! And we also carved our pumpkins! What do you think?
Mine (I went free hand!):
Meredith's:
My mom grew up in Southern Missouri, so I got a lot of these growing up. This recipe with the Panko for extra crunch sounds good! You can also just do them with just flour, just cornmeal, or a mix of the too.
ReplyDeleteIf your breading has a tendency to fall off, try something with an egg-like consistency for more sticking power and make sure the oil is plenty hot before adding the tomatoes (the more time the breading has to soak up oil, the more likely you'll be to lose it!)
For another interesting twist, you can try sweetening them with a little sugar instead of using salt - some people liken this to the taste of sweetened gooseberries.
Thanks for the tips Kitty! Like I said, this was my first stab at this. I use the rice milk and wheat flour as an egg substitute. I didn't have any problem with the breading falling off. These were so yummy!
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