Spinach, zucchini and pea fritters

When I was a kid, fritters were an easy Sunday night meal. My mother always made two kinds: lamb fritters, made with leftover lamb from the roast the night before, and corn fritters (with creamed tinned corn). We ate them with tomato sauce – that was pretty much dinner and, I have to say, I loved them both. I still love a fritter; I’ll have them as a meal in their own right (with a salad) or make a platter of them to fill out the spread of food at a dinner party. After all, who doesn’t love a fritter? …nobody I’d want to ask to any of my parties!

These spinach, zucchini and pea fritters are from a Karen Martini recipe I got from the Sun Herald years ago. They are jam-packed with vegetables, have no eggs and are both vegan and gluten-free. I’ve made them for a number of years, taken them to picnics, enjoyed them as leftovers the day after and, if you leave out the chilli, children seem to really seem to enjoy them as well.

The original recipe calls for baby spinach and in all the years I’ve made them, I’ve always used normal spinach – for this post, I actually followed the recipe and used baby spinach. I have to say, it did make a much lighter fluffier fritter because you can cram so much more spinach into the batter. These fritters are good served with some beaten yoghurt and a salsa or just as they are straight out of the pan with a squeeze of lemon juice and sprinkle of salt.

This recipe makes quite a lot of fritters. Do not be deceived by the photo of the platter – more fritters were being fried as they were being photographed. The original recipe called for two tablespoons of ground coriander – I don’t know whether that was a typo but it always seemed to be like an excessive amount of coriander to me, so I always only use about three to four teaspoons.

Spinach, zucchini and pea fritters

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon of chopped garlic
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 3–4 teaspoons of ground coriander (or more if you are courageous)
• ½ teaspoon chilli powder
• 170 grams chickpea flour
• 280 ml of cold water
• ¾ teaspoon baking powder
• 80 grams cornflour
• 300 grams baby spinach, finely shredded
• 2 zucchinis grated and squeezed to remove juice
• 3 green onions, sliced finely diagonally
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• ½ cup frozen peas, thawed
• ½ cup of vegetable oil (for shallow frying)

1. Combine garlic, olive oil, cumin, coriander, chilli powder, chickpea flour, water, baking powder and cornflour in a very large mixing bowl and whisk to a smooth batter.
2. In a separate bowl, mix spinach, zucchinis, green onion, red onion and peas. Add vegetables to batter and mix well.
3. Heat vegetable oil in large non-stick frying pan, drop about two tablespoons of batter into oil and fry fritters four at a time for 2–3 minutes on each side until golden, then drain on paper towels.