The Back Yard Lemon Tree

I was a kid who loved veggies, pretty much all vegetables – broccoli, carrots, pumpkin, sweet potato, brussel sprouts! (Why do people hate on brussel sprouts, they’re delicious and they look like tiny fairy cabbages) I particularly adored the cauliflower gratin my mum would make to accompany a big family roast dinner.

Recently my older brother came to stay and I was shocked when he casually declared cauliflower the most boring vegetable. He was even faintly dismissive of cauliflower gratin – I mean you think you know someone! What is family but a series of shared food memories?

Anyway I made these cauliflower fritters for him a couple of nights later and of course he loved them. In fact he ate the last fritter off the platter. The moral to this story is don’t underestimate cauliflower it’s versatile and delicious. These fritters will win over the most hardened cauliflower skeptic.

Note on recipe – This batter keeps a day ahead in the fridge, so it’s great for prepping ahead. Leftovers can be eaten at room temperature or re-heated in the oven. Any leftovers are also great in sandwiches. Who doesn’t love a fritter sandwich?

Palestinian Cauliflower and Cumin Fritters

Adapted from Falastin by Sami Tamimi and Tara Wrigley

Makes about 10-16 fritters (Depending on size) -serving four to six

• 1/2 a small cauliflower (300 grams) cut into 4-5cm sized florets.
• 120g (4oz) plain flour
• 2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon*
• 1/2 teaspoon ground tumeric
• 1/2 teaspoon Aleppo chilli flakes (or 1/4 teaspoon of regular chilli flakes)
• 1/2 tspn baking powder
• 250 mls ( 1 cup) of sunflower oil, for frying
• salt and black pepper
• Lemon wedges to serve

1. Bring a pan of salted water to boil. Add cauliflower and simmer for about 4 minutes until just tender. Drain cauliflower in colander (Remember! reserve 4-6 tablespoons of cauliflower water for batter) Mash cauliflower roughly in colander (you want it to be slightly chunky.
2. In a large bowl mix together all the rest of the fritter ingredients apart from (sunflower oil) to make a thick batter. Season with salt and pepper. Mix through cauliflower, Add 3-5 tablespoons of cauliflower water and mix through. You should have a slightly runny, not too stiff batter.
3. Heat oil in a 22cm saute pan until very hot. Spoon batter (About 2-3 tablespoons) into the oil. Be careful not to overcrowd the pan, Cook 4 to 5 fritters at a time. Cook until golden brown on both sides (about 5 minutes)
4. Drain on kitchen paper and continue with cooking the remaining batter.

Serve warm or at room temperature with wedges of lemon.

*The last time I made these fritters I used a teaspoon of Gewurzhaus apple cake spice instead of cinnamon and it was so, so good!