Free From Friday - Vegan & Gluten Free Courgette/Zucchini Fritters

Asalamu Alaikum / Hi everyone,

Courgette or Zucchini? Well here are a few interesting foody facts:

• The term Zucchini has an Italian origin while courgette is relatively French.
• Zucchini is used by those people who speak North American and Australian English whereas courgette is used by those who speak French, British, New Zealand and South African English.
• Zucchini and courgette are the same plant veggies but are used to refer to that same plant, which is growing across its different stages of plant development. The courgette is smaller and estimated to be about 14 x 4 cm long whereas the zucchini is bigger, which is estimated to grow as big as 15-20 cm.                                                     Source

So now we are all aware of the difference, let me say either can be used in this recipe and you will still achieve the same tasty results, inshAllah.

Adapted from smittenkitchen

Makes: About 7 fritters

Ingredients

450g/1 pound courgette/zucchini
1 teaspoon salt, plus extra to taste
1 small white onion, finely diced
1 tsp no egg (natural egg replacer) mixed with 2 tbsp water
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 teaspoon wheat free baking powder
Olive or another oil of your choice, for frying

Essential Equipment
Baking sheet
Food processor fitted with grater attachment / Grater
Sieve
Ice cream scoop

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C Fan/200C/325F, place baking sheet in oven until it's needed. Stir together rice flour and baking powder in a small bowl, In a small cup mix egg replacer with water, set aside.
2. Weigh Courhinni lol see what i did there, Cut ends off and Grate them using a food processor fitted with the grater attachment, please be careful of your fingers!!!. In a large bowl, toss courgette/zucchini with 1 teaspoon salt and then transfer to a sieve set over a bowl and leave for minimum of 10 minutes. Squeeze out the remaining water from the courgette/zhuccini by pressing it with a spoon against the holes of the sieve.
3. Place the dehydrated mass back into your large bowl. Taste and if you think it could benefit from more salt add 1/4 teaspoon or to taste, stir in onion, egg replacer and black pepper, at this stage you could also add a few spices or herbs such as dill/parsley. Stir the flour mix into the batter.
4. In a large frying pan(i really need a skillet as they are much better) heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Using an ice cream scoop as your measure, drop dollops of your batter onto the frying pan, only a few at a time so they don't merge together,  flatten as much or little as you prefer with the back of your spatula. Cook the fritters over medium heat until the edges at the base of the fritter are golden, about 3 to 4 minutes. Turnover the fritters and fry them on the other side until browned underneath, about 2 minutes more. Pat briefly on paper towels then transfer to your hot baking sheet and then into the warm oven until needed. Repeat proces with remaining batter ensuring pan is well oiled each time. Make sure that the fritters have at least 10 minutes in the oven to finish setting and getting extra crisp. 

If your not afraid of the extra calories, deep fry  scoops of batter at 180C the scoops of batter for a minute or until the edges start turning golden. Drain on paper towels to remove excess oil, place on a baking sheet, flatten as desired, bake for 15-20mins or until needed.

Enjoy as a side dish or snack.