Sweet or savoury fritters

I have a bit of a running joke in our house. My extra fussy daughter always has to ask what the ingredients are in the food I make. In just about every case my answer is flour, eggs, milk and butter. It’s funny because if you have those ingredients in your pantry/fridge you can make just about anything including fritters.

I was particularly tired one evening and wondered what on earth we could have for dinner. Other than making baked beans on toast I came up with the idea to make apple fritters. A bit like a doughnut but with a slice of apple inside and then rolled in cinnamon and sugar. Let me tell you they were exactly like that and just delicious with a bit of ice cream. I didn’t win any points with the nutritionists but sure did win points with my son. My fussy daughter did have her regular Vegemite sandwich when we’re having an easy dinner.

I had batter left over so kept it in the fridge for the following night and added chopped ham and a small tin of corn and we had savoury fritters with a salad. I used to make a bulk batch of a pancake recipe that easily adapts to a fritter recipe so I could have sweet or savoury fritters at short notice.

You can add whatever you like to a fritter. For sweet, chop the fruit or keep it whole like a banana and just dip the whole banana into the batter. For savoury, add any meat or vegetable. 

And as for flour, eggs, milk and butter you can make an omelette, scrambled eggs, frittata, French toast (if you have bread, rolls, fruit bread, croissants, bagels). You can make cake, biscuits, scones, damper, custard or you can have a piece of toast. I love having a well stocked pantry.

This is a basic fritter batter recipe from www.taste.com.au but I use the one from my high school text book.

Fruit Salad Fritters

When in doubt, make a fritter. I’m sure that’s what was done when money was tight, meat/fruit/vegies were low and there were a lot of mouths to feed. Growing up Mum always made corned meat fritters from the leftover corned silverside or a batch of tinned (or fresh) corn fritters served with a salad for an easy weekend meal.

On Monday, I introduced a new weekly feature called “Mystery Ingredient Monday” and this week tinned fruit salad (cocktail) was featured. I decided to try some of the fruit salad in a fritter for a dessert treat. I’ve had and made banana and pineapple fritters (along with many other vegetables fillings) but it worked a treat with the chunky fruit salad. They were like puffy doughnuts which I rolled in cinnamon sugar and served with ice cream. My son and I loved them.

Easy to make and with ingredients most of us have on hand. Give them a try sometime and use whatever fillings you have.

Fruit Salad Fritters

• 1.1/2 cups self raising flour 
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tbs sugar
• 1 cup fruit (diced tinned fruit, chopped bananas, pineapple pieces or rings)
• oil for frying
• extra sugar/cinnamon for sprinkling

1. Combine flour, milk, beaten egg and 1 tbs sugar until smooth.
2. Add fruit and fold through.
3. Heat oil to a low/medium heat. (Fritters are quite thick and need to be cooked through before they’ll burn on the outside.)
4. Spoon tablespoons of the mixture into hot oil and fry until golden on each side.
5. Drain on paper towel and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on fritters before serving.
6. Serve with ice cream and/or syrup of your choice.

Greek Zucchini Fritters

Cooking shows weren’t very big when I was a little girl but for some reason I used to pretend I was on a cooking show from a young age and talk to myself while I was cooking for our evening meal. My dream of being on a real cooking show came true last Friday when I competed in the Gourmet Garden Blogger’s Cook Off at the Brisbane Good Food & Wine Show.

The Good Food & Wine Show happens in each capital city around Australia throughout the year and it showcases the best in Australian food and wine and Australia’s best chefs, as well as international chefs. To have the opportunity to cook at such an event was a real privilege.

Back in May this year, I took part in a search for Australia’s best ‘blogger-come-chef’. A ‘blog off/cook off’ sponsored by Gourmet Garden, the makers of herbs in a tube. Here is the wrap up of what I cooked for the competition. I was very lucky to be selected into the next round of the competition in which 3 heats were held last Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I competed at 4pm on the Friday afternoon against Kirsten from K&Co, another blogger here in Brisbane who just so happens to live close to me.

