World Dishes: New Zealand Courgette and Sweetcorn Fritters Recipe

I thought I would start sharing some of my favorite recipes from around the world that I love to cook, starting with one from my home country of New Zealand: Courgette and sweetcorn fritters.

In times when we can’t travel, one way to keep in touch with our travel roots is to cook dishes from around the world, dishes that we have enjoyed in different countries that we have visited, or from countries that we haven’t yet had a chance to visit but would like to. 

A big part of discovering a culture is by exploring its cuisine, and this is absolutely something that you can begin to do at home, by cooking different dishes.

Corn fritters are a Kiwi classic, a part of our culture, and they are a dish that I have been making for many, many years. In fact, they are one of the first regular dishes that I started cooking for myself when I moved out of home when I was 18.

Usually eaten for brunch in New Zealand, I prefer to have them for dinner with steamed vegetables or salad – it makes for a cheap, quick, and easy meal.

Over the years I have been making them, I have tweaked my recipe a lot, and they have now morphed into courgette and sweetcorn fritters.

These courgette and sweetcorn fritters really are super quick and easy to make, and you can even double the ingredients to make a big batch of the fritter batter because it keeps well in the fridge for a few days, I imagine it would freeze well too but I have never tried.

If you don’t like courgette, then you can leave it out, the same with the onion, the spinach, and the red or green pepper. It’s a pretty flexible dish. You can even add chopped-up bacon or chorizo if you are a meat lover.

So here it is, my easy courgette and sweetcorn fritters recipe!

Katie’s Courgette and Corn Fritters Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 410g/15 ounce can whole kernel sweetcorn, or two cooked cobs of sweetcorn
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander/cilantro
• 3/4 cup self-raising flour
• 1 small red onion, diced
• 1 small red or green pepper, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped
• salt to taste
• ground black pepper to taste
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup grated cheese (I use mozzarella but you can use any)
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or butter
• 1 grated courgette/zucchini
• 2 handfuls of baby spinach leaves (optional)

Instructions

In a bowl add the eggs and whisk lightly with the salt, black pepper, and chopped cilantro to combine.

Add the flour, bit by bit, beating lightly with a whisk till you have a smooth batter with no lumps with a similar consistency to a pancake batter. You may not need to use all the flour to get this consistency, if it is too thick you can add another egg or a small amount of milk or soy milk.

Sauté chopped onions, peppers, and courgette in oil or butter for a few minutes. Add baby spinach and crushed garlic and cook till the spinach is wilted.

Drain cans of corn or cut off kernels if using corn cobs and add to the batter along with grated cheese and sautéed vegetables. Combine.

Heat a non-stick pan over medium-high heat, and add a drizzle of oil or butter. Place around two tablespoons of the corn fritter batter into the pan. Lightly press the batter outwards evenly to form a fritter. You can cook two to three fritters at a time.

Let the fritters cook in the oil for about 3-4 minutes, you will see the edges starting to turn golden. Then carefully using a spatula flip the corn and zucchini fritters over to cook the other side.

Once both sides are golden brown then remove from the pan and set on a tray lined with a paper towel to absorb any extra oil.

Serve the fritters warm. 

Some Further Tips:

• You can serve these with salad or steamed vegetables on the side if you are having them for dinner, or with poached eggs and bacon or smoked salmon for breakfast.
• They also go great with slices of avocado, cherry tomatoes, and halloumi or brie cheese, and I love having them with sweet chilli sauce and a dollop of greek yogurt or sour cream.
• If you have a non-stick pan, then you should definitely use it, as they have a tendency to stick to the pan because of the cheese.
• You can make easily make these vegan courgette and sweetcorn fritters by switching the cheese to vegan grated cheese and using a vegan egg substitute instead of eggs. I have tried this and they turned out great.
• Courgette and sweetcorn fritters are a great camping meal or an easy meal to cook if you are housesitting or staying in a vacation rental as they don’t take long to prepare and cook, you don’t need many ingredients, and you only need a bowl or a pot to make the batter in.
• Using a hand whisk works best, but if you don’t have access to one then you can just use a fork, just make sure to get out any flour lumps the best you can.

I hope you enjoy this quick and easy courgette and sweetcorn fritters recipe, it’s Kiwi as bro.

If you liked this post, make sure to check out my other food-related posts:

• World Dishes: Italian Gnocchi Recipe
• The Best Louisiana Food Guide to Tantalise your Tastebuds
• The Best Cheap Eats Hong Kong Guide
• The Best Markets in London
• The Best Cheap Eats in Auckland, New Zealand
• Eating Anchorage and Other Tales from the City

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