Cheesey Zucchini Fritters

Lately I have been going through a deep frying phase ever since I made those chicken fingers & mozzerella sticks. Now all I ever want to do is fry stuff. I would literally look at something and go, “Can I fry that?” This week I have gone through roughly 2 litres of vegetable oil … and I have run out again.

Mid-week I made Malaysian Lemon Chicken as guest post material for Spicy Buddha, which is a food website predominantly featuring South East Asian cuisine. Am very honoured and thrilled to have had the opportunity to feature one of my very own articles on someone else’s site. Sarah who runs it tells me that my article will go live tomorrow. I will post links. Can’t wait!

Anyhoo … today I found myself with some leftover baby potatoes and a zucchini. My initial thought, and I kid you not, was I can DEFINITELY fry them! Hence the blog post now. They turned out pretty well I must say, for such an impromtu snack. All I can say is panko crumbs rock, man! I used them when I made the lemon chicken and it gave the shell such a crispy goldeness I don’t think I will be using regular breadcrumbs for a long time to come. But then again, it could be just another phase; you never can tell with me. I am concurrently going thru a peppermint phase as well, but that’s a whole other story altogether; another story for another day.

So here is what you do. Gather these ingredients from your pantry : (Serves 4  …. or just 1 very hungry boyfriend)

• 1 cup leftover potatoes, cold
• 1 cup zucchini
• 1 egg
• 1 clove garlic, minced  (or use garlic powder. I used a bit of both.)
• 1 tsp dried herbs of your choice. I went with a Provençal blend.
• 1 tbsp AP flour
• salt & pepper
• 1 cup panko crumbs
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• handful of grated hard cheese like Cheddar or Parmesan.

1. Grate the potatoes into a bowl. Grate the zucchini into a sieve and sprinkle liberally with salt to draw out all the moisture. Leave the sieve over the sink or a bowl for up to 20 mins. After 20 mins, rinse the salt off the zucchini and squeeze out as much of the water as possible. Now add to the potatoes.

2. Season the mixture with minced garlic (I decided to be fancy and used a roasted garlic paste, but regular minced garlic will do), and the dry herbs. Majoram and basil would work well here. I went for a packet mix of Provençal herbs. Now add the salt and pepper and give the mix a stir.

3. Break in one whole egg and distribute it thru the mixture with a fork. Then add in the flour. If the mixture seems runny, then add in another half tablespoon of flour.  Once that’s done go ahead and dump in the cheese. Seeing as which I am in Amsterdam, I went with a mature Dutch cheese.

4. Now cover with cling film (plastic wrap) and chill in the fridge to rest ~ about 30 mins. The flour will soak up excess moisture and the mixture should come out set enough for you to scoop portions with a mini ice cream scoop. Also a nice dry batter will mean no nasty oil sputters when you fry them. Toss these balls in a combination of panko crumbs and cornflour. Don’t forget to season the coating as well with a pinch of salt and pepper.

5. Drop them into a deep fryer and cook for about 3 – 5 mins. The size of your frying vessle will determine how many balls you can fry together. Don’t over crowd the pot. I fried them in batches of four coz I used a fairly small saucepan. Make sure the oil is hot but not too hot otherwise the centre will not be cooked through and you will get the taste of raw flour.

6. Once cooked take them out of the oil and drain on a wire rack then serve warm with dip of your choice. I like mustardy mayo, and that’s what I had handy so I went with that. Tomato sauce works just as well.

These babies make a wonderful snack at teatime, or as fingerfood at a party ~ just place a toothpick into each ball and pass them around. I bet none would be coming back except for the empty plate. It’s a good way to use up extra potatoes in the fridge and in my case, it’s a good way to sneak veggies into R’s diet. Vegetables and him don’t get along very well (apparently) so I have resorted to disguising veggies in various forms.

These fritters came out surprisingly delicious, and they weren’t greasy at all. So I do hope you give them a try and have fun experimenting with flavours. You’ll be surprised with what you end up with.  And with that I bid you adieu … until next time.

~ ENJOY!! ~