Courgette and Chickpea Fritters

Courgette and Chickpea Fritters; hardly the most raucously popular Indian snack. Though there’s little doubt the combination has been explored before this point – and it seems one or two recipes do exist – its status must progress. Flavoured correctly, courgette and chickpea fritters have the potential to mount a serious challenge to the kingly onion bhaji. Talk about a constitutional crisis…

I’m a firm believer that with curry should come variety. There’s every chance that if we’ve planned to have curry then something far more expansive will be served up; a curry or two, dal, homemade naan and a few snacks or sides. Simplicity is, therefore, key and this recipe for courgette and chickpea fritters is as easy as it comes.

There’s little more to these robustly flavoured, Indian-inspired treats than mixing the requisites together and giving them a jolly good shallow fry. Ready in under 30 minutes, could you ask for any more?

And if you’re not sold already, there’s another string to their bow; tucked generously into a homemade pitta or naan, along with pickle, chutney and yoghurt, these fritters make a rather fine lunch. After all, you’re unlikely to gobble down 12 in one sitting.

Courgette and Chickpea Fritters

Makes 10-14

Ingredients:

• ½ a large courgette, roughly grated
• 2 cloves of garlic, mashed
• a handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped
• the juice of a lemon
• 1 400g tin of chickpeas
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• ½ tsp fenugreek seeds
• 1 tsp garam masala
• ½ tsp turmeric
• ½ tsp hot chilli powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 3-4 tbsp gram flour
• a dash of water, if necessary
• oil for frying

Method:

1. Grate the courgette into a large mixing bowl, before adding the mashed garlic, fresh coriander and the lemon juice. Mix thoroughly.
2. Mash the chickpeas roughly with a fork, or give them a very quick blitz in a food processor. Add them to the bowl and incorporate.
3. Gently toast the whole spices and grind to a powder. Add them, along with the garam masala, turmeric, chilli powder and salt to the courgette mixture.
4. Fold 3-4 tbsp of gram flour through the mixture, beating until smooth. The consistency should be wet, but dry enough to keep its shape; reminiscent of a thick hummus.
5. Heat 1 tbsp of sunflower oil – or similar – in a pan on a medium heat. Add around 1 tbsp of mixture to the pan for each fritter. Fry 3 at a time.
6. Once cooked, transfer the fritters to paper towel to drain before serving. You can keep them warm in the oven, but be sure to cover.

Cost: It’ll come as no surprise for you to learn that these fritters are extraordinarily frugal. And there’s little reason to go into why. Just know that the entire batch should set you back no more than £1.25.

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