Fried Green Tomatillos

These fried green tomatillos are like their Southern cousin just with a Southwestern flair. Perfectly fried and topped with a chipotle Greek yogurt sauce.

I have been craving fried green tomatoes like crazy. I had some just recently when I went to Richmond for my Sabra visit and dear lord I could have eaten the whole plate. Unfortunately I was sharing with other bloggers and didn’t feel as though they would appreciate me hogging all the tomatoes.

When I got home from Virginia I thought “Oh I will just make some fried green tomatoes!” It would be like my southern grandmother just showed up in my kitchen and was telling me to get all down home cooking.

Then I went to the store and my fake southern heart was crushed. No. Green. Tomatoes. None. Zip. Nada.

So I came home, complained to Gina and went into the living room to sulk. Then a few days later I complained again to Gina and she gave me the idea of using tomatillos instead of tomatoes. Ummm….genius!

I know tomatillos aren’t exactly tomatoes but it helped calm my neurotic fried green tomato lovin’ self down. Plus it gave me a chance to use up some of my spicy Sabra guacamole. I figured what better way to use guacamole than to throw it into a spicy Greek yogurt, chipotle, cilantro and smoked paprika sauce.

I seriously could have eaten that sauce by spoonful BUT I knew I needed to save it for the fried tomatillos.

So after I got my tomatillos fried up I smothered them in the sauce and ate my weight in their crispy deliciousness. Seriously, if you would have walked in the door as I was devouring these goodies you would have thought I hand’t eaten in weeks.

It was cray.

Fried Green Tomatillos

These fried green tomatillos are like their southern cousin just with a Southwestern taste. Perfectly fried and topped with a chipotle Greek yogurt sauce.

Yield: 4 appetizer servings

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

For tomatillos:

• 4 larger sized tomatillos, sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• Kosher salt and pepper, to taste
• Vegetable oil

For sauce:

• 8 ounces plain Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup Sabra spicy guacamole
• 2 tablespoons minced cilantro
• 2 tablespoons chipotle red sauce
• 1/2 lime, squeezed
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon chipotle chile powder, optional
• Kosher salt, to taste

Directions:

For tomatillos:

Remove husks from tomatillos and clean the skin. Cut in slices and set aside.

In a shallow dish whisk together buttermilk and egg. In another shallow dish stir together cornmeal and flour. Season cornmeal mixture with kosher salt and pepper.

Dip tomatillo slices into buttermilk mixtures and coat in cornmeal mixture. Once all the slices have been coated start heating you oil.

Coat the bottom of a large frying pan with vegetable oil and set over medium high heat. Once the oil is hot add in coated tomatillo slices and fry till golden brown, flip and fry till the other side is golden brown. This took about a few minutes per side.

Lay fried tomatillo slices onto a wire rack lined baking sheet.

Add more oil to the pan as needed while frying each batch of tomatillo slices.

Serve immediately with cover with sauce. You can also sprinkle with minced cilantro and more smoked paprika if desired.

For sauce:
In a small bowl mix together Greek yogurt, guacamole, cilantro, chipotle sauce, lime juice, smoked paprika and chipotle chile powder if using.

Taste and season with desired amount of kosher salt.

Keep refrigerated until ready to use.

Disclosure: I was monetarily compensated by Sabra to create delicious recipes using their products. All opinions are 100% my own.