Courgette Fritters
Or by their Greek name: Kolokithokeftedes.
This recipe makes me think of the long and lazy Greek Summer. It’s one of the dishes I always look for on the menu, and its taste always brings back my best memories of Greece. These little fritters are common throughout the country, but they originally come from the islands. You can find many different variants made with different vegetables throughout the Aegean — alongside these, the tomato and aubergine ones are my other favourites.
The best part though, for a non-Greek, is the name. These little patties are called Kolokithokeftedes, an almost impossible name which simply means courgette balls. It’s always quite fun for me to watch my friends try to pronounce it without laughing.
Make sure you read the Tips & cheats section for this one, as these little fritters are well known for causing trouble while shaping.
A bite of Summer
Ingredients
500g courgettes
80g to 100g flour
4tbsp breadcrumbs
1 handful of fresh dill
1 handful of fresh mint
80g of feta
2 eggs
2 spring onions
1 clove of garlic
Salt and Pepper
Sunflower oil for frying
Extra flour for coating
Tools
Grater
Colander
Cooking time and people
This recipe will make roughly 14 fritters
40min hands on + 1h rest
Step by step
Wash the courgettes and grate them. Mix them with a handful of salt and let them rest in a colander for at least 1h.
After 1h, 1 handful at a time, try to squeeze as much water as you can out of the courgettes. Use all your strength and try to get out as much water out as you can
Once you’ve done place the courgettes and all the other ingredients in a bowl (except the oil and extra flour), and mix with a spoon. The batter shouldn’t be dry. Depending on how watery the courgettes are you should use roughly 80g to a max of 100g of flour. Look at the pictures below to see how the batter should look like
Taste the mix and adjust salt and pepper to taste
Add the oil in a non-stick pan and start heating it. You want roughly a couple of cm of oil in your pan.
In the meantime, put some flour in a bowl. You will need it to coat the fritters before putting them in the pan
When the oil is hot, shape your first fritter and gently lower it in the pan. This is not as easy as shaping a meatball because the batter is quite liquid. You can either use two big spoons to shape the fritters or you can get your hands really dirty, I personally prefer the latter.
If you choose to shape them by hand: loosely shape a ball and carefully lower it in the flour. When you pick it up pat it between your hands to flatten it and slowly put it in the frying pan
If you want to use the spoons, simply use one spoon to pick up the batter, and use the other to roughly shape it. Lower the spoons in the bowl of flour and use them to roll the batter ball around the flour. You can then pick it up with your hands (it won’t be as sticky) to flatten it and fry
It roughly takes 3min per side to cook. Keep going until you finish the batter
When they are nice and golden take them out of the frying pan and put them on a plate covered with kitchen roll, this will help dry some of the excess oil
Serve them warm with some Tzatziki on the side ( https://www.pinchofsalt.cooking/blog/tzatziki )
Tips & cheats
These are very easy to prepare but the shaping step can be quite annoying. Remember that the batter must be quite loose, but you should be able to roughly shape a ball. If you can’t, then add a tablespoon of flour and try again. Just add one tablespoon at a time, you don’t want it to just taste of flour.
I recommend using your hands as this helps you understand if the consistency is right. Your hands will get very sticky, but that’s ok. Before dipping your hands in the batter you can put a couple of drops of olive oil on your hands (almost like a hand cream), this should help keep the stickiness under control.
Make sure the oil is boiling hot but not burned (there should be no smoke coming out of your pan!). Keep your eyes in the pan as these cook really quickly and sometimes it’s easy to burn them on one side.
Don’t overcrowd your pan. You need to give the fritters enough space or they might stick to each other.
Enjoy, and if you have any questions just send me a note through the contact page!