Kolokithokeftedes! Courgette, mint and feta fritters.
Kolokithokeftedes! Courgette, mint and feta fritters, a punch of flavour, enjoyed with a big dollop of creamy Greek yoghurt and squeeze of lemon.
At about this time of the year I've got more courgettes than I know what to do with, and these little beauties are a delicious use of them. A popular dish in Greece and Cyprus, perfect as a starter, part of a meze or as a seasonal tea. They're full of flavour, sweet courgette, earthy mint and cinnamon and pops of salty feta which when dipped in the creamy Greek yoghurt just makes heaven. Served with a simple salad of tomatoes and cucumber. They don't need anything else.
A perfect tea, great for a veggie diet or a meat free Monday and a dinner we thoroughly enjoyed.
Give them a go, I can promise you won't regret it! Recipe makes about 7 large fritters which serves 2. Ingredients: 2 medium sized courgettes 1 carrot 1 small onion 2 small (or 1 large) potato 150g feta, crumbled 2 eggs 3 teaspoon dried mint pinch ground cinnamon 5-6 tablespoons plain flour Salt and pepper Sunflower oil for frying 1 - on the course side of the grater, grate the courgette, onion, potato and carrots and place in a bowl with a good pinch or 2 of salt, mix together and place in a sieve over a bowl and leave for an hour, this draws out moisture, and is key to these being nice and crisp when they're cooked
2 - Press down into the sieve after the hour and then squeeze the remaining moisture out, place into a bowl.
3 - Add in the eggs, feta, mint and cinnamon and mix, then add the flour, tablespoon by tablespoon till you have a mixture which you can bind into spoonfuls to fry, season well with salt and black pepper. 5 - in a pan put enough sunflower oil to shallow fry (about 1/2cm up the pan) and, once hot, dollop the mixture (approx 2 tablespoons worth of mixture per fritter) in the pan, separated out. Cook in batches of 3 - 4 fritters at a time. 6 - after 2 - 3 minutes flip them over and cook on the other side, till they're browned and crisp on each side - remove to drain onto a paper towel 7 - Serve immediately with Greek yoghurt or Tzatziki and salad