Crispy Zucchini Coins, A Vegan Delight! And Winter Wonderland

**UPDATE* Thanks to Anonymous and veggietestkitchen for catching my typo mistake. I forgot to add the tips to the recipe on how to make the coins vegan, oops! Please see the updated tips towards the end of the recipe.**

Greetings from the winter wonderland that is Prague. Brrr! Anyone else freezing? It's been so snowy with below zero temperatures for a few weeks now. In Europe many of the older buildings are stone and not energy efficient what so ever, I have the heating bill to prove it. Our flat is cold year round, which in the Summer is excellent. While everyone in the higher floors is burning up I actually wear a light sweater or step out into the balcony just to warm up, but unfortunately it stays cold in the colder months. We weather proof our windows but still with the original windows from the early 1900s the cold breeze still creeps in. I think if our heating system machine thingy ( what is it called?) had hands and could talk it would give us the finger and call the union to try to sue us for overworking it. I kinda feel bad for it since it's churning along all day and night keeping us warm. Technically winter doesn't start for another 13 days so hopefully this beautiful winter wonderland will not turn into a tundra yucky land. But I do have to say that all the snow really makes everything look so beautiful and so much fun to go out and see. Our little puppy loves it, so much in fact that he gets angry when we tell him it's time to go home before his little stick legs turn to icicles.

Today I have a really simple recipes for a vegan delight, Crispy Zucchini Coins. Oh why, oh why does fried food have to taste so great? Some of you may remember from my previous post that I don't like to fry food. But not because some fried foods don't taste delicious, it's because fried foods give me an upset stomach with horrible heartburn. (I know I sound like an old person, hehe.) I always have to make sure I have antacid and if that doesn't reduce it then sometimes I'll try a yogurt. But even then some foods like fried fast foods I'll still have the upset stomach until the next day. I also don't like that fried food makes the house smell bad like, well fried food and I hate that smell. The other reason is as everyone knows fried foods are not a healthy choice and so it is only once in a great while that I will prepare anything fried. Always look for healthier alternatives. On that note this may not be the healthiest thing in the world but it's OK to give yourself treats like this but be mindful when it comes to the other foods choices for a couple of meals after.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
1 large zucchini
1 cup bread crumbs* ( you could also use Panko or pre-seasoned breadcrumbs)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. granulated garlic
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 large egg lightly beaten or vegan version I use a little oil * ( see tips for other vegan version)

sunflower oil for frying
slotted spoon or thongs
plate covered with paper towels to drain excess oil

* - For vegan version read the ingredients list and make sure the bread used did not contain any animal products. Or you can also make your own vegan bread and make the breadcrumbs yourself. I often do this with great results.

*- Eggs can be replaced with Egg Replacers or I usually just brush the zucchini (or anything I'm frying) with a little bit of oil to coat the surface. Then I dredge the coins in the bread crumbs and fry. You could also first dip the coins into soy milk or oat milk then dredge in breadcrumbs. I prefer the oat milk as it's thicker like an egg.

1. Heat 2 inches (5 cm) deep of oil in a deep frying pan. It is typically recommended to heat the oil to a temperature of 375F or 190C, so a if you have a frying thermometer that would really come in handy. If you do not own a thermometer use this handy tip from About.com "If you don't have a thermometer, the oil is ready when a 1" cube of white bread dropped into the oil browns in 60 seconds; that oil temperature will be about 365 degrees F. "
2. In a small bowl mix the spices and breadcrumbs until the spices are well distributed. Taste the batter and adjust if you like. Beat the egg in a separate bowl. Pat dry the zucchini, then cut off both ends. Slice the zucchini into 1/4 inch or 1/2 cm round coins. Once all of the zucchini has been sliced dip a couple of the coins in the egg then dredge in the seasoned breadcrumbs. Make sure they are all well coated with the bread crumbs. Fry in hot oil for about 3 minutes when they should turn lightly golden brown. Place the fried coins on the plate with paper towels to drain off excess oil. Repeat until all of the zucchini coins have been fried then allow to cool before serving.
** veggietestkitchen, has also suggested these tips: "You could just melt a vegan butter (or use a flaxseed-water mixture which simulates eggs nicely) and coat the zucchini in that before dipping them in the bread crumbs. "

You can serve the coins as a side dish, as an appetizer or add them to a salad for a crunchy taste. The zucchini coins taste so good on their own that they would also make a great snack.

The last thing I want to tell you about is this ↓looks yummy doesn't it?

This beautiful and drool inducing photo belongs to the very talented Gina from What's For Dinner Across State Line. I'm sure many of you (if not all of you) know Gina and her scrumptious website. This photo is Gina's recreation of my Healthier Butter Chicken recipe from my cookbook. I can't tell you how giddy it made me feel when I saw Gina had cooked one of my recipes. Such a cool feeling! It's also specially great because I've admired her blog for a long time and it is so much fun reading her blog. She has the best sense of humor and every time I visit she makes me laugh, which is always a great thing! She's a super busy person and even so she took the time to make the Garam Masala from scratch! So please can you all stop by Gina's blog and say hi to her, take a look around and you'll see just what a cooking genius she is. Thank you Gina:)