I’d been wanting to make Fried Green Tomatoes ever since I first heard about the southern American classic, which was quite a few years ago, but I finally only got around to it this past weekend.I was watching the movie Fried Green Tomatoes on television and those thick slices of gorgeous, green-gold goodness called out to my tastebuds louder than I could resist. Since I have plenty of green tomatoes growing in my backyard right now, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect.
Although the name of this dish makes it sound deep-fried, the tomatoes are actually shallow-fried in just a little more oil than one might use to saute veggies. Typically, fried green tomatoes are not vegan. You need to make an assembly line with milk, flour, eggs and finally cornmeal, coating the slices of tomato in each before they are fried.Soymilk, I knew, would do perfectly instead of the milk, but for the eggs I decided to substitute flaxmeal plus water. This is because the eggs act as a glue in this recipe to which the cornmeal, that gives the tomatoes a crispy outer golden coating, adheres. And flaxmeal whisked with water produces a gooey mixture very similar to eggs in texture. Plus, like eggs, it has protein and a good quantity of omega 3 fatty acids which are really, really good for you.
If you don’t have access to flaxmeal, I’d suggest just dipping again in milk for a second time and then in the cornmeal.
Here’s the recipe. Enjoy, all!
Fried Green Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 2 large green tomatoes , cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Sprinkle the tomato slices with salt and ground black pepper and set aside.
- 1/2 cup soymilk
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp flaxmeal whisked with 4 tbsp of cold water. If the mixture is still too thick and gummy , add some more water for an egg-like consistency.
- 1/2 cup cornmeal
Instructions
- Place the soymilk, flour, flax mixture and cornmeal each in four separate containers, deep and wide enough to submerge the tomato slices.
- Heat 2 tbsp of canola or other vegetable oil in a cast-iron or non-stick skillet.
- Dredge each slice of tomato in the soymilk, then the flour, then the flax and finally the cornmeal, and place into the hot skillet.
- Fry on each side about 2 minutes over medium-high heat or until golden brown.
- Remove to a dish lined with paper towels to absorb any excess oil, and sprinkle with some more salt and pepper when hot, if desired.
- I had a little extra batter left over and I also fried up a few slices of zucchini. Yum.
- You might want to try making bhujias or pakoras with green tomatoes too. Follow
- this recipe for the batter, dip the green tomatoes in it, and deep fry.
***
My laptop crashed the other day, taking with it lots of photographs of dishes I’d meant to blog about, which is the reason I’ve been a little slow these past few days. The worst is past, though, and I hope to be back to my usual blogging schedule from now on. Thanks for your patience, dear friends and readers!
Also, I am hoping to see more of you participate in It’s A Vegan World: Malaysian this month. The deadline’s September 5, so do send in your favorite dishes. Bloggers and non-bloggers are both welcome to participate. I’m waiting!
(C) All recipes and photographs copyright of Holy Cow! Vegan Recipes.
Sireesha says
August 18, 2009 atPlease accept the gift from blog:)
Lou says
August 18, 2009 atSynchronicity! I was just wondering what to do with the vast quantities of green toms growing in the garden, since I can’t wait for them to ripen. Thanks for the post!
Ann says
August 18, 2009 atThats a real interesting dish to try..what a presenation..slurp !!
Pavithra says
August 18, 2009 atmmmmmmmmmmm looks yummy .. me too tried the deep fried tomatillo with some bread crumbs and parmesan cheese.. this looks good too will try it out vaishali..clicks are good too.
Shri says
August 18, 2009 atBeautiful!Are these the tomatillos? Will try to send in something for the event!
Trupti says
August 18, 2009 atthose tomatoes looks delicious Vaishali..thanks for sharing this new recipe
Stephanie says
August 18, 2009 atHi, The fried green tomatoes look really good. I’ve never had them, and since I don’t have a garden this year I will save this idea until I do. I enjoyed the movie, also…”I’m older and I have more insurance!!”
Peace, Stephanie
Jaya Wagle says
August 18, 2009 atThe fried green tomatoes sound yum Vaishalli. Will have to get some green tomatoes though.
A_and_N says
August 18, 2009 atThis is so on my list to make!
Dips says
August 18, 2009 atEvery blog I visit is doing Fried Green Tomatoes ! Is this some conspiracy going on 😉
I might go for it next , and try to make it low-cal by shallow-frying…I like to stay away from deep-frying…
Soma says
August 18, 2009 atI have heard so much about this.. i have to make this atleast once just to see what the rave is all about;)
caribbeanvegan says
August 19, 2009 atI had this once when I was a teenager my dad made it for me after we watched the movie and it was so good. My tomatoes are not ready yet so I have to wait to do this dish. Thanks for posting and welcome back.
Priya says
August 19, 2009 atCrispy beauties!looks yumm!
Parita says
August 19, 2009 atHmm fried grren tomatoes sounds yummy, def on my to do list 🙂
Priya Narasimhan says
August 19, 2009 atlooks really good vaishali..bookmarking it.
Curry Leaf says
August 19, 2009 atWow,Love the classic souther dish.I could not try this when I was there,though have heard a lot of this-nice way you veganized it Vaishali.Never ever I could think of flax in such a dish
Roshani says
August 21, 2009 atDelicious Vaishali! I just picked green tomatoes from my friend’s garden in Boston and we enjoyed trying this recipe!
A few questions, what would happen if you mixed the flour, corn meal and milk instead of dipping it in one at a time? What do you think in terms of adding salt and other spices into the mixture, instead of putting it on top?
Thank you again for sharing this wonderful summertime recipe!
Vaishali says
August 22, 2009 atHi Roshani, glad you tried it. About your questions, the reason you dip the tomato into the soymilk, then flour, then flaxmeal, then cornmeal is to ensure that each layer adheres evenly to the surface of the tomato, so you get a crispy result. The milk is the glue that binds the flour to the surface, and the flaxmeal-water is the next coating that glues the cornmeal to the surface. If you mix it all up, you won’t get an even coating and therefore the resulting tomato will be soggy instead of crisp.
As for adding the salt and pepper, the recipe does ask that you sprinkle salt and pepper on the tomatoes before dipping them and then again at the end. I find that when you add it to the flour, you end up using a lot of salt and pepper and yet the tomatoes don’t taste salty and peppery enough at the end. By sprinkling at the end, you get more of the taste punch with less salt and pepper.
Hope that helps. Enjoy Boston! 🙂
The Cooking Lady says
August 26, 2009 atI love this dish, as does my daughter. We have made them recently and after seeing this, will again soon.