Quick ideas
Indian spiced courgette and chickpea fritters with tomato, cucumber and mint salsa
Light, spicy courgette and chickpea fritters with a cooling salsa. Chickpeas and gram flour give the fritters a nice nuttiness and lots of protein. This makes a lovely vegetarian lunch or dinner (or make it vegan by replacing the cow's yoghurt with coconut yoghurt).
Cook's notes
Basil's the obvious herb match for tomatoes, but mint works really well too
Ingredients
main
- 3-4 courgettes (500g grated weight)
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
- 3 spring onions, finely sliced
- 1 tbsp medium hot curry powder
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, finely grated
- 3 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped
- 100g gram (chickpea) flour
- 1 tin chickpeas, rinsed and drained, then lightly mashed with a fork, so some are crushed and some whole
- oil for frying, e.g. vegetable or sunflower
- finely grated zest of 1 lime or lemon
- ½ pot plain yogurt
for the salsa
- 480g punnet tomatoes, chopped, seeds removed
- 1 mini cucumber or ½ a large one, diced
- small bunch of mint, leaves finely shredded
- 1-2 chillies, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp olive oil for dressing
- juice of ½ lime or lemon, more to taste
- salt and pepper
Method
main
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Step 1
Put a clean tea towel in a colander over a bowl. Tip in the grated courgettes. Wring the towel several times, to squeeze out as much moisture as you can. Wash and dry the bowl and tip the courgettes back in.
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Step 2
Add the chopped chilli, spring onion, curry powder, ginger, coriander, gram flour and chickpeas.
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Step 3
Mix together well, cover and chill for at least 30 minutes.
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Step 4
Meanwhile, mix the zest from 1 lime into the yogurt.
Make the salsa
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Step 1
mix all the ingredients in a bowl, season and leave to stand.
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Step 2
Roughly shape the courgette mixture into 8 balls, then flatten into patty shapes. Heat a layer of oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Fry for 3-4 minutes on each side, until golden. Serve with a dollop of citrussy yogurt and the salsa on the side.