Rukmini Iyer’s quick and easy squash fritters with rosemary and feta – recipe
These six-ingredient fritters are ridiculously moreish and, if served with something green alongside, make a lovely autumnal dinner. You could, however, just as easily make smaller versions to hand around with drinks. One caveat: grating butternut squash with a box grater is not for the faint-hearted, so if you have a food processor, by all means use the coarse grating attachment on that instead, not least because it will prep your peeled, deseeded squash in seconds. Otherwise, you’ll need to find a volunteer who can grate in lieu of a gym trip.
Crisp butternut squash fritters with rosemary and feta
I often use gluten-free self-raising flour in my fritter batters, because it makes the end results extra crisp.
Prep 15 min
Cook 20 min
Serves 2-3
1 medium butternut squash (800g), halved, deseeded peeled and grated
2 eggs
60g gluten-free self-raising flour (it makes the fritters extra crisp)
3 sprigs rosemary, picked and finely chopped
200g feta, crumbled
1 tsp sea salt flakes
Olive oil, for frying
4 heaped tbsp greek yoghurt
1-2 tbsp sriracha, or your hot sauce of choice
Tenderstem or green salad, to serve
For the dressing:
Extra-virgin olive oil
Salt
Lemon juice
Put the squash in a large bowl, then add the eggs, flour, rosemary, feta and salt, and mix to combine (wear gloves, if need be, to massage the ingredients together thoroughly).
Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan on a medium heat, then add tablespoons of the fritter mix without overcrowding the pan. Pat each one down to about 1cm thick, then use another tablespoon to shape each fritter into a rough circle (to begin with, they might not look as if they’ll stick together, but trust the process). Fry for three minutes, then flip and fry on the other side for another three minutes, until golden brown and crisp. The trick is to pay attention to the first batch to get the heat level right.
Transfer the fritters to a baking tray lined with kitchen paper to drain, then repeat with the next batch of fritters, adding more oil to the pan as needed. If you like, transfer the cooked fritters to a low oven to keep warm.
While the fritters are frying, mix the yoghurt with the sriracha; my husband would go for equal quantities of each, because he’s a chilli fiend, but my tolerance is extremely low, so add it a tablespoon at a time according to your own taste.
If you’re serving Tenderstem alongside, cook it in boiling salted water for three minutes, drain well, then dress with extra-virgin olive oil, salt and lemon juice. Alternatively, open a bag of salad and dress it the same way. Serve the fritters hot with the sriracha yoghurt and greens alongside.
