Courgette Fritters

The courgettes are growing,  plenty and fast. So, here is the first of my courgette recipes.

Fritters are easily adaptable depending on your mood or style of cuisine, by adding different spice mixtures. 
Courgettes do not give you an explosion of flavour on their own, so they do need a kick up the backside from time to time.

Ingredients

• 2 green courgettes and 1 yellow, grated
• salt
• 1 small onion, grated
• parsley, chopped
• tiny green or red chilli, finely chopped
• zest of 1 lemon
• plain flour, 2 to 3 heaped tbsp
• corn flour, 1 heaped tbsp
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp baking powder
• sunflower or olive oil

Preparation

• Put the grated courgettes in a colander, sprinkle with some salt, put a plate over it with something heavy on top. Leave for 30 minutes standing in your (clean) sink.  This is to draw excess water out of the courgettes. If you omit this step, your fritters will turn soggy quickly.
• After about 1/2 hr squeeze some more of the water out of the courgettes and toss them into a bowl with all the other ingredients, except the oil.
• Give it a stir with a wooden spoon.
• Heat some oil in a frying pan (a non stick works best for this)
• With a large spoon bring about four dollops of the mixture into the pan (depending on the size of your pan, more or less dollops)
• Press them down slightly, frying them over medium heat. 
• Turn them over and fry on the other side till golden.
• When they are ready, drain on kitchen paper and repeat the process with the rest of the mixture and keep the others warm in the meantime.



Variations

Mexican style  Add sweetcorn, chopped red pepper, ground cumin, chopped coriander, chilli powder .....

Indian style  Replace flour with chickpea flour, add  grated ginger, ground coriander, fresh coriander, turmeric, cinnamon,  garam massala.....


Patricia xxx...x