Breaded Zucchini and Eggplants – An alternative to Shnitzel?

Although in this heat the last thing you want to do is stand and cook or even worse, fry something, these breaded zucchinis and eggplants are a great treat or even meal when served with salad. The nice thing is that you can reheat the leftovers and they taste even better and still crunchy.

It’s one of our favorite alternatives for breaded chicken breast and although it’s zucchini and eggplant, the kids couldn’t stop eating these.

Ingredients:

Zucchinis

Eggplant

Flour

Eggs

Bread Crumbs/ Panko Crumbs

Garlic powder

Paprika

Salt and Pepper to taste

*Note that there are no amounts because it varies. You can use 1 eggplant and 2 zucchinis or even 4 zucchinis and nothing else. It’s up to you and the bottom line is that it’s all a matter of taste, but these are the guidelines*

Directions:

1. Mix bread crumbs with spices.

2. In a separate bowl beat the eggs.

3. In a 3rd bowl put the flour.

4. Slice the zucchinis into long slices and the eggplants into circles – about 1/2 cm each slice

5. If you are using eggplants, lightly spread salt on the slices and let it stand for about 20-20 minutes until the salt brings the fluids out. This will help take out the eggplant’s bitterness. After you see the fluids simply absorb them with a clean paper towel until the eggplant slices are dry.

6. Dip the zucchini and eggplant slices in flour.

7. Dip the floured vegetables in beaten egg.

8. Dip the egg and flour coated vegetables in the bread crumb mix.

9. Heat about 4 tbs oil in a frying pan over medium heat and place coated vegetables on hot oil. Fry until golden brown and then turn to other side and fry until brown.

10. Place the ready vegetables in a serving dish layered with paper towel to absorb the extra oil.

***these go nice with  a Tzatziki (Greek) dip or simply ketchup ***