Chef Lesia
Hrechka z Hrybamy (гречка з грибами, mushroom buckwheat)
Buckwheat is the color people mistake for dull until the mushrooms give it their black forest juices, the onion turns sweet, and every grain starts shining with green sunflower oil.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Smazheni Kabachky (смажені кабачки, fried zucchini)
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By August the zucchini stop asking permission. Slice them thin, salt out their water, fry them gold, then bury them under garlic, dill, and cold smetana.
Side Dishes
Ukrainian
Comfort Food
Picnic
Quick Meal
25 min
Active Time
20 min cook•45 min total
Yield6 servings
By August the zucchini stop asking permission. One day they are small and neat under the leaves; the next they are lying in the path like green clubs, and every table in the south has to answer them. This is the best answer I know: rounds salted until they weep, dusted lightly with flour, fried in sunflower oil until the edges turn gold, then covered with crushed garlic, dill, and cold smetana.
The whole dish is decided before the first slice hits the pan. Salt pulls the water out, and drying the rounds lets the flour cling in a thin skin instead of turning to paste. If the pan sings when the zucchini goes in, you're on the right road. If it sighs, the oil is too cool and the slices will drink it like gossip.
My aunt's letter only said, "fry until it sounds right," which was annoying until it became useful. Listen for the busy little crackle, watch the pale flesh go translucent at the center, and stop when the rim browns before the middle collapses. Serve them warm, room temperature, or straight from the fridge the next morning, if anyone left you any.
Kabachky, summer squash and zucchini, became everyday garden vegetables across Ukraine in the twentieth century, especially in the southern steppe where heat, chernozem soil, and long summers make them absurdly generous. Fried zucchini with garlic belongs to the litnya kuhnia, the summer kitchen, where quick pan dishes handled the daily glut before the rest went into jars, brines, and salads. The smetana version is home-table food: practical, seasonal, sharp with garlic, and much brighter than the dull stereotype outsiders keep trying to put on Ukrainian cooking.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
small to medium zucchini
Quantity
1.2 kg
sliced into 7mm rounds
fine sea salt
Quantity
1 1/2 teaspoons, plus more to finish
plain flour
Quantity
80g
black pepper
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon, plus more to serve
unrefined sunflower oil
Quantity
150ml, plus more as needed
for frying
garlic
Quantity
4 cloves
crushed to a paste
smetana or full-fat sour cream
Quantity
200g
dill
Quantity
1 small bunch
finely chopped
lemon juice or fermented tomato brine (optional)
Quantity
1 teaspoon
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| small to medium zucchinisliced into 7mm rounds | 1.2 kg |
| fine sea salt | 1 1/2 teaspoons, plus more to finish |
| plain flour | 80g |
| black pepper | 1/2 teaspoon, plus more to serve |
| unrefined sunflower oilfor frying | 150ml, plus more as needed |
| garliccrushed to a paste | 4 cloves |
| smetana or full-fat sour cream | 200g |
| dillfinely chopped | 1 small bunch |
| lemon juice or fermented tomato brine (optional) | 1 teaspoon |
Equipment Needed
- •A wide heavy frying pan
- •A clean kitchen towel
- •A shallow bowl for flour
- •A rack or paper-lined tray
Instructions
- 1
Salt the zucchini
Lay the zucchini rounds in a wide bowl or tray and toss them with the salt. Leave them until beads of water gather on the surface and the slices bend a little instead of snapping. This is not fussing. This is how you stop them from steaming in the pan.
Small zucchini are sweeter and fry faster. If yours are large, scoop out the spongy seed core and slice the firmer flesh into half-moons. - 2
Dry and flour
Tip away the salty liquid, then pat the rounds dry with a clean towel. Mix the flour with black pepper and dredge the zucchini lightly, shaking off anything thick or clumpy. You want a dusty coat, not a winter jacket.
- 3
Fry until gold
Pour enough sunflower oil into a wide frying pan to cover the base generously. When a pinch of flour fizzes at once, add the zucchini in a single layer. The pan should sound busy, a steady crackle, not a dull hiss. Fry until the edges turn gold and the centers soften, then turn and do the other side.
Do not crowd the pan. Crowding drops the heat, and then the zucchini drinks oil instead of frying cleanly. - 4
Drain and season
Lift the fried rounds onto a paper-lined tray or a rack and salt them while the oil still shines on the surface. Keep frying in batches, adding more oil when the pan looks dry. The best pieces have a soft middle, a golden rim, and a smell that has changed from raw green to nutty-sweet.
- 5
Make the garlic smetana
Stir the crushed garlic into the smetana with most of the dill. Add the lemon juice or fermented tomato brine if your smetana tastes too flat. It should be cold, sharp, and a little rude from the garlic.
- 6
Layer and serve
Arrange the zucchini on a wide plate in loose overlapping layers, spooning a little garlic smetana between them and over the top. Scatter with the remaining dill and black pepper. Eat warm, at room temperature, or chilled for a picnic, with bread nearby to catch the oil and smetana.
Chef Tips
- •Unrefined sunflower oil matters here because you taste it directly. It is Ukraine in a bottle of oil, green-gold and nutty, but a neutral oil will still feed people if that is what you have.
- •The salting and drying are the steps that do not forgive much. The thickness does. Thin rounds go crisp at the rim, thicker rounds stay softer and sweeter.
- •A spoon of mayonnaise stirred into the smetana is a bit more modern and very common on family tables. I still like mostly smetana because it keeps the dish brighter.
- •Leftovers are excellent cold in a sandwich with rye bread, sliced tomato, and more dill. Enough for eight guests or one hungry Ukrainian.
Advance Preparation
- •The zucchini can be salted up to 1 hour ahead, then dried just before flouring.
- •The garlic smetana can be mixed several hours ahead and kept cold; it gets stronger as it sits.
- •Fried zucchini keeps overnight in the fridge. The edges soften, but the garlic and dill settle in beautifully.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 200g)
Calories
290 calories
Total Fat
22 g
Saturated Fat
5 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
16 g
Cholesterol
20 mg
Sodium
710 mg
Total Carbohydrates
19 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
6 g
Protein
5 g
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