Our last veggie month recipe is a perfect treat for this weekend! The dish is an Indian take on Chinese cuisine and is served to Indian diners who want to experience ‘traditional’ Chinese cooking. The vegetable fritters are deep-fried and served in a reduced spicy and salty sauce and the fusion of Indian and Chinese means there will be no Friday night fighting over what takeaway to order!
FRITTERS
145 g/generous 1 cup grated carrot
145 g/generous 2 cups shredded white cabbage
60 g/scant 1 cup sliced spring onions/ scallions
80 g/ ½ cup thinly sliced green/French beans
1 teaspoon Holy Trinity Paste (see below)
3 tablespoons plain/ all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornflour/cornstarch
½ teaspoon salt
vegetable oil, for deep-frying
SAUCE
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon finely diced fresh root ginger
1 teaspoon finely diced garlic
100 ml/ 1/3 cup light soy sauce
100 ml/1⁄3 cup vegetable stock
50 ml/3 ½ tablespoons red chilli/chili sauce
2 teaspoons cornflour/ cornstarch
1 green chilli/chile, thinly sliced
2 spring onions/ scallions, sliced, to garnish
deep-fat fryer (optional)
SERVES 4
Mix together all of the ingredients to make the vegetable fritters (apart from the oil for frying) in a large mixing bowl. When all of the mixture has come together, form it into even balls (around the same size as a golf ball). You may want to do this in batches, as the fritters fry best when freshly rolled.
Heat the vegetable oil in a deep-fat fryer or large, heavy-bottomed pan to 180ºC (350ºF).
Carefully add the fritters, in batches, and deep-fry each batch for 5–6 minutes each until golden-brown. Drain on paper towels to absorb any excess oil and set aside until required.
For the sauce, heat the vegetable oil in a wok or a saucepan over low–medium heat and fry the ginger and garlic until golden-brown. Add the soy sauce, vegetable stock, 400 ml/1 2⁄3 cups of water and the chilli/chili sauce and allow to gently come up to the boil.
Mix the cornflour/cornstarch with a splash of cold water and add to the pan. Allow the sauce to thicken slightly and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the fried fritter balls to the sauce and gently mix in, being careful not to break any of the fritters. Sprinkle over the green chilli/chile and spring onion/scallion slices, and serve.
Holy Trinity Paste
This paste is vital to most homecooked Gujarati-style dishes. The ‘holy trinity’ of green chilli/chile, garlic and ginger creates a wonderful fresh flavour. It is quite punchy, so you want to cook out all the rawness from it when it comes to layering flavours in dishes. You can quarter the quantities here for a smaller yield.
200 g/7 oz. (about 6) green chillies/chiles
200 g/7 oz. (about 40) garlic cloves
200 g/7 oz. (about 8 x 5-cm/2-inch pieces) fresh root ginger
50 ml/3 ½ tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon salt
MAKES 625 G/2 ½ CUPS
Blitz together the ingredients in a food processor to form a coarse paste. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
For more Indian inspired recipes, check out My Modern Indian Kitchen by Nitisha Patel.