Love fries and looking for a healthy alternative? Then you should give a try to these crunchy and low-carb vegetable fries. They’re so addictive and the same time healthy. Coated in bread crumbs, mixed with cheese and flavorful spices, then roasted until golden brown, these zucchini make a great side dish to any meal! And they’re lower in fat and calories than potato fries.
Moreover, this dish is very budget-friendly – a big plate of a piquant starter can be cooked from only two zucchini!
Ingredients:
Coating
- 1 egg
- 60 g (2 oz) flour
- olive oil (for greasing)
- 45 g (1,5 oz) hard cheese
- 100 g (3,5 oz) bread crumbs
- 2 large zucchinis/vegetable marrows/squashes
Seasoning
- 1/2 tsp of salt
- 1 tsp dried garlic
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 1 tsp kitchen herbs
- 1/4 tsp chili powder
- ground black pepper – to taste
- salt – to taste
Sauce
- 150 ml sour cream
- 2 parsley twigs
- 1/2 garlic cloves
- 1/2 pickled cucumber
- ground white pepper – to taste
Cooking
Wash and dry zucchini. Cut them into thin long strips and remove the seeds. Season ground black pepper and salt to taste. Then pour some olive oil on top and stir to combine.
In a separate bowl, mix together bread crumbs, shredded cheese, dried garlic, sweet paprika, kitchen herbs, and chili powder. This combination of spices will make our zucchini very flavorful. Chili powder will add a little heat to zucchini, so if you don’t like spicy food, you may not use this ingredient.
In a medium bowl, lightly beat an egg.
Next dredge the zucchini sticks with flour. Dip them into the egg and then coat with the bread crumbs mixture (each zucchini stick should be thoroughly covered). Repeat until all zucchini sticks are coated with egg and breadcrumbs.
Preheat the oven to 220°C (428°F). Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and grease it with olive oil. Arrange our zucchini sticks on the sheet in a single layer and put in the oven.
Let the zucchini sticks become golden from one side, then roll them over and cook till desired crispiness is reached. As a result we’ll get amazing zucchini that are soft inside and crunchy outside.
While our zucchini are baking, let’s cook a piquant cream sauce. Wash parsley twigs and chop them. Cut a pickled cucumber finely. Peel and squeeze garlic cloves. Mix all the prepared ingredients with sour cream. Season the sauce with ground white pepper. You may also serve the dish with some other sauce or ketchup. Any dipping sauce will work well, really.
Serve the zucchini sticks at once since these “guys” are amazingly crisp right out of the oven.
Enjoy your meal!
Do you have a favorite Ukrainian recipe for veggie oven fries? If so, please let us know in the comments below or write us an e-mail.
