Firm, dense vegetables—cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, and thick-cut potatoes—are briefly parboiled before frying so their interiors soften while only the outsides brown in oil. Zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers, and mushrooms are not parboiled because they cook quickly already and become waterlogged and fall apart if boiled. Drain and dry parboiled vegetables thoroughly before they go into the oil.
When frying, heat moves from the outside inward, and the surface always cooks much faster than the center. This difference is small in thin vegetables with a loose texture; a slice of zucchini or a mushroom cooks through by the time its outside browns. With dense, firm vegetables such as a cauliflower floret, a thick carrot slice, or a large piece of potato, the inside is still raw when the outside browns. Parboiling closes this gap: the inside of the vegetable is cooked first, and it goes into the oil only to brown.
Keep parboiling brief. Boil cauliflower and broccoli florets in salted water for 3–5 minutes, thick carrot and celery-root slices for 5–7 minutes, and large pieces of potato for 7–10 minutes. The test is that the tip of a knife enters with slight resistance; a fully softened vegetable will fall apart in the oil. Drain the vegetables right away. If you want to keep their color bright, transfer the drained vegetables to ice water, but take extra care to dry them afterward. Salt the boiling water so the vegetables are seasoned from within and do not need more salt when they go into the oil.
Drying is an essential part of parboiling. Wet vegetables make hot oil splatter violently, lower its temperature, and prevent flour or coating from sticking. Spread the drained vegetables in a single layer on a clean towel or paper towel, press them dry from above, and let them sit for a few minutes until the steam stops completely. With florets such as cauliflower, water can get trapped between them, so turn the vegetable over and drain it once more. Do not coat the surface until it is dry.
Some vegetables need a different preparation instead of parboiling. Do not boil eggplant or zucchini; salt them, let them sit for half an hour, and squeeze out their liquid so they absorb less oil during frying. For french fries, the preliminary cooking is done in oil, not water: cook the potatoes in oil at a low temperature first, then fry them at a high temperature. Do not soak mushrooms; wipe them with a damp cloth and put them straight into a hot pan. Wet mushrooms release their liquid and steam instead of browning.
Parboiling also saves time. Vegetables can be parboiled, dried, and stored in the refrigerator ahead of time, then fried close to serving; this makes things easier for a large meal. Parboiled vegetables fry in oil much faster than raw ones, usually in 2–4 minutes. Parboiled and dried vegetables can be kept in a covered container in the refrigerator for one day. If frying without parboiling, cut the vegetables smaller and thinner, lower the oil temperature to 160–170°C / 320–340°F, and extend the cooking time so the inside has time to cook. Do not fry vegetables with different levels of firmness together in the same pot.
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