Carrot fritters with yoghurt sauce

On one of the last balmy days of March before the weather got cooler, I made these carrot fritters based on a supermarket magazine recipe.  They were so good that we have made them again twice in the last month.  They were excellent on April Fool's Day after the Easter feasting and they were great to adjust to use up leftovers from the crumb coating of a batch of tofu nuggets.

One of the best things about the recipe is that it is packed full  of carrots.  When you eat these fritters you are getting a good serve of vegetables.  Not like those wannabe fritter that are actually pancakes with the occasional piece of vegetable.  You can see this in the above photo of them frying.  It is all about the grated carrots with a modest amount of flours, eggs and seasoning to bind them.

The Coles supermarket recipe that we were following used some spices but I preferred to season with a teaspoon of seeded mustard.  We also ignored the direction by Coles to make a date mustard sauce to serve with the fritters. It seemed far simpler to serve them with the simple yoghurt and lemon sauce that accompanied Recipe Tin Eats Broccoli Fritters.  On our first night of the fritters, I served them with a brown rice salad, baby spinach and cherry tomatoes.

The second night I made the fritters, Sylvia chopped some parsley into the yoghurt sauce and we served them with potato salad, beetroot cabbage coleslaw and baby spinach.  They did not fry as evenly as the first night but still tasted so good.  They were lovely and soft under their crisp edges.

On the most recent night we planned to make the fritters, I went rogue with this recipe.  I had some leftover crumb coating from a batch of tofu nuggets that I did not want to go to waste so I substituted this for a lot of the flour and seasonings.  It worked well.  I also added some parmesan cheese which was also great.  In future I would like to try these with grated parsnips or zucchinis and maybe lightly steamed and finely chopped broccoli or cauliflower.  However in these days of crazy food prices, carrots are a great cheap vegetable that we always have on hand.  On this occasion we added more vegetables by mixing the yoghurt sauce with finely sliced spinach and our favourite mock tuna (chickpea) salad.  What's not to love about these easy, delicious and budget-friendly carrot fritters that are open to variations!

More fritters on Green Gourmet Giraffe blog:
Carrot and potato fritters
Corn fritters (gf)
Curried carrot fritters
Pea, quinoa and feta fritters (gf)
Pumpkin chickpea fritters (gf, v)

Carrot Fritters with Yoghurt Sauce
Adapted from Coles Magazine March 2024
Makes 6 fritters

400g carrots (3-4 medium carrots), grated
1/3 cup (50g) cornflour
1/3 cup (50g) plain flour
1 tsp salt
1 spring onion, sliced
1-2 garlic cloves, finely grated
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp seeded mustard
2 eggs
oil for frying

Mix all ingredients adding eggs last to bind everything together.  The carrots are the main ingredient here and need just enough batter to bind them.  Heat oil on medium high heat in a frypan (my preference is a cast iron frypan).  Drop batter into frypan, using a 1/3 cup to measure, and use spoon to flatten and shape.  Fry for 3-4 minutes on each side until it is golden brown with a bit of char.  Drain fritters on kitchen paper and serve with yoghurt sauce. 

Yoghurt sauce
From Recipe Tin Eats

1/4 cup plain yoghurt
2 tsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper

Mix together

Variations:

• Replace all or some of the carrot with other vegetables such as grated parsnips, zucchini or cabbage
• Plain flour is also known as all purpose flour.  Corn flour in Australia is the same as corn starch in USA.  Different flours can be used such as a gluten free flour mix instead of plain flour. 
• Spring onions can be replaced with chives or parsley or dried onion flakes.
• The garlic cloves can be replaced by dried garlic granules or powder.
• The teaspoon of seeded mustard can be replaced by a teaspoon of another seasoning paste or 1/2 teaspoon of a powdered seasoning.  I have a mexican seasoning powder I have used on one occasion or would consider a dukkah or a curry powder.
  