Dominique Rizzo (pictured above), a prolific Australian chef and former Masterchef contestant, Skye Craig were the judges.

The whole thing is a bit of a blur really and I regret not getting more photos of the judges and Kirsten and me with the judges etc etc. I was a little bit excited/nervous/who knows what! We started cooking and making small talk in between frying and mixing. It was a little bit daunting and not at all as I remembered as a young girl but it was heaps and heaps of fun and I’m honoured to have been a part of it. As an extra bonus, my dish of Greek Zucchini Fritters (Kolokithokeftedes) with Tzatziki was declared the winner.

All I know, at this stage, is that I will visit the Sunshine Coast in May next year with 8 other Australian bloggers plus some international competitors in further cook offs, including accommodation and expenses. A couple of days talking about food and having a few laughs with some of my favourite bloggers? Yes please. Thanks to Gourmet Garden for the opportunity and thanks to Kirsten for putting up such a good fight. It was a great way to spend an afternoon, even though those bright lights and microphone being shoved in your face is a little daunting.  Any thought I may have given to entering the Australian version of Masterchef might be over now. Here’s the recipe.

Greek Zucchini Fritters (Kolokithokeftedes) with Tzatziki

• 2 medium zucchini, grated100gm feta cheese, grated
• 50gm parmesan, grated
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 2 tbs Gourmet Garden mint
• 2 tbs Gourmet Garden dill
• 2 tbs Gourmet Garden garlic
• 1 egg, beaten
• ½ cup plain flour
• salt and pepper
• olive oil for frying

Tzatziki:

• 1 cup Greek yoghurt
• 1 cucumber, peeled, de-seeded and grated
• 2 tbs Gourmet Garden garlic
• 1 tbs Gourmet Garden dill
• 1 tbs Gourmet Garden mint
• 1 tbs lemon juice
• 1 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Grate zucchini, sprinkle with salt and drain in a colander.

Make up tzatziki and set aside.

Squeeze liquid from grated zucchini.

Mix all ingredients.

Heat oil to a medium heat so fritters will cook thoroughly inside without burning on the outside.

Drop spoonfuls of mixture into pan and cook each side for about 3 minutes.

Make larger sized fritters for a main dish or smaller sized for appetisers.

Drain on absorbent paper. Serve with lemon wedges and Tzatziki.

Corn Meat Fritters

I think my Mum still cooks for five sometimes as she always buys large pieces of meat to cook up and then has way too much meat just for her and my sister (my youngest sister lives with Mum). She had cooked up a large piece of corn meat and gave us half. I decided to use up half straight away for sandwiches and froze the other half.

I found that last little half in the freezer today and thought I’d make up a batch of corn meat fritters for lunch. They are a lovely memory from my childhood. Mum always used to make them with leftover roast meat, corn, grated vegies or whatever else just seemed to be lying around.

Corn Meat Fritters

Leftover corn meat, chopped finely
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup Self Raising flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 small egg
1 cup milk
oil for frying

Mix all together and drop spoonfuls in a shallow pan of heated oil. (Note: Don’t have the oil too hot as they will cook too quickly on the outside and not cook on the inside.) Cook on both sides and drain on paper towel. Sprinkle with salt to serve.

Bulk Pancake Mix

This is another great recipe for a bulk pancake mix I got from the Simple Savings forum. It has been so versatile and I use it all the time for pancakes, pikelets, crepes, fritters, etc. No need to ever buy “Shake’n’Pour” batter mixes (not that I ever have).

Wholemeal Apple & Cinnamon pikelets

Bulk Pancake Mix
6 cups plain flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk powder
3 tablespoons sugar

Method:

Mix together the following lightly:

1 1/2 cups pancake mix
3/4 cup water
1 egg
2 tablespoons oil

I sometimes use Self Raising flour instead of the plain flour and baking powder. I normally don’t add sugar to the bulk mix allowing me to use it for savoury dishes but instead add the sugar to the batter if I’m making sweet. This is also a good gift to give. Just make up the bulk mix, store in a nice jar or container and add instructions to make up on a label.