Fried vegetables are one of my favorites. They're easy to do and are
delicious served piping hot as appetizers.
Just about any vegetable can be fried. Here are a few that we do.
Mushrooms, cauliflower, cucumber, okra, squash, tomatoes (green), bell
pepper and onion. Eggplant can also be fried but is handled a little
differently. Here is that recipe.
Cut the vegetables in the sizes you like. The amount of vegetables you
have dictates the amount of batter. You can marinate them if you wish in
a mixture of milk and spices but I can't tell you that really makes a
difference.
Put the cooking oil to heat to 350ºF.
Wet Batter
In one bowl combine equal parts of all purpose flour or pancake mix, and, cornstarch; I
usually start with a cup of each. Season this if you like, but, you'll
be adding seasoning after they're done.
Add about one cup of milk and mix well. You want the consistency of
pancake batter that will stick well to the vegetables. Using cornstarch
helps the stickage.
Dry Mix
In another bowl mix another flour and cornstarch batch and season.
Now for the cooking.
Soak the first group of vegetables in the liquid batter mix for at least
five minutes. Transfer them to the powdered mix and move them around for
about 30 seconds. Shake around to knock off some of the powder and fry
until the bubbles reduce by half.
Take them out of the oil and put on paper towels, move around to let the
grease get soaked up. Sprinkle you favorite seasoning on them
immediately if needed. Serve hot!
Enjoy...