Zucchini Fritters

I made zucchini fritters on Saturday as part of dinner and didn’t have time to post them until today. When the zucchini is abundant in the summertime I am always looking for ways to use zucchini. Summer squash are some of my favorite vegetables.

These fritters are whole grain and lower fat than traditional recipes. Both my husband and parents love it when I make fritters of any sort which is why you are seeing another version so soon after the corn fritters. We didn’t have any leftovers and I only ate two fritters so I guess the family really enjoyed them.

Zucchini Fritters
Makes 4 entrée sized portions – 16 fritters

Ingredients:

1 cup of whole-wheat pastry flour
¼ cup of finely ground white cornmeal
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds, toasted
1 teaspoon of oregano, dried
1 ½ teaspoons of egg replacer
2 tablespoons of warm water, to dissolve egg replacer
1 cup of almond milk
2+ cups of zucchini, shredded (from 2 zucchini)
2 tablespoons of canola oil, for cooking cakes

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees to keep the cooked fritters warm while you finish.

Combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, cumin and oregano and whisk to thoroughly combine. Set this bowl aside.

Combine the egg replacer and warm water and whisk to dissolve the egg replacer. Add the almond milk to the wet ingredients and whisk again.

Stir the zucchini into the dry ingredients to coat them with flour. This will help the zucchini not sink to the bottom of the batter.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to combine. If the batter is dry add a little extra almond milk or water until the batter resembles pancake batter. Don’t overbeat the batter or your fritters will be tough.

Heat a cast iron pan or griddle over medium heat and coat with a little of the canola oil.

Dollop the fritter batter on the hot griddle in approximately ¼ cup measures. Cook until bubbles form on the top of the fritter and then flip and cook the other side.

You can keep the fritters hot in a 200-degree oven while you cook the remaining batter.

Serve hot with tofu sour cream or muhammara.

Nutritional Information (assumes 4 servings):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 223.29
Calories From Fat (35%) - 78.6

Total Fat - 8.93g
Saturated Fat - 0.71g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 645.67mg
Potassium - 477.13mg
Total Carbohydrates - 32.88g
Fiber - 5.82g
Sugar - 1.98g
Protein - 6.36g

Comments:

This traditional American fare is a favorite at my house. My husband grew up eating this food and my Southern grandmother used to make things like this all time. I think they are traditionally fried in butter but I don’t like to cook with Earth Balance. Sometimes I add caramelized onions or garlic to the fritters and that makes them a little sweeter.

Corn Sticks/Corn Bread

With the dinner we had tonight corn bread seemed like the appropriate accompaniment. Not that anyone needs this, but I have a cast-iron pan shaped like little ears of corn that was begging to be used this evening. Removing the corn sticks from the pan is a little tough, but they are so cute …. I just had to use it.

This recipe is a modification of a recipe in Mark Bittman’s book How to Cook Everything. My version uses whole-wheat flour (of course), and doesn’t use egg or buttermilk but other than those changes the recipe is the same.

Corn Sticks/Corn Bread
Makes 10 sticks (approximately 1 1/2” by 6 “)

Dry Ingredients:

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons of white cornmeal, finely ground
¼ cup of whole-wheat pastry flour
¾ teaspoon of baking powder
½ teaspoon of kosher salt
½ cup of corn kernels

Wet Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of golden flaxseeds, freshly ground
¾ - 1 cup of almond milk
1 tablespoon of canola oil

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. If using a cast iron pan you can coat it evenly with oil and heat it in the oven or on top of the stove. I used a corn stick pan and heated it in the oven.

Combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk to evenly distribute the ingredients. Add the corn kernels and toss them in the flour so that they are coated with flour. This flour coating will keep the corn from falling to the bottom of the batter. Set this bowl aside.

In a separate bowl combine the ground flaxseed, almond milk (start with ¾ cup) and canola oil and whisk to combine.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir to form a uniformly moist batter. The batter should be the consistency of pancake batter (thick, but spoonable). If you can’t easily spoon the batter add a little more almond milk until the batter is the correct consistency.

Remove the cast iron pan from the oven and spoon the batter into the pan. Return the pan to the oven.

If using a corn stick pan begin checking the sticks for doneness after 15 minutes. They are done if you insert a toothpick into the middle of the pan and it comes out clean. If using a cast iron skillet begin checking it for doneness after 25 minutes.

Nutritional Information (per stick):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 71.61
Calories From Fat (35%) - 24.83

Total Fat - 2.83g
Saturated Fat - 0.24g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 165.53mg
Potassium - 67.46mg
Total Carbohydrates - 10.62g
Fiber - 1.8g
Sugar - 0.31g
Protein - 1.71g

Comments:

This recipe results in a moist, tender and flavorful cornbread. We didn’t use butter or oil on these at dinner tonight, and they didn’t need it. If you want to take this recipe over the top you can make a little orange/agave/Earth Balance.

