So to counteract all these treats I have been searching for nutritious meal options that are infinitely more exciting than a bowl of steamed broccoli and a tin of tuna.
In one of my favourite cookbooks (Ripe Recipes, by Angela Redfern) is a recipe for pea fritters. They served them as a starter by making really small ones.
As you may recall from my post last year regarding corn fritters, I am a bit of a fritter fanatic. So naturally, these were right up my alley.
When I make fritters I try to use ingredients I already have in my fridge. So, in this case, I had a half-destroyed mint plant, a massive tub of cottage cheese, a lump of feta and two very freezer-burnt slices of Vogels.
And since I was cooking for just me, I halved the original recipe, which meant using two eggs instead of the five asked for. I think that two were sufficient, so I have reduced the total egg quantity to four. These are size 7 eggs though. If you get the really small size fives you may want to add in an extra egg.
I also changed to cumin seeds instead of ground cumin.
Need I explain my love affair with cumin seeds? Same goes for mint leaves. Why have two tablespoons when you can have half a cup . . .
I also added 100g of cottage cheese as well as the feta. This added a bit more texture as well as more protein to the fritters.
What makes these fritters fluffy is folding in the egg whites.
When you whisk/beat your egg whites you need to make sure there is no fat in the bowl whatsoever. This includes tiny flecks of egg yolk, so wash the bowl with hot soapy water just to be sure.
When separating the whites from the yolks, I use what I call a ''quarantine'' cup that the white must be separated into before it is added to the mixing bowl. This ensures that if one separation doesn't go as smoothly as planned the rest of the whites aren't affected.
These can also be made gluten free by using gluten-free bread for the crumbs and using gluten-free baking powder.
Minted pea and feta fritters
Serves four
400g frozen baby peas
4 large eggs, separated
2 spring onions, finely sliced
½ cup fresh mint leaves, chopped
100g feta, crumbled (use the cumin-flavoured one if you want an extra kick in the flavour pants)
100g cottage cheese
zest of two lemons
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs (try to use a good grainy bread for extra goodness)
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp baking powder
salt and pepper to taste
oil for frying
Minted yogurt dipping sauce:
1 pottle of unsweetened natural yoghurt
½ a lemon's juice
6 large mint leaves, finely sliced
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
1 clove of garlic, finely minced
sprinkling of salt and pepper
Place the frozen peas in a microwave-safe container, cover with hot water then pop on the lid and microwave on high for five minutes or until they are soft to the bite. Drain the water and lightly mash the peas with a potato masher. You want some of them to retain their shape rather than just producing a mushy green puree.
Whisk together the egg yolks until frothy. Mix in the peas, crumbled feta, cottage cheese, mint, spring onion, cumin seeds, lemon zest, breadcrumbs, baking powder and salt and pepper.
Whisk together in a clean bowl the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Stir in a third of the white into the rest of the mixture to loosen it. Then add another third and gently stir in. Gently fold in the remaining third.
Slosh a tablespoon or so of oil into a non-stick frying pan on a medium heat. Let the pan get up to temperature before spooning in the fritter mix. Cook until the bottom side is brown then flip and cook the other side.
To make the dipping sauce, combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl and stir.
Serve these fritters fresh out of the pan with the dipping sauce. They are light to eat, but surprisingly filling!
Enjoy!
