cauliflower and cumin fritters with lime yoghurt sauce

September 26, 2011

I’ve been meaning to share these fritters with you for quite some time but somehow it’s been escaping me. My adventures in Pakistani food last week jolted me into remembering my mad love for cumin, cinnamon, turmeric and the like.

Crunchy on the outside; warm, soft and spicy on the inside; these fritters make a perfect lunch or brunch. The lime yoghurt sauce is such a treat to serve with them, offering a cool reprieve from the spice. Balance, balance, balance.

By the way, yes I know that frying/deep frying can be a pain in the bum (I have the oil-spattered walls to prove it) but it’s worth it here – the fritters only need a few minutes per side to turn into perfect little discs. Serve them alongside a green salad or inside warm pita bread.

Cauliflower and Cumin Fritters with Lime Yoghurt Sauce

From Ottolenghi: The Cookbook (serves 4)

Ingredients

For the fritters

  • 1 small cauliflower (about 320g)
  • 120g plain flour (1 cup all purpose flour)
  • 3 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley plus a few extra leaves to garnish
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • 2 shallots, finely chopped
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 500ml (2 cups) sunflower or other neutral vegetable oil for frying

For the lime yoghurt

  • 300g (1 1/4 cups) Greek yoghurt
  • 2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro with a couple of leaves reserved to garnish
  • grated zest of 1 lime
  • 2 tbsp lime juice
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • salt and pepper

Directions

  1. Make the yoghurt sauce first by whisking the ingredients (reserving a little oil and sprig of coriander) all together in a bowl. Put aside in the fridge, pour over a little oil and sprinkle with a couple of leaves of coriander to serve.
  2. Prepare the cauliflower by removing the leaves and dividing into small florets. Cooking in a large pan of simmering salted water for around 15 minutes until soft. Drain.
  3. Meanwhile, whisk together in a bowl the eggs, flour, parsley, garlic, shallots, spices, salt and pepper. When mixed well, add the soft warm cauliflower and stir breaking down the cauliflower into the batter.
  4. Heat the sunflower oil (at a depth of 1.5cm) in a wide pan and heat.  When very hot, spoon 3 tbsp worth blobs of batter carefully into the oil to cook.  Avoid overcrowding them, cook maybe 3 at a time spacing them apart with a fish slice.  Fry for 3-4 minutes each side then remove from the pan and drain on kitchen paper.
  5. Serve immediately with the yoghurt sauce.

 


2 comments     posted in:   Healthy Food, Reading, Recipe


welcome to autumn

September 23, 2011

Did you notice that Autumn officially arrived this week? No? If you’re American then maybe you’re one of those people who feels like the jig is up come Labor Day. I prefer to hang onto Summer with my stubby little nails, risking frostbite and hypothermia for the opportunity to still wear skirts and sleeveless tops.

I’ve embraced the shift a bit more this year though. Plus it’s chilly! I might have learned my lesson about dressing appropriately finally (my mum will be so pleased, you can’t imagine) and am heroically dressed in ankle boots, skirt, and tights as I type this, huddled over a cup of hot tea.

I’m guessing that for the majority of you reading this post, Autumn Has Arrived. Official, like. So, here are some food ideas to get you super duper excited about all that’s to come. One thing I think we can all agree on is that Autumn in Eating for England Food Land looks decidedly…orange :)

1. Butternut Squash Bread

My number one, all-time favourite Autumnal recipe. This stuff genuinely can make me feel excited about it getting cold. Sweet pureed butternut squash, cinnamon, nutmeg, all-spice, walnuts. It does not get better, people.

2. Pumpkin Spice Latte

You’ll likely need one of these at your side, every night for the next 9 months (if you live in Minnesota) so get used to them. Lucky for all of us, it’s a super tasty recreation of the -ahem- famously branded concoction. And it won’t cost you $5 to make. Promise.

3. Baked Carrot and Parsnip Oven Fries

Root vegetables are about to become your best friend so my advice is to embrace them in the form of fries…with a chipotle aioli dipping sauce. Hell yeah.

4. Roasted Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup with Pumpkin Seeds

This soup is killer. People make it and then come and tell me they want to be best friends forever (which is totally fine with me, by the way). It’s creamy, spicy soup, and full of delicious root vegetable flavour. Make it now.

5. Whole Wheat Pumpkin Waffles

I have just taken care of Autumn weekend breakfasts for the next thirteen weeks. You are so very welcome.


2 comments     posted in:   Recipe


Lamb Biryani

September 21, 2011

I’m really excited about today’s blog post. I don’t talk much about my job in this space but the organization I work for is, for want of a better word, awesome. As a non-profit regional arts organization we engage people in meaningful arts experiences across the Midwest and beyond.

One of our newest programs is called Caravanserai: A Place Where Cultures Meet. It’s designed to introduce U.S. audiences to exciting and dynamic artists from the Muslim world and to create new pathways for Americans to experience the diversity of contemporary Muslim artistic expressions.

The current season features the diverse cultures of contemporary Pakistan. Pretty cool, right? To learn more about how the program works, you should visit the website.

One thing the the team working on this program understood immediately was the importance of food. They knew readers would want to hear and learn about Pakistani cuisine on the Caravanserai blog and asked me to contribute some recipes and posts. To say I was excited would be a minor understatement.

Head over to the Caravanserai blog now for my first post and a recipe for lamb biryani that may just rock your world.


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