Most People Are Frying Zucchini Wrong! The Greek Trick for Crispy, Never Greasy Zucchini

Most People Are Frying Zucchini Wrong! The Greek Trick for Crispy, Never Greasy Zucchini 📖 Get Nothing New to Buy — my yiayia's cooking, written down with real measurements at last (300 pages, 92 recipes): https://despinacookbook.com 👵 Subscribe and cook with me every week — the old way, nothing new to buy. Crispy Greek fried zucchini, the kind that cracks when you bite it, starts with salt and a colander long before the pan. Mine used to come out limp, pale and dripping with oil, and I blamed the frying. It was never the frying. A zucchini is more than 90% water, and every recipe I ever read sent it straight from the knife into the pan. Here is the Greek trick my mother used, plus six more. All of them are free. 🍋 The clock About 15 minutes at the stove and 30–60 minutes of salting while you do something else. Best as a summer meze, eaten the minute it leaves the pan. 🍋 The card GREEK FRIED ZUCCHINI (kolokithakia tiganita), serves 3–4 as a meze 3 small, firm zucchini, no longer than your hand (dense flesh, few seeds) 1 tsp fine salt (it pulls the water to the surface) Flaky salt, for finishing About 1 cup all-purpose flour (for a thin dusting only) Olive oil or a neutral frying oil, ½ inch (1 cm) deep in a wide pan (deep oil stays hot) Lemon halves and cold tzatziki, for the table Slice the zucchini into ¼-inch (6 mm) rounds or long strips. Toss with the fine salt in a colander set over a bowl. Leave 30–60 minutes. Press the slices dry in a clean kitchen towel. Heat the oil to about 350°F (175°C). A pinch of flour should sizzle and dance. Coat each slice lightly in flour and tap off the extra. You should still see green. Fry a few at a time, not touching, for 2–3 minutes per side, until golden. Stand the slices on edge on a wire rack, or lean them against each other. Salt them at once. Serve right away with lemon and tzatziki. Never leave hot oil unattended. 🍋 I will not argue Olive oil or sunflower oil. Rounds or long strips. Tzatziki or a garlic-potato dip (skordalia). A pinch of dried mint in the flour is lovely too. 🍋 The pan is honest Pale and soft means the water was still inside. Dripping oil means the pan cooled and the slices sat in it. Flour paste means the flour met a wet slice. A collapsed middle means the zucchini was big and seedy. Soft at the table means they were stacked, covered, or given lemon too soon. Dark brown edges are not a mistake. Those are the cook's. 🍋 One quiet thing about the store Frozen breaded zucchini sticks cost about $5 a box. Three small fresh zucchini cost about $2, and the flour and salt are already in your cupboard. The store sells you crunch in a box. My mother had salt and a garden. 🍋 What I would ask of you Keep two things: the salt while the stove is cold, and the slices standing up to breathe. Tell me if they were still crisp at the table. Tell me honestly, were you frying in a splash of oil? And tell me your state, and whether you have too much zucchini this year, paidi mou. 🍋 Next time in this kitchen The lemon-and-egg soup, at last. I have run out of excuses. #greekfood #zucchini #greekcooking