My husband told me this was his favorite part of dinner this evening. I guess that says it all.

If you want a little more flavor these would be fabulous with a little hot crushed peppers, pickled jalapeno or even some finely diced roasted red peppers. Chili powder, cumin or minced cilantro would also be good in this recipe.

Whole Wheat Corn Fritters with Fresh Tomato and Corn Salsa

I have been promising my husband I was going to make corn fritters for a couple of weeks now since we made the traditional version in cooking class. Tonight was the night I finally kept my promise.

My version of the corn fritters was made with whole-wheat pastry flour to increase the fiber and nutrition. I added a number of spices to the corn fritters to add a bit of complexity to the pancakes. I crisped the cakes in small amount of oil in a cast iron pan. The corn fritters were starting to get too much color so I finished them in a 300 degree oven to finish the inside of the corn cakes without burning the exterior.

My husband could have eaten the entire batch of corn fritters by himself tonight. If your family includes big eaters you may want to double or triple this recipe.

Whole Wheat Corn Fritters
Serves 2 or 1 hungry man

Dry Ingredients:

½ cup of whole-wheat pastry flour
2 tablespoons of white corn meal
¼ teaspoon of baking powder
¼ teaspoon of kosher salt
¼ teaspoon of cumin seed
1/8 teaspoon of oregano, dried
1/8 teaspoon of ancho chili powder
1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

Wet Ingredients:

¾ teaspoon of egg replacer (ENERG)
1 tablespoon of warm water
¼ cup of almond milk
enough water to make a pancake texture batter
1 cup of corn kernels, fresh from the cob or frozen and drained
2 tablespoon of fresh cilantro, minced

½ tablespoon of canola oil to cook the cakes

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees to hold the corn fritters while you finish the over components of the meal.

Mix the dry ingredients and set them aside.

Combine the egg replacer and warm water and whisk to combine. Add ¼ cup of almond milk.

Mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients and stir to form”pancake” dough. I keep my flour in the freezer so it tends to be more dry. While the original recipe called for ¼ cup of liquid I had to use ½ cup total liquid in my recipe tonight.

When the pancake batter is the correct consistency, add the corn kernels and cilantro and mix to combine.

Heat a cast iron pan until it reaches approximately 350 degrees. Add half the oil so that it lightly covers the bottom of the pan. Drop approximately 2 - 3 tablespoons of batter onto the pan for each fritter. I cooked 4 corn fritters in the pan at a time. Each fritter cooked for approximately 3 minutes per side. I removed them from the pan when they reached the appropriate golden color. Cook the final 4 fritters using the same method.

My fritters were the appropriate color on the outside but were not cooked completely through so I turned the oven to 350 degrees and baked the fritters for 15 minutes to ensure they were done.

Serve hot with a little salt and pepper to taste. I served my fritters with the corn and tomato salsa below.

Nutritional Information (assumes 2 servings):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 206.62
Calories From Fat (22%) - 45.07

Total Fat - 5.15g
Saturated Fat - 0.46g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 325.59mg
Potassium - 288.45mg
Total Carbohydrates - 37.58g
Fiber - 5.6g
Sugar - 1.58g
Protein - 6.27g

Corn and Tomato Salsa
Serves2

Ingredients:

½ red onion, finely minced
2 tablespoons of sherry vinegar
1 large red tomato, finely diced (approximately 2 cups)
1 cup of corn kernels, cut from the cob or frozen and defrosted
¼ cup of fresh cilantro, minced
¼ teaspoon of oregano, dried
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Combine the red onion and vinegar to reduce the sharpness of the onion. Allow the onion to sit in the vinegar at least 10 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and toss to coat. Taste for seasonings and correct before serving.

When you serve this salsa use a slotted spoon so most of the vinegar stays in the bowl.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 101.98
Calories From Fat (7%) - 7.47

Total Fat - 0.9g
Saturated Fat - 0.1g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 211.66mg
Potassium - 548.13mg
Total Carbohydrates - 23.7g
Fiber - 4.24g
Sugar - 6.07g
Protein - 3.71g

Comments:

The corn fritters turned out much better than I expected. When I make them the next time I will increase the cumin and oregano. I also may add a little drained shredded zucchini to the fritters. I think I would like the texture of the zucchini and the increase in vegetables in the fritter. If you have a few fat calories to spare cilantro oil drizzled over the top of the cakes would taste great and look nice.

The salsa was nice and refreshing. It would have been better with avocado, but I didn’t want to add the fat to dinner tonight. A little drizzle of oil would also have been nice in the salsa, but I didn’t add it for the same reason. Fresh diced cucumber or green pepper would have also been nice in the salsa if you have it handy.

Overall we were happy with the fritters and the resulting nutritional statistics.