Fried Green Tomatoes.

[ocailleagh]

Ok, having put my tomatoes in late, I'm now finding myself with plants loaded with green tomatoes, so I thought I'd share this recipe.

I've always liked the sound of fried green tomatoes ever since the film of the same name came out, so once I had the chance to try making them I did.
I can't promise this is the authentic way to make them, nor even that its anything like how they should be made, since I couldn't find a recipe for them at the time and made one up. Which is this one, nice and simple and based on Cajun flavours.

Anyhoo, on with the recipe!

Green tomatoes of any size, washed and sliced. (large tomatoes can supply quite a few 'steaks' whereas smaller tomatoes are better sliced thinly)

Cornmeal (yellow or white but must be coarseground)

Ground black pepper
Ground white pepper
Ground cayenne pepper
Ground paprika

Pinch of salt,
OR
Garlic salt
Onion salt
Celery salt


Put cornmeal and seasonings into a smallish bag (sandwich or freezer bag), add the sliced tomatoes and shake til all are well coated. Fry in a very small amount of oil til nicely browned and crispy, and the tomato is cooked.

These are a great breakfast food, especially with bacon, eggs etc, and are even more delicious when camping!

[Shirley]

Mmmm green tomatoes are a familiar site in Scotland - I love green tomato chutney, but have never tried the fried version... though I always fancied them after seeing the film!

Thanks for sharing

[Milims]

Me too!! Love the film - love the recipe - think I'll love the tomatos!

[hedgewitch]

Handy tip:
Slice the tomato thin, place in a collander, Lightly salt and pepper each slice and let them sit for 30 minutes or so. This allows the excess water to be pulled out of the tomato so you don't get a big soggy blob.

[SarahJane]

One of my favourite films! I always fancied the idea of making fried green tomatos and now I am going to give it a go. Thanks for the recipe.

[Graye]

When I was young I lived in Los Angeles for a year with a delightful black family. The Mom was from Fort Worth, Texas and cooked in the traditional Afro-American style of that region, cornbread, hush puppies, black-eyed peas, grits, collard greens, sweet potato pie, fried catfish etc. It was good filling food which didn't cost a lot of money. She taught me many of her everyday recipes which I still use all the time. Here's hers for fried green tomatoes which we had regularly when I was there - they were usually served up with fried chicken pieces and cornbread.

4 large green tomatoes cut into 1/4 inch slices
1/4 cup of sugar
3/4 cup plain flour
1 teasp. salt
1/8 teasp. pepper
3 tables. bacon drippings
6 tables. vegetable oil

Place the green tomato slices in a small, deep dish, sprinkling each layer with sugar; let stand 1 hour. Drain, but keep the sugar liquid. Combine flour, salt, and pepper in a shallow dish and coat tomato slices in mixture. Heat 1 tablespoon bacon drippings and 2 tablespoons oil in a large cast-iron frying pan over medium-high heat until hot and add about one third of tomato slices. Cook 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until golden. Drain on paper towels. Repeat procedure twice with remaining tomato slices, bacon drippings, and oil. Drain off pan drippings, keeping 1 tablespoon in the pan. Stir reserved sugar liquid until sugar dissolves. Add to reserved drippings in the pan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute or until slightly thickened. Drizzle over fried tomatoes and serve immediately.

[oldfella]

Fannie Flagg the author of Fried Green Tomatoes, and the Whistle Stop Cafe, and based her stories on her Aunt Bess's Cafe gives two recipes for fried green tomatoes in her cookbook Whistle Stop Cafe Cookbook


Recipe 1
3/4 cup self raising flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3/4 cup milk
3 to 4 green tomatoes cut into 1/4 inch thick slices
Combine the first five ingredients mix until smooth add additional milk to thin batter which should resemble Pancake mix. working in batches dip the slices into batter and allow the excess batter to drip of before frying the slices in 2 inches of hot vegetable oil (375f) until brown. A little tip if you stand them on edge in a bowl before you serve them instead of stacking them they stay crisp not soggy.

Recipe 2

1 Egg beaten
1 Cup of Buttermilk
1 Cup of self raising Flour
1/3 Cup of cornmeal
1/2 Teaspoon of Salt
6 to 8 Green tomatoes sliced as before
Bacon dripping , Veg Oil or mixture of both

Mix egg and butter milk in shallow dish, and mix flour, salt, and cornflour in a shallow dish, working in batches dip the slices in egg mixture, and then coat them in the flour mix. Fry in the dripping fat (375f) until brown turning once, with tongs. place in colander to drain.

So have a go and let us know how they turn out for you