allthough i've been an omnivore all my life (mainly for tastyness reasons...) i don't want to eat meat all the time and i also want to have dinners with my vegan and vegetarian friends. and since i come from the homeland of schnitzel why not make a vegetarian one?

this vegetarian schnitzel version is easy, tasty, cheap and (i think) a lot better than a lot of the quite expensive "fake meat" stuff you can buy. while it doesn't really taste like meat, it is crispy on the outside and juicy and tender on the inside - almost like a real schnitzel.
and in contrast with celery who is often too dominant in a meal the celeriac has a much finer and less obvious taste.

it is really easy to make a vegan version of these schnitzels, just replace the egg either with some store bought egg-replacement or just mix starch with a little water.

so have fun with this instructable!

sorry for the lonely little schnitzel on the picture, but i wanted to quickly take a picture and then fry the rest of the schnitzel because i don't really like to take pictures of my food while i eat. just imagine them all in their golden-brown crispiness!

Step 1: You Will Need

- 1 celeriac
- 1 egg
- breadcrumbs

1 normal sized celeriac yields enough schnitzel for 2-3 people

you will also need some spices and herbs and salt & pepper.

Step 2: Prepare the Celeriac

bring a pot of water to boil. add some dried herbs (bay leaf, rosmary, whatever you like) and salt and/or instant broth.

in the meantime, with a knife, peel the celeriac and then cut it into slices of about 1 cm thickness.

when the water boils, add the celeriac slices and boil until just soft (5-10 minutes). drain the slices and leave to cool a bit.

Step 3: A Nice Yoghurt Sauce

while the slices cooled down, i prepared a quick and easy herb, garlic and yoghurt sauce to go with the schnitzel.

just chop some fresh herbs - i used what i had growing in my little balkony garden: dill, parsley, lemon balm
add 1 or 2 cloves of garlic, chopped - or just use a garlic press like me
add yoghurt and season to taste with salt & pepper

Step 4: Bread'em & Fry'em

scramble the egg and season genrously with salt & pepper. add other spices, too if you like - i put some parika powder, that's why it looks so red in the pictures. put the egg in a container big enough for the slices of celeriac to fit in. put the breadcrumbs on a plate.

on slice at a time, coat every slice first in the egg and than in the crumbs, make sure they are evenly coated.

heat up oil for frying in a frying pan. the oil is hot enough if little bubbles form on the end of a wooden spoon inserted into the oil.

fry the schnitzel on both sides until golden brown (about 2-3 minutes on each side). put on kitchen towels to drain some of the oil.
only fry 2 or 3 schnitzel at a time.

Step 5: Serve!

i ate my schnitzel with the yoghurt sauce, salad and some flatbread,
but they're also delicious with rice and a white wine and cream sauce or to recreate a vegetarian version of a good old german train-station-restaurant staple called SchniPoSa serve them with salad & fries and some ketchup and a slice of lemon an the side.
(SchniPoSa is a portmanteau of the german words for schnitzel, fries & salad: SCHNItzel, POmmes (short for pommes frites), SAlat)