Recipe: Zucchini fritters

I love a meal where I can just make the one thing, and serve it to everyone regardless of age. By that, I mean I can put it in front of everyone without having to puree it, chop it into tiny pieces, or mess around with it too much. These fritters definitely tick all those boxes for me. It's certainly an advantage of baby led weaning - as soon as Jimmy showed an interest in food, he was given suitable samplings from my plate. Something that he could manage to gum, and hold himself. No more having to steam organic vegetables and then puree them to the appropriate consistency as I did for Ellie! I have to say, for a baby who doesn't yet have any teeth, he does manage to consume a fair variety of food (although to my chagrin, he has yet to drop any of his beloved milk feeds in favour of solids).

I digress. These fritters are a lovely light meal - I served them for dinner with a side salad, but I've also been known to whip them up for lunch or an afternoon tea. They're also very flexible - you can use something other than zucchini, just as long as you make sure to remove as much moisture from it as possible. Corn, potato and sweet potato are all variations that I've successfully made. You can play around with the seasonings to suit the vegetable used.

Vegan Zucchini Fritters
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Ingredients:

• 1 large or 2 small zucchini, grated
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup plain flour (I used wholemeal)
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp coriander seeds, ground
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil, for frying

Method:

1. Sprinkle salt over the grated zucchini and allow it to sit at least 30 minutes. Squeeze out all the excess water (no one like a soggy fritter!!). Put in a large bowl.
2. To the zucchini, add garlic, onion, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, flour and baking powder. Mix well.
3. Form into balls, and flatten slightly. I found this a much easier task with slightly wet hands.
4. Add olive oil to a pan and fry over medium heat until a lovely golden colour. Flip them over and cook until the other side is brown as well.

Notes:

• I got 7 medium sized fritters out of the recipe, which was enough for myself, the toddler and the baby to eat 
• I served them alongside a simple tomato salsa
• I used a plan wholemeal flour, but I think a chickpea flour would also be a good alternative
• I added coriander seeds only because I had a whole bunch of them which I'd saved when my plant went to seed. Season to your own tastes