Baked zucchini (courgette) fritters

Two days ago, England went to a second national lockdown, and so have many other countries around the world. During the spring lockdown earlier this year, I must have baked more cakes and biscuits that any other time of my life; each week I came up with a new recipe, inspired by my travels, but tweaked to make it healthier than it would have been otherwise. This time around, I have decided to tweak traditional Greek recipes, foods that I enjoyed as a child and I still enjoy every time I visit my home country. To continue a tradition I actually started a few weeks ago, this week I’m baking zucchini (or courgette) fritters (known as ‘kolokithokeftedes’ in Greek).

‘Kolokithokeftedes’ actually means ‘zucchini (or courgette) balls’. At the end of the day, they are the vegetarian alternative to meatballs. Traditionally, they are deep-fried and not baked. But, since I am an advocate for healthy eating, I swapped the frying pan for the oven. Zucchini fritters are possibly the best-known fritters in the Greek cuisine, but you can tweak the recipe and replace zucchinis with chickpeas or even tomato. In fact, tomato fritters (domatokeftedes) are a popular appetizer from Santorini, whereas chickpeas fritters (revithokeftedes) can be found elsewhere in Greece.

Zucchini fritters are served as an appetiser, often with a dollop of tzatziki, the famous Greek yoghurt-based dip.

Baked zucchini (courgette) fritters

Ingredients:

500 grams zucchini (courgettes), peeled and grated
200 grams feta cheese, crumbled
2 eggs, beaten
A diced onion (I use frozen pre-diced onion)
Herbs: parsley, dill
Salt and pepper
80 grams flour, and a bit more for coating

Makes 6-8 fritters

Method:

Grate the zucchini and place in a colander.
Sprinkle with salt and let the zucchini drain for an hour.
Squeeze any excess liquid out of the zucchini with your hands.
In a bowl, add the zucchini, the feta cheese, the eggs, the onion, the herbs, salt and pepper, and mix.
Then, add the flour.
Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Shape the mixture into balls and coat with flour.
Place the balls on a baking tray. Gently press down to form patties.
Bake at 180 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until the patties are golden and crunchy.

Tzatziki

Ingredients:

1 cup Greek yoghurt (170 grams)
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil (or garlic-infused olive oil)
1 tbsp white vinegar
A tiny bit of chopped garlic (skip it, if using garlic-infused olive oil)
A little bit of finely chopped dill
A bit of finely chopped cucumber

Method:

Mix all the ingredients together, and then chill in the fridge.
If it tastes more like yoghurt, add some more olive oil.

Further reading

For more mouth-watering Greek recipes, check out the following recently-published posts:

‘Spinach and feta cheese pie‘

‘Fava: a healthy Greek island recipe‘

‘Trahanas: heart-warming Greek winter recipes‘

‘6 delicious Greek summer recipes‘

Alex

(the Traveling Psychiatrist)