Ottolenghi’s Courgette and Manouri Fritters
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Ingredients
3 3 medium
courgettes (580g), trimmed and coarsely grated
2 small
shallots (50g), finely chopped
2 garlic
cloves, crushed
finely grated zest of 2 limes
60g self-raising
flour
2 eggs,
lightly beaten
2½ tsp ground
coriander
1½ tsp ground cardamom
150g manouri (or
halloumi or feta), roughly broken into 1–2cm chunks
about 150ml sunflower
oil, for frying
coarse sea salt and black pepper
For the lime and cardamom soured cream:
200ml soured cream
5g coriander,
roughly chopped
½ tsp ground cardamom
finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime
Method
1 Mix together all the ingredients for the soured cream
sauce in a small bowl, along with 1/4 teaspoon of salt and a grind of black
pepper. Set aside in the fridge until ready to serve.
2 Place the grated courgettes in a colander and sprinkle
over 1 teaspoon salt. Set aside for 10 minutes, then squeeze them to remove
most of the liquid: you want the courgettes to keep a little bit of moisture,
so don’t squeeze them completely dry. Transfer to a large bowl and add the
shallots, garlic, lime zest, flour, eggs, ground coriander, cardamom and a
grind of black pepper. Mix well to form a uniform batter, then fold in the
manouri cheese gently so it doesn’t break up much.
3 Pour enough oil into a large frying pan so it rises 2–3mm
up the sides and place on a medium heat. Once hot, add 4 separate heaped
dessertspoons of mixture to the pan, spacing them well apart and flattening
each fritter slightly with the flat side of a slotted spoon as they cook. Cook
for 6 minutes (or according to the cooking instructions above, if your fritters
are quenelles), turning once halfway through, until golden and crisp on both
sides. Transfer to a kitchen paper-lined plate and keep somewhere warm while
you continue with the remaining two batches. Place 3 fritters on each plate and
serve at once, with the sauce alongside or in a bowl on the side.
by Yotam Ottolenghi, Ramael Scully from NOPI: The Cookbook