• If desired, add some parmesan or cheese of choice.  I added 1/4 cup of parmesan which added flavour without it being really cheesy. 
• I amended the recipe to use up leftover crumb coating from tofu nuggets - my crumb coating leftovers was made by mixing the leftover milk and flour and crumbs to make a crumbly mixture.  I used 1 1/3 cups of the mixture of seasoned crumb coating instead of the flours and seasonings.  I added 2 eggs, a few spoonfuls of flour, 1/4 cup finely grated parmesan and a pinch of salt and pepper.  It was fantastic.
• The yoghurt sauce is very simple and can be jazzed up as little or as much as you like.  If your energy is low, just use the plain yoghurt.  If you don't have lemon juice, add some vinegar instead.  We have tried parsley in it one time and finely sliced spinach another time.  Other addition to amp up the flavour could be some garlic or you can increase the vegetables with something like finely chopped cucumbers.  It all depends on taste and availability.
• I would suggest making these fritters gluten free with gf flour or vegan with egg substitutes such as 2 tbsp chia seeds and 6 tbsp water, or 6 tbsp aqua faba.
  
• These fritters can be eaten plain for a snack or light meal, in a sandwich with some coleslaw or salad vegetables, on a breakfast plate with eggs, mushrooms, tomato, beans and greens, or as a main meal with lots of nice salads or salad vegetables on the side.
  
  

On the stereo:
This is going to hurt (original soundtrack) - Jarvis Cocker

My Monthly Chronicles: March 2024

 

Today I am starting what I plan to be a regular post chronicling my eating out, events, random moments and reflections in the previous month  It is written as a companion post to my In My Kitchen posts about cooking, purchases and eating at home.  I hope it will help me catch up with the sort of places and photos that I have good intentions of sharing in more detail but never find the time.

Triennial @ the NGV: The top two photos are from Triennial 2024 at NGV.  This was a brilliant exhibition with art works looking at the world from a new perspective with a touch of insight and beauty.  I didn't get to as much of the exhibitions as I had hoped but was glad I got along before it closed last weekend.  Above is an installation by Diana Al-Hadid which is an ethereal modern copy of a medieval panting with medieval statues to be seen behind the gossamer images. The top photo is of an installation where the artist Richard Lewer invited people to come to "confession" and he painted these on the walls.  These are just two artworks to show the diversity and richness in the exhbition.

On the telly: This is Going to Hurt.  Insightful and often uncomfortable British tv series starring Ben Wishart in a drama about the difficulties of working in the NHS.  Based on the Adam Kay book of the same name.  Plus a soundtrack by Jarvis Cocker.

Where does Batman get his mail? A local area called Batman amuses with Batman Train Station and we also have this Batman Post.  Just in case you wondered about where Batman goes when not fighting crime!

Five Buck Schmuck: We had lunch at Five Buck Schmuck in Thornbury.   As the name suggests it is cheap as chips.  I wasn't so keen on the $5 Feta Mac and Cheese but Sylvia loved her $5 Biscoff Croissant with cream.

In the news: In March there was a crazy amount of speculation and wild stories about Kate Middleton lying low.  It culminated in her brave announcement that she has cancer.  I am glad to see this quietened all the chatter about her and I hope she is able to get through this difficult time with as much privacy as a princess can.

Ima Asa Yoru: This Japanese restaurant in Brunswick called Ima Asa Yoru has a fantastic menu with lots of veg options.  The tempura eggplant was excellent as were the greens and miso soup.  A very sleek outfit that I hope to return to for more good food.

Duckett Street Party:  We saw that there was a street party in Duckett Street which gave us a great reason to go to Ima Asu Yoru.  It was a lovely balmy autumn afternoon with some street art, cookie monster and food carts.  Sylvia loved the tiramisu from Freda's Bakery.  I enjoyed people watching and would have stayed for the trivia but we were not keen to hang around too long.

Famil-LEE Korean Restaurant: Sylvia spotted the CBD restaurant, Famil-LEE, online because she has been interested by the ttoek-bokki.  This dish of round chewy rice cakes in a slightly spicy sauce with lots of optional extras is quite fascinating.  Unfortunately we assumed from the menu that the dish was vegetarian but should have checked when ordering.  Once we started to dig in for chewy rice cakes and oozy cheese, Sylvia told me there was fish cakes in it.  It wasn't quite as good after that.  At least the corn cheese kimchi kim bab (hand rolls) were amazing.  And we loved our drinks: Korean debang coffee and orange lime bitters.

