Veggie Fries are Fabulous and EASY!
by Sidonie Maroon, a bluedotkitchen
It was snack time, and while cutting raw carrot sticks, resigned to munching them as “good for me,” — I looked over at my Ninja Max air fryer. Hmm… I pondered? I threw those carrot sticks in a bowl, rubbed avocado oil and spices in, and popped them in Ninja. Wow, they were yummy!
Since then, I’ve gone veggie fry wild running an experimental test kitchen. Yes, I’m having fun, and I’ve learned the ins and outs of making good fries.
I’ve worked with carrots, red and golden beets, celery root, parsnips and mushrooms. Oh, mushrooms with truffle salt are divine! Two ideas married in my adventure— making a quick, delicious snack food, and creating a salt and sour spice mix. Most sour ingredients are liquid, but what about adding a dry acid to salt?
Fry Basics
An air fryer is a convection oven with forced air that circulates around the food. It’s not frying—instead it’s roasting, but creates a crisp exterior to the food, and uses only a little oil. I learned to parboil the root veggies. This gives them a jump start so that most of the air frying time goes into creating the ‘crust’ instead of cooking the insides.
Root Veggie Sequence
Peel veggies, and slice into sticks ¼ inch thick. Even slicing helps everything cook at the same rate.
Parboil: Boil water in a shallow skillet and add the veggie sticks. When the water returns to a boil, time 3 minutes. Strain through a colander and run cold water over them to stop the cooking, and pat dry. At this point, refrigerate or freeze them to fry later. This is convenient, if you’d rather not parboil every time you want a quick batch of fries. Oh, and they are addictive.
Season: Dump the parboiled fries in a bowl and rub in 1 teaspoon of high heat oil, such as avocado, with 1 teaspoon of seasoning salt.
Cook in the preheated air fryer for 5 minutes at 390 F. Stir and fry for another 2 minutes. You may need to perfect the times for your fryer and taste. If you don’t have an air fryer, then roast them at 425 F on a parchment lined baking sheet for about 15 minutes. If you parboil, then check them at 8 minutes. Enjoy!
Notes: Mushrooms don’t need to be parboiled and add the seasoning salt after cooking.
Spice Mixes
It felt innovative to create a salt and sour mix for each vegetable. My constants were salt, citric acid and a hot ingredient like black pepper. I delved into ethnic combinations and used my intuition and spice sense. For instance, red beets go with dill and caraway. Citric Acid is a key ingredient and amazing to have a sour taste right in the mix without using sumac.
Seasoning Mixes for Veggie Fries
Red Beet Mix
Makes ⅓ cup (use 1 teaspoon per 5 ounces of raw veggies, with 1 teaspoon of high heat veggie oil like avocado)
Grind together
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 teaspoon dill seeds
1/2 teaspoon citric acid
½ teaspoon black peppercorns
2 tablespoons dehydrated onion flakes
2 tablespoons sea salt
Barbeque Carrot Mix
Makes ⅓ cup (use 1 teaspoon per 5 ounces of raw veggies, with 1 teaspoon of high heat veggie oil like avocado. Optionally add ¼ teaspoon liquid smoke to the oil.) If you want, add a sprinkle of brown sugar near the end of cooking the fries.
Grind together
1 teaspoons cumin seed
1 teaspoon coriander seed
1/2 teaspoon citric acid
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
2 tablespoons dehydrated onion flakes
2 tablespoons sea salt
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
Parsnip Mix
Makes ⅓ cup (use 1 teaspoon per 5 ounces of raw veggies, with 1 teaspoon of high heat veggie oil like avocado.) Sprinkle sesame seeds and drizzle ¼ teaspoon toasted sesame oil on during the last 2 minutes of cooking.
Grind together
2 star anise pods
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
½ teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 whole cloves
1/2 teaspoon citric acid
2 tablespoons dehydrated onion flakes
2 tablespoons sea salt
Golden Beet Mix
Makes ⅓ cup (use 1 teaspoon per 5 ounces of raw veggies, with 1 teaspoon of high heat veggie oil like avocado plus ¼ teaspoon of orange extract.)
Grind together
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
1 teaspoon ginger powder
1 teaspoon coriander
½ teaspoon citric acid
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons dehydrated onion flakes
2 tablespoons sea salt
Celery Root Mix
Makes ⅓ cup (use 1 teaspoon per 5 ounces of raw veggies, with 1 teaspoon of high heat veggie oil like avocado)
Grind together
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon citric acid
½ teaspoon black peppercorns
1 tablespoons sea salt
1 tablespoon black truffle salt
2 teaspoons dried sage
Mushroom or Onion Mix
Makes ⅓ cup (use 1 teaspoon per 5 ounces of raw veggies, with 1 teaspoon of high heat veggie oil like avocado)
Grind together
½ teaspoon citric acid
½ teaspoon black peppercorns
2 tablespoons dehydrated onion flakes
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon truffle salt
