Fritter away! Zucchini and feta fritters
Are they Greek? Are they Turkish? We’re not going to step into that particularly messy fray, but let’s just say we’ve eaten our fair share of these babies on Turkish soil as part of mezze spreads. Called mücver, we’ve yet to meet anyone who dislikes these fritters; we’ve also made them with grated carrot and you can even use a mix of grated raw beetroot and potato. Delish! We love how you don’t need to serve these hot – they are equally delicious, maybe even more so, served at room temperature. So if you're entertaining and serving up some eastern Med flavours, you can have these done and dusted ahead of time. Slaving over a hot frying pan and flipping fritters as guests arrive is a hard no from us so anything that has us out of an apron, and pouring drinks like there’s no tomorrow instead, is our kind of dish. Whichever veg you use for these, just wring them out once (you won’t need to salt carrot, potato or beetroot, BTW). You’ll be amazed how much liquid comes out and you don't want all that wet stuff in your fritters. #soggy. So don't skip that step. Turks love their fritters, and other mezze, with raki which is not our preferred rocket fuel but look, you do you. Just don’t blame us for the headache.
MAKES 16-18
800g (about 5) zucchini, grated
2½ tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra, for cooking fritters
1 onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed or finely chopped
120g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
3 large eggs, beaten well
150g Greek-style feta cheese, crumbled
1 bunch dill, fronds chopped
Greek-style yoghurt and lemon wedges, to serve
Place the zucchini in a large sieve, sprinkle over the salt, then toss to combine. Set the sieve over a sink or large bowl, then leave for about 1 hour for the liquid to drain. Using your hands, firmly squeeze the zucchini to get rid of as much liquid as possible. Transfer to a clean kitchen towel, fold the towel over the zucchini, then squeeze to extract as much remaining liquid as possible. Place the zucchini in a large bow.
Preheat the oven to 120C. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a small frying pan over medium heat, add the onion and garlic, then cook, stirring occasionally for 6 minutes or until softened. Remove to a bowl and cool. Sift the flour and baking powder, then add to the zucchini with the onion mixture, egg, feta, and dill, then stir to combine. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Heat about 60ml (1/4 cup) olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat, then drop heaped dessertspoonfuls of the fritter mixture, in batches, into the pan to make fritters about 6-7cm across. Cook for 5 minutes or until the underside is deep golden, then turn and cook for another 4-5 minutes until golden and the fritters are heated through. Repeat with the remaining mixture, adding more oil to the pan as needed and keeping cooked fritters warm in the oven while the remaining cook. If you have 2 frying pans, you can cook double the amount at the same time. Serve hot or at room temperature with yoghurt and lemon wedges for squeezing over.
