Crispy fried zucchini (κολοκυθάκια τηγανητά)

I love the taste of fried zucchini. And what makes them so lovable? Their crispiness. Fried zucchini should be hot and crispy. If you have an opportunity to travel to Greece, you definitely should try the fried zucchini served in most of the restaurants and they will never disappoint you. κολοκυθάκια τηγανητά have crispy crusts tender insides.

If you want to prepare this delicious appetizer at home it will be good to follow three  important steps:

First – get rid of the moisture from the zucchini. You can do it with a 'dry' or 'wet' method. 
The wet method is the one I use. Just put 4 cups ice-cold water in a bowl and add  2 Tbsp salt. I soak zucchini slices in this solution for at least an hour.
The dry method you can just sprinkle zucchini slices with salt and let them so for half an hour the same way you process eggplants when you want to drain their bitter liquids before cooking.
No matter which of these methods you prefer you should give your zucchini enough time. At the end of this you should drain slices on a kitchen towel.

Second – prepare a batter by adding a liquid to your flour instead of using just flour. The liquid could be soda water or beer. Batter sticks far better to the zucchini slices. So it seals’ the surface of zucchini and creates their crispy layer. Another good point -it prevents flour from burning and turning vegetable oil into a black mash.

Third  – fry at medium to high heat in single layers - if some of the slices overlap the others, there will be a difference in the temperature and they will get soft, which is what we try to avoid.

Drain fried zucchini slices on paper towels and serve hot, because they will lose some of their crispiness with time.

 Ingredients:

• 5 medium  zucchini
• 1 can cold soda water
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup sunflower oil for frying
• 1 Tbsp salt

Preparation:

Wash zucchini, peel and cut into thin slices. Process with salt using one of the methods described above. Meanwhile prepare the batter by mixing the flour, some salt according to your taste (but don't forget, you have your zucchinis already salted) and the soda water or beer. Pat dry zucchini slices and dip each slice into the batter. Bring oil to medium-high heat into a deep skillet. Fry zucchini in batches until golden turning once.
Place slices on paper towel to absorb the excess fat. They should be in single layers again.
Serve hot with tsatsiki.