I am currently obsessed with the book Falastin by Sami Tamimi and Tara Wrigley. Its a beautiful book full of nostalgic meals, inspiring food stories and the history of a place which most of us probably don’t know that much about – Palastine. I love to travel and like most of us I am missing the excitement of new places at the moment. This book has inspired me and cheered me up in these monotonous, cold lockdown times.

Anyway, I am not getting paid to plug this book I am here to share one of its recipes. We have been chatting a lot on the Facebook group and by email and I know lots of you are looking for new recipes and inspiration to bring a little excitement to your dinner right now. Since I got this book a few weeks ago we have made these fritters 3 times and I am going to make some more tomorrow.

The original recipe uses cauliflower but as I said in the my previous post there are not many of those around right now and we aren’t likely to see much variety for a couple of months. You can use lot of different veg in these fritters, the main thing is to experience the subtle spices and delicious sauce. All the ingredients are easy to find and they are simple to make. We make big batches and keep them in the fridge for snacks and quick lunches with some pitta and hummus.

Depending on what veg you use you will need to treat them a little differently:

Carrots/parsnips/beets – just grate them in raw

Cabbage/kale/sprouts/greens/leeks – slice thinly

Potatoes/celeriac/swede/squash – cut into small cubes and par boil

Mushrooms – slice and fry to get rid of the water

Broccoli/Cauliflower – cut into florets, boil for 3-4 minutes then mash into small lumps

All you need is a pan and some oil/ghee to fry these in. Enjoy!

Vegetable Fritters Recipe

Ingredients (makes about 12):

About 300-350g of vegetables (see above)

120g flour (Gluten free or chickpea flour work really well if you dont eat wheat)

20g fresh parsley (chopped)

1 onion – about 100g (finely chopped)

2 eggs

1.5tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp Aleppo chilli flakes (I use a mix of red chilli and Chipotle as I don’t have Aleppo – should be hot & a little smoky)

1/2 tsp baking powder

250ml oil for frying

Salt and black pepper

Sauce

250g Natural yogurt

1 tsp dried mint

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp olive oil

Preparation:

Mix the ingredients for the sauce together with 1/2 tsp salt & set aside

Prep your veg as above and leave to cool if you have pre-cooked them

Make the batter by mixing the flour, onion, eggs, herbs and spices and baking powder together and adding enough water to make a smooth runny batter with a consistency like double cream. Add 1-1.5 tsp salt depending on your taste and 1 tsp black pepper

Mix the veg into the batter and start heating the oil.

Spoon about 3 tablespoons of batter into the oil and fry in batches for 5-8 minutes making sure to flip them over halfway through cooking.

I always cook a small one first and taste it to make sure the seasoning is correct before cooking it all

Once cooked drain on some kitchen paper

Serve warm or cold with the yogurt sauce any time of day or night