Recipe: Zucchini Carrot Fritters with Tangy Chive Dip

I’ve made a conscious decision not to post another recipe involving tomatoes, because it seems that’s been the star ingredient for everything I’ve been eating lately. But can you blame me? You better believe I’ll be toting home another bag of gorgeous, multi-colored heirloom tomatoes from the Greenmarket tomorrow. So take solace in the fact that these fritters highlight another one of summer’s culinary contributions – zucchini.

Given the seasonality of local zucchini, it’s only natural that fritters packed with the grated vegetable have been making their rounds on the food blogs (here and here, for instance). Thrilled with the results of the summer squash pasta a few weeks ago, I decided to give my own version of these savory vegetable pancakes a whirl.

Most of the inspiration stems from a fritter I tasted at Whole Foods this weekend, which was packed with tri-color bell peppers, summer squash, and carrots. I chose to let the zucchini shine by leaving out the peppers, but I’m sure their addition would be just as delicious.

Ingredients

Fritters:

2 medium zucchini, coarsely grated (about 2 cups)

2 medium carrots, peeled and coarsely grated (about 1 cup)

1/8^th medium white onion, coarsely grated

1 tsp Kosher salt

2 eggs

2 tbsp + extra chickpea flour (aka garbanzo bean flour)

1 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

¼ tsp pepper

Olive oil

Dipping Sauce:

½ cup fat free sour cream

¼ cup fat free Greek yogurt

2 tbsp chopped chives

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

Recipe

In a large strainer, combine the grated zucchini, carrots and onion. Add the teaspoon of salt and toss to combine. (The salt will help coax the liquid out of the veggies.) Place the strainer over a bowl and allow the vegetables to drain for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the dipping sauce by combining the sour cream, Greek yogurt, chives, salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use.

After the grated veggies have drained, use your hands to wring out as much extra liquid as possible. Transfer the vegetables to a large, dry bowl. Beat together the two eggs with a fork and add those, 2 tablespoons of the chickpea flour, parsley and pepper. Toss the mixture until the eggs and flour are well incorporated. If the batter still looks very wet, sprinkle in more flour until you reach a thicker consistency.

Heat about 1 tablespoon of oil in a large, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium high heat. Drop 3-4 rounded tablespoons of batter into the pan at one time. Flatten the top of each fritter slightly with the back of a spoon. Cook the fritters for about 2-4 minutes on each side, until golden brown and crispy. Transfer to paper towels to drain, and repeat until you have used all the batter. Re-oil pan as needed. (As the batter sits between batches, you may have to add more flour to re-thicken it.)

Serve fritters warm, with the chilled chive dipping sauce.