I had never heard of frying red tomatoes until I met my husband. While my mom had only fried green tomatoes, my mother-in-law only had fried red tomatoes. In fact, my husband was kind of taken aback the first time I picked green tomatoes from the garden and announced that I was going to fry some for lunch at my parent’s house. He had never eaten fried green tomatoes. I must admit that I had a similar reaction upon hearing of fried red tomatoes.
My mother-in-law described frying the firm, ripe red tomatoes in a similar manner as my mom fried the green tomatoes(and squash). She would add a little sugar to her flour mixture to enhance the natural sweetness of the ripe tomatoes. After listening to her description, I decided it might be worth trying after all.
Of course, I would eventually put my own spin on fried red tomatoes. I added panko bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and dried basil to the tomato slices…a hint of Italian flavor.
Unlike my mother and mother-in-law, I like to serve fried tomatoes (red or green) with a little sauce/dip. One of my favorite sauce/dips is one I created just throwing a few things together one day. It turned out reminiscent of shrimp sauce aka. a Japanese steakhouse white sauce.
