If you have a) too many courgettes, b) one that got away and turned into a mini zeppelin or c) a partner who claims to hate summer squash, I may have the answer to your prayers. These bhajis are the business.
On first bite my husband rated them ‘delicious’, downgraded to ‘quite nice’ when he remembered what was in them. Next time I won’t tell him.
They’re quick to make and you don’t need a deep fat fryer. You will need gram, or besan, flour made from chickpeas and easily available in Asian stores. It gives the bhajis a lovely nutty taste.
Ingredients:
500g courgettes
180g onion, peeled and halved
1 or 2 hot green chillies, de-seeded and finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
120g gram flour
2 tspn black onion seeds
1 tspn turmeric
1 heaped tspn cumin seeds
1 heaped tspn coriander seeds
1 tspn salt
1 tbsp lemon juice
Method:
Coarsely grate the courgettes and onions into a large bowl. Add the chopped green chillis and garlic, the lemon juice and black onion seeds and stir well.
Weight the gram flour into another bowl. Toast the cumin and coriander seeds in a dry pan until they smell fragrant, then grind to a powder. Add to the gram flour, along with the turmeric and salt. Stir with a fork to mix and to get any lumps out of the gram flour.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir thoroughly to coat all the strands of vegetable. Leave to one side and meanwhile put two centimetres of oil in a large deep frying pan on a medium heat.
When it is hot, carefully drop tablespoons of the courgette mixture separately into the pan, spreading fairly thinly into a circular shape to form fritters. Cook on each side until a deep golden brown, then drain on kitchen paper and keep warm while you make the remainder.
Serve hot with a minty yoghurt dip and maybe some chutneys on the side.
Oh yes. It’s particularly good that you don’t have to deep fry them. I also will fail to mention the main ingredient when I make them.
I await the results with interest. 🙂
Not this week, or next. We’re off again. And soon, I’m going off to Spain for an intensive language course in Spanish. To help when we visit Emily in Catalunya. Hmmmmmm.
That sounds exciting. Where are you going and or how long? Do you already speak some Spanish?
Two weeks in mid-November, in Valencia. Then a quick sortie to Emily and Miquel in Barcelona – quite worried about things there, as you must be. Spanish? Well, I can get by in a bar or resto, and that’s about it.
Valenica sounds like a good place to be in November. Enjoy! And yes, the Catalan situation very worrying.
I love courgettes, so this recipe is a must for me! It looks so great!
Thanks very much, Cecilia, glad you like it. Lx
I make a batch of courgette/zucchini fritters most weeks. They are great for lunch and breakfast. My recipe has a Turkish twist, but you know I’ll be trying these, as I love the flavours of India.
Our ‘zeppelin’ weighed almost three kilos so this recipe was perfectly timed. I didn’t have any nigella seeds so added whole cumin seeds as well as the ground cumin. Perhaps surprisingly it wasn’t too overpowering. A side salad as well as the minty yoghurt and Saturday lunch was sorted, thank you (Just need to find a use for the other 2.5k!)
Blimey, that really was the one that got away! Glad you like the recipe, thanks. There are quite a few courgette recipes on Mrs P if you have a rummage, hope one of them helps with the oversize leftovers. 🙂
Thanks as always Linda. I will have to chase down this flour. I hope your niece is okay though she is likely out of the BVI if she is on boats. We head down on Tuesday. Seat belts fastened.
Thanks, Chip, hope you find it ok. Our niece and her partner were, fortunately, out of the BVI when the hurricane hit and all their friends are safe, but as you know the islands have been devastated. Take good care of yourselves. Lx
Mmmmh this one sounds delicious~! I have an indian Cauliflower & Spinach Curry lined up for the weekend and these will go deliciously well with it 😀
Thank you! Your curry sounds pdg too. Hope you enjoy the bhajis. Lxx