Zucchini fritters, Polish style: crisp, not watery, with garlic sauce
Zucchini is about 95 percent water and that water ruins fritters. Here the grated zucchini sits in salt for a quarter of an hour and is wrung dry in a cloth, so the fritters are thin, crisp and need only three spoons of flour. With a yogurt, garlic and dill sauce.
Your own work in that: 25 min.
- Grating 5 min
- Zucchini releases water 15 min
- Frying and sauce 20 min
Step by step
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Grate the zucchini
Wash the zucchini, trim the ends and grate it skin-on on the coarse side of a box grater. Grate the onion on the fine side.
Ingredients: 2 pcs zucchini · 1 tsp salt · 1 pcs onion · 1 pcs egg · 3 tbsp plain flour · ½ bunch dill · ½ tsp black pepper · 100 ml oil
Coarse grater, skin on
Salt and wait
Toss the grated zucchini with a teaspoon of salt in a colander and leave 15 minutes. The salt draws out a surprising amount of water.
A quarter of an hour in salt, water draining
Wring dry
Tip the zucchini onto a clean cloth and wring it out hard, like laundry. From 800 g of zucchini about 400 g of dry pulp remains. This is the most important step in the recipe.
TipUnsqueezed zucchini needs far more flour to bind and gives heavy, wet fritters. Squeezed: three spoons and crispness.
Wring like laundry, until it stops dripping
Mix
Combine the squeezed zucchini with the onion, egg, flour, chopped dill and pepper. You usually need no more salt, as some stayed in the zucchini; if in doubt, fry one test fritter and adjust. The mixture should be thick and hold on a spoon.
Thick mixture, holds on the spoon
Fry thin
Heat a 3 mm layer of oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Spoon in portions and flatten thin, to 8–10 cm. Fry 3 minutes until the edges are golden and crisp, flip and fry 2 minutes more. Work in batches of 4–5, about 20 minutes in total. Drain on paper.
TipThin fritters are crisp; thick ones stay damp and rubbery inside. Flatten with the spatula as soon as they go in.
Thin, golden edges
Make the sauce
Stir the yogurt with the crushed garlic, chopped dill, lemon juice and salt.
Ingredients: 200 g Greek yogurt · 2 cloves garlic · ½ bunch dill · 1 pcs lemon · ¼ tsp salt
Yogurt, garlic, dill, lemon
Serve at once
Warm, with the sauce and a lemon wedge. With a tomato salad this makes a full summer dinner. Zucchini fritters don't wait: after half an hour they soften.
With garlic sauce and tomatoes
Before you start
With cheese
Add 50 g grated parmesan or crumbled feta to the mixture. The fritters get saltier and browner; fry on slightly lower heat.
In the oven
Lay the fritters on a lined baking tray, drizzle with oil and bake at 220 °C for about 12 minutes, then flip and bake 6–8 minutes more. Less fat, less crunch, fine for a big batch.
A giant garden zucchini
Scoop out the soft seedy centre with a spoon and use only the firm walls. The centre is watery and slightly bitter.
Nutrition
per 100 gStep photos are computer-generated from the recipe.
