I visited three different supermarkets this week. And that’s pretty typical, with all the cooking I do, and never knowing who’s going to be out of nutritional yeast and whatnot. But something awesome happened. Guys, I saw Halloween candy! And hay bales! And mums! And cinnamon scented pine cones! Autumn is really coming. Woo-hoo! I always thought of fried green tomatoes as an early summer recipe, but it’s actually also a late summer recipe. When things start to cool off, lots of home gardeners find their green tomatoes on the vine and in danger of never actually ripening. So they look for creative ways to cook them up while they’re green!
We’re a bit of a ways away from that happening — I’m just starting to get a regular supply of red tomatoes from my garden. But you can never be too prepared for fall. If you buy tomatoes for this recipe, make sure you’re actually buying unripe tomatoes, and not heirloom tomatoes that just happen to be green. I almost made this mistake myself, thinking you were supposed to use green heirloom tomatoes for this kind of thing. But nope! The idea behind using unripe tomatoes is that they’re nice and firm, so they fry up nicely. Fully ripe tomatoes are likely to turn to mush. I’ve made a handful of variations of vegan fried green tomatoes, and done quite a bit of research on traditional (i.e., non-vegan) fried green tomatoes. There are a bunch of different ways people make these things, some pretty complicated and involving three and four dips in different batters and dry mixtures, and some involving nothing more than eggs and cornmeal. I think I’ve found the perfect happy medium with my vegan version.
First, whip up a batter with some non-dairy milk, flax, flour, and nutritional yeast. The flax will mix with the liquid and form a gel. This is your egg substitute! The flour thickens the mixture up, and the nutritional yeast adds some savory flavor. If you’d like, season up your batter with some black salt (also called kala namak). This salt has a high sulfur content and will actually make the batter taste eggy. Dip a tomato slice in the batter, and then dredge it in some seasoned cornmeal.
Heat up a bit of oil in a skillet, add your tomato slice, and fry until crispy and golden.
Tips for Making Perfect Vegan Fried Green Tomatoes
These are best served immediately, but if you have some leftovers, try placing them under the broiler for a few minutes on each side until they crisp back up. I like the texture of a 100% cornmeal coating, but if you prefer something more delicate, try using a mix of equal parts flour and cornmeal. Feel free to play around with the seasonings in your cornmeal mixture. Try some garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, Cajun seasoning, or chili powder. Not sure what to do with your fried green tomatoes? Serve them up with hot sauce, remoulade, your favorite aioli, put them on toast (with this hummus!), over grits, or stuff them into a sandwich (recipe to come!).
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