Here’s a dish that really does make the best of all the seasonal summer produce around at the moment. It’s a great way to use up some of the Jenga-like pile of organic courgettes that builds up on the ADK Kitchen table around this time of year – 3 medium-sized ones went into this batch of fritters, and the taste works really well with the chunks of creamy feta.
The scallions are also fresh from the garden, as are the cucumber and mint leaves in the cooling raita served alongside.
An excellent choice for a summer evening meal on the patio – maybe to celebrate the second birthday of A Different Kitchen! More of that in a moment…
Servings
This will make 4 fritters.
Timings
15 mins to make and about 10 mins to fry.
You Will Need
- 350g courgettes (around 3 medium-sized ones)
- 100g feta cheese
- 3 – 4 scallions (spring onions)
- 50g plain flour
- 1 egg
- oil for frying
For the raita:
- 4 – 5 dessert spoonfuls of natural yoghurt
- 3 – 4 slices of cucumber, finely chopped
- 4 – 5 leaves of fresh garden mint, finely chopped
Method
- Wash the courgettes and trim off the ends. Grate coarsely, either by hand or (as I did) using the speed grating tool on the food processor. Tip into a large mixing bowl.
- Chop the feta into cubes and add to the grated courgette. Chop the scallions into little rounds and add also.
- Sieve in the plain flour and crack in the egg. Now the fun begins – having washed and dried your hands, plunge them into the bowl and squish all the ingredients together between your fingers to make a well-mixed courgette batter.
- Next, make the raita by combining the yoghurt, cucumber and mint in a small bowl. Stir and place in the fridge until it is time to serve (for the avoidance of doubt, no plunging of fingers is required for this bit 🙂 )
- Warm a drizzle of oil in a frying pan. When sizzling, lift in a handful of the courgette batter. Put in another alongside and let them cook.
- After a minute or so, give them a gentle push around the pan with a spatula, to make sure they are not sticking. After 3 – 4 minutes, lift each fritter carefully with the spatula and flip them over, to cook on the other side.
- After another 3 – 4 mins, remove each fritter to a plate and keep warm. Repeat the process with the rest of the batter, to make another 2 fritters.
- Plate up the fritters and serve with the bowl of raita as a side.
Customise it!
Some recipes for courgette fritters advise to squeeze the water from the veg at the outset. I didn’t do this and it didn’t cause any problems, however – just sayin’.
If you wish, you could add some lemon zest, crushed garlic and ground black pepper to the batter, before cooking. Additional salt shouldn’t be necessary as there is some already in the feta.
The height of summer brings a second birthday for A Different Kitchen: that’s 2 years, 222 posts, and 3.5k followers from all around the world, now over 3 online platforms. Sadly, WordPress stats can’t tell me how much self-raising flour, caster sugar, extra virgin olive oil, garlic cloves etc have been consumed in that time, but I reckon it’s enough to fill a small branch of Tesco Express.
Maybe that’s something the WordPress engineers could get on to before next year’s anniversary? Cool – always happy to give feedback 🙂 .
Here’s Depeche Mode with World in My Eyes.
A Different Kitchen 