Panko Mozza Sticks

Recently, I found some Korean frozen mozzarella sticks at my local mart. They tasted pretty delightful to me, but after making these homemade sticks I’ll never go back… well maybe.

This past weekend was a nice four day holiday for Korean Lunar New Year (Seollal), so I decided to spend some time whipping up a delicious mid day snack for my boyfriend and I. A nice big HomePlus opened up nearby and had a 1+1 deal on mozzarella sticks, which inspired me to finally try making homemade mozzarella sticks. The rest of the ingredients can be easily found at most local marts. Enjoy!

Ingredients

·         6 mozzarella sticks

·         1 egg

·         ¼ cup of milk

·         1 cup of panko breadcrumbs

·         1 tbsp of dried or fresh parsley (I used dried)

·         1 cup of flour

·         Canola oil for frying

·         Marinara sauce for dipping (optional)

Prepare three shallow bowls. In one bowl, pour in the flour. In the second bowl, wisk the egg and milk together with a fork. For the last bowl, combine the parsley and panko bread crumbs.

Next, cut each mozza stick in half.

Then, roll each stick in flour, dip in the egg mixture, and then place into the panko mixture. Instead of rolling the eggy-cheese stick in panko, place the panko over the stick and press. I find the stick gets covered more evenly this way.

        Once all of your sticks are ready, place on a tray or cookie sheet and pop them into the freezer for 20-30 minutes. (I went out for about an hour. Don’t worry if you leave them in for awhile, just don’t leave them in all afternoon)

After 30 minutes (or an hour if you’re forgetful like me), take those sticks out of the freezer and heat up oil on Medium to Medium-High depending on your stove top (Medium worked well for me). Fill the pan with an inch to an inch and a half of oil.

Make sure the oil is hot enough before putting the sticks in the oil. Turn the sticks over when they've browned slightly. These little treats cook quickly, maybe 1-2 minutes. Don’t crowd your pan. Fry the sticks in batches of 6-8 at a time.

When done place them on a paper towel to absorb the oil and serve with marinara. I was feeling lazy so I used Ottogi pizza sauce, which was surprisingly good when heated up slightly. 

Happy New Year! 

Recipe adapted from: http://tastykitchen.com/blog/2010/05/panko-mozzarella-sticks/