Courgette Fritters

The first post on this blog was on 4 July 2015 – just over 2 years ago.

Now this will be my 100th post!

Although courgette fritters are not from an old Polish recipe they do have some similarity  to Polish potato pancakes and to carrot pancakes.

Courgette in Polish is cukini – so another vegetable that owes its name to Italian  – zucchini.

Courgettes belong to cucurbitaceae family as do cucumbers which are very well loved in Poland – so I am sure this recipe would be very popular there too.

I have read that courgettes did not become popular in Poland until the 1970s although the larger marrow and pumpkins were often cooked and many recipes for these can be used for courgettes.

The amounts in the ingredients are all approximate.

Ingredients

• 2 to 3 courgettes
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons of soured cream, double cream, crème fraise or yoghurt cheese
• 2 tablespoons of plain flour
• Grated rind of 1 lemon
• Salt
• Sunflower oil for frying.

Method

• Grate the courgettes using a coarse grater.
• Sprinkle the courgettes with salt.
• Place the salted courgettes onto a clean tea towel and place this in a colander for around 30 minutes.
• Wrap the tea towel up and squeeze out the liquid from the courgettes.

Note

The green stains on the tea towel will come out in a hot wash but  do not use fabric softener for tea towels used for this and similar purposes.

Place the dried grated courgettes in a bowl and add the grated lemon rind.

• Add the beaten egg and the soured cream (double cream, crème fraise or yoghurt cheese) and mix together.
• Add the flour and mix thoroughly.
• Heat the oil in a frying pan and use large tablespoonfuls of the mixture to make the fritters.
• Fry them on both sides until they are golden brown.

Keep them on a heat proof plate  in a low heat oven whilst you make the rest.

• You can place a sheet of kitchen roll on top of the first layer to stop them sticking.
• Serve them with grilled meats and salad.

Option

A chopped red chilli or two and also a chopped garlic clove can be added to the mixture.