Cauliflower Fritters

by Liz Child

These curried cauliflower fritters are simple to make but taste absolutely incredible! We love them with a lime, coriander and yoghurt dip for lunch, or they make a spectacular side to a homemade curry. The batter is made with chickpea flour, so nutritious and with a gorgeous savoury crunch, it’s the perfect way to elevate the humble cauliflower. Give these a try and let us know how you get on.

Liz x

Ingredients

  • 1 mug chickpea flour
  • 1 tbsp curry powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • black pepper to taste
  • 3/4 mug water
  • 1/2 a cauliflower, finely chopped
  • vegetable oil for frying
  • 1/2 pot natural yoghurt
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 lime, zested and halved
  • a large handful of fresh coriander
  • flakey salt to serve

Method

  1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the chickpea flour, curry powder, salt and pepper with the water. You should be left with a smooth, fairly thick batter. You can add more water if it needs.
  2. Chop up the cauliflower (include any leaves) and stir through the batter to evenly coat the pieces.
  3. Heat up a couple of cm of vegetable oil in a deep frying pan to shallow fry the fritters in. While it is heating, get a plate ready with a piece of kitchen paper to drain the fritters on after frying. You can also make the dip now too. Zest the lime into the yoghurt and squeeze in half the juice. Cut the other half of the lime into wedges to squeeze over the fritters later. Chop up the coriander and stir through the yoghurt with a little salt and pepper.
  4. Now the oil should be hot and you can fry the fritters in batches. Use a serving spoon to dollop the batter into the hot oil. After a few minutes, when golden brown, carefully turn the fritters and fry the other side. Careful not to splash hot oil on yourself us you turn the fritters. Use a spatular and a spoon to turn and lower the fritters without splashing.
  5. Remove the fritters when they are cooked and place on the kitchen paper to drain. Then keep frying in small batches until all the mixture is used up.
  6. Serve sprinkled with flakey sea salt and lime wedges. Dunk in the yoghurt and enjoy!

Broccoli & Sesame Fritters

by Liz Child

Our bumper crop of beautiful broccoli is so tasty. Of course we mostly eat it steamed as a side dish, but there are countless ways to eat broccoli. What are your favourite recipes? Here’s our currant obsession, fritters studded with lots of nutty sesame seeds, savoury seaweed and scallions. Delicious dunked in sweet chilli sauce. Give them a try and let us know what you think. You can add all the specialist ingredients (chickpea flour, seaweed flakes, sesame seeds, sweet chilli sauce…) to your next order. Our range of groceries is always growing. We always source organic, and plastic free and local where possible.

Liz x

Ingredients (makes 14 small fritters)

  • 1 mug of chickpea flour
  • 1 mug of warm water
  • 1 tsp each: garlic granules, ground ginger, chilli flakes, salt
  • 1/2 a broccoli, finely chopped
  • 1 scallion, chopped
  • 6 tbsp sesame seeds
  • a handful of dried seaweed flakes
  • neutral oil for frying
  • sweet chilli dipping sauce to serve

Method

  1. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the chickpea flour, water, garlic, ginger, chilli and salt.
  2. Now finely chop the broccoli and scallion and add to the bowl along with the sesame seeds and seaweed flakes. Stir well to evenly distribute the ingredients through the batter.
  3. Heat a heavy bottomed pan with a generous slick of oil to medium-high, then fry the fritters. Space out spoons of the batter in the pan, fry until golden and crispy, then carefully flip and fry the other side. Keep your eye on the temperature of the oil, make sure it’s not so hot that the fritters burn on the outside and are raw in the middle, but not so cold so they soak up a lot of oil and stay soggy.
  4. Drain the fritters and keep frying in batches until the mixture is all used up. Serve with a sweet chilli dipping sauce and enjoy!

Carrot & Coriander Fritters

by Liz Child

Chickpea flour (aka gram flour) is such a useful store-cupboard ingredient. Have you tried it yet? In Indian cuisine it is used to make savoury pancakes called dosas and to the make the batter for deep fried onion bhajis. At home we love to use it to make nutritious, delicious, protein-rich fritters all year round. Fritters are a great lunch option with a simple salad and a dip, or you can use them as sandwich fillers or burger alternatives. You can really make them your own with different vegetables and herbs/spices. Here’s one of our favourites, carrot and coriander.

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 2)

  • 1 espresso mug of chickpea flour (around 8 tbsp)
  • 1 espresso mug of water
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 2 grated carrots
  • a handful of fresh coriander
  • around 2 tbsp vegetable oil for frying
  • natural yogurt, lime wedges and salad leaves to serve

Method

  1. Start with the batter. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the chickpea flour, seasoning and water into a smooth batter.
  2. Grate the carrots and add them to the batter along with the coriander leaves. Stir well to coat the veggies in the batter.
  3. Heat a frying pan to medium with the vegetable oil. Make sure your pan is not too hot, chickpea flour batter can taste a little bitter if it is not cooked through so you want to cook it slowly so it’s not burned on the outside and raw in the middle.
  4. Dollop the batter into the pan in four even scoops. Fry the fritters for 5 minutes or so on each side or until they are golden brown on the outside and firmed up and hot inside.
  5. Then serve with salad, natural yoghurt and a good squeeze of lime.

Fluffy Broccoli ‘Omelette’

by Liz Child

Another recipe inspired by Ukrainian chef Olia Hercules, is this delicious, veg-forward breakfast. I LOVE having lots of vegetables for breakfast. Sautéed mushrooms, kale, and tomatoes on toast is probably my favourite. So when I re-visited ‘Summer Kitchens’, one of Olia’s brilliant books, and saw this puffed broccoli omelette I knew I had to make a plant based twist.

We have just added chickpea flour to our grocery section. It’s one of my favourite pantry ingredients, so useful for making fritters, socca bread, bhajis, vegan tortillas or quiches and egg free omelettes. To make it puffy, I just used bread soda activated with some apple cider vinegar. The results were delicious and I’ll be recreating this veggie breakfast over and over again using different seasonal vegetables. Of course it would be wonderful with our purple sprouting broccoli and I’m going to use leeks next time for sure! Don’t forget to tag us in your re-creations, we love to see the spin you put on our recipes.

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 2)

  • 1/2 mug of gram flour
  • 1/2 mug of water
  • 1 tsp vinegar
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • black pepper to taste
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • sliced broccoli to cover frying pan
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste

Method

  1. Start with the batter. The longer the chickpea flour has to re-hydrate, the better texture – you could even make the batter the night before and leave it covered overnight at room temperature to lightly ferment. Whisk together the flour, water, vinegar, salt and pepper. Wait to add the baking soda just before frying.
  2. In a frying pan which has a lid, fry the broccoli with the olive oil, salt and pepper until just starting to take on some colour. Then spread the broccoli evenly over the base of the pan and turn the heat down to medium.
  3. Add the baking soda to the chickpea flour batter and whisk it in – the batter should immediately start to fluff up. Quickly pour it over the broccoli and put the lid on the frying pan. This will ensure a crispy bottom and a fluffy, steamed top to your omelette.
  4. After 3-5 minutes or so, the batter should be cooked through. You can test it by touching the top of the omelette, your finger should come off dry without batter.
  5. Slice it into wedges and serve warm. It’s delicious with some juicy sliced tomatoes alongside too.

Swede, Kale & Coconut Dal with Curried Parsnip Fritters

by Liz Child
A page from my illustrated cookbook, available to buy from Green Earth Organics shop here.

Dal and fritters are staples in our house. The dal is especially useful to have in your repertoire for those days when you are low on fresh veg just before your next veg box arrives. And of course bulking out a dal with whatever seasonal veg you have is always a good idea. I like to make it with a tin of coconut some days, usually in winter when the weather calls for something rich and creamy, and with a tin of tomato on other days when I want it lighter and tangy (as in the recipe illustration from my book above).

My fritters are not dissimilar to onion bhajis. Here with curry spices in the gram flour batter they go particularly well with the dal and you can add whatever shredded veg you have around – cauliflower, squash, carrot etc. Fritters also make great sandwich fillers or burger patty alternatives and of course they don’t have to be curry flavoured, add whatever herbs and spices you like to make them your own. I love courgette fritters with fresh herbs in the summer, squash chilli and sage in autumn, celeriac, preserved lemon and parsley…the possibilities are endless.

As always, let us know in the comments or over on our community Facebook group if you make this recipe. We love to see our recipes leave the screen. Don’t forget to share this blog with your friends and family.

Happy cooking! Liz x

Ingredients for the Dal

  • 1 tbsp of vegetable oil
  • an onion or leek
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1 tsp each: brown mustard seeds, cumin seeds, turmeric, ginger, black pepper, fenugreek, salt and chilli flakes or chopped green finger chilli to taste
  • 1 mug red split lentils
  • 1 tin coconut milk
  • curry leaves (if you can get them fresh/frozen that’s best, if not dried is fine)
  • 1/2 a swede
  • a few handfuls of kale
  • lemon/lime juice

Ingredients for the Parsnip Fritters

  • 2 mugs of gram flour
  • 2 mugs of water
  • 1 tsp each: salt, pepper, nigella seeds, turmeric, curry leaves and chilli to taste
  • 3 parsnips
  • vegetable oil for frying

Method

Dice the onion or leek and soften it in a large pan on a medium high heat with the oil.

Add the cumin and mustard seeds and stir to toast them until fragrant. Then add the ground turmeric, ginger and fenugreek and stir to briefly toast for just a few seconds.

Add the mug of red lentils and the diced swede and stir to coat them in the spices. Then add the tin of coconut milk and two tins of water to the pan.

Season with salt and pepper and add the curry leaves (if you have them – buy online or at specialist Asian shops) and chilli flakes or chopped green finger chilli to infuse while the lentils and swede cook.

Bring the pot up to boil then turn down the heat and simmer, stirring often, until the lentils and swede are cooked through.

Meanwhile get the fritter mix ready. Whisk the gram flour, spices and water together into a smooth batter. Then grate the parsnips and add them to the batter. Stir well to coat all the grated parsnip with the batter.

Heat a frying pan with a generous slick of vegetable oil. Turn the heat to medium-high and fry whatever sized dollops of the fritter mix in the pan. Cook on both sides until golden brown on the outside and cooked through. It’s better to cook them slowly if they are large so that they don’t end up burnt on the outside and raw in the middle. Raw gram flour batter can be a little bitter.

Stir chopped and rinsed kale through the dal about 10 minutes before serving. Serve the dal and fritters in bowls with Indian chutneys and optional rice, popadoms etc.