Podcast stories: I really enjoyed listening to the ABC RN Conversations interview called Jarvis Cocker and the Pulp Masterplan.  Jarvis is one of the most interesting pop stars ever!  I highly recommend this discussion about an exercise book of his teenage plans for his band Pulp and other detritus from his attic.

Cobrick Cafe: After an initially underwhelming first visit to Cobrick cafe at Pentridge, we were really impressed with a recent lunch.  My avocado on toast was seriously loaded with salsa as well as the slick of beetroot hummus and chunks of feta.  Really good.  Sylvia had some of the best loaded fries ever: waffle fries, beans, avocado and cheese sauce.

Lucky Little Dumplings: We have had a few enjoyable outings to Lucky Little Dumplings at Pentridge, the most recent being last month.  It was great to go there after Sylvia had a clean bill of health from her dentist.  I love the dumplings but was especially impressed on this visit by the sweet and sour fried eggplant with the fried rice.  Even Sylvia loved them.  It was a huge serve and we had plenty leftover that we took home in a doggy bag.

Oh Boy, It's a Food Truck @ the Barbarian Brewery: Sylvia loved the food from Oh Boy It's a Food Truck at the Coburg Night Market and saw that they were doing a pop up at the Barbarian Brewery in Kingsville on St Patrick's Day.  We went along for a drink, and shared some of the food truck's delicious poutine and a mac and cheese croquette roll.  I washed mine down with a Heaps Normal no-alcohol beer.  The staff at the bar were really friendly and the place had a welcoming and family-friendly vibe.  There was a brewery-owned dog who was so lovely and so well behaved that we were quite amused by him.

At the cinema: I saw the Holdovers at Cinema Nova.  It was excellent with a 1970s retro vibe, Christmassy snow, and the humour and insight that comes with an unlikely boarding school friendship.  Heather and I had dinner at King and Godfree afterwards.  My gnocchi was nice but needed a salad, if only I didn't resent paying the extra.

Chookas: We love visiting Chookas cafe in Brunswick for interesting drinks and omusubi.  Sylvia could not wait to get back there after our holiday in Europe in February.  I convinced her to have the black sesame latte while I had the ume plum soda.  The latte was not Sylvia's thing - she doesn't like sesame.  I ended up sharing my soda because I love sesame flavour, albeit not milky drinks.  I asked a staff member to add some chocolate sauce to the latte - because who doesn't love chocolate and sesame together - so that I could drink it.  Meanwhile I was very happy to have a kimchi edamame and cheese omusubi and Sylvia loved her gorgeous matcha affogato.

Hope Street Space: We are sad this amazing warehouse of treasures on the corner of Hope Street and Frederick Street in Brunswick is closing soon.  Hope Street Space is a favourite place for Sylvia and her dad to have a browse after Chookas and I have been occasionally.  

Helping Hands Sunshine Op Shop: We have been to a few op shops lately and the best one in terms of price and quality goods is the Helping Hands Sunshine Op Shop in Sunshine with an amazing warehouse of second hand goods sold to raise money for charity.

Tiny hands: One of Sylvia's favourite purchases from Hope Street Space has been a pair of tiny hands.  Shadow might look thoughtful in the photo but he was less than impressed!

Kines: I had a lovely lunch catching up with Faye at Kines in Hope Street, Brunswick.  It was very pleasant to sit outside and eat arepas topped with cashew cheese, sauerkraut and chilli sauce as well as a generous side serving of mushrooms.  I was impressed at how accommodating they were about my requests to swap out the dairy cheese and egg.  (Although I eat dairy I love cashew cheese.)  Faye enjoyed a fennel toastie.  She shared her carrot cake which she found quite sweet.  I was amused that my blueberry kombucha came in a bottle with a masking tape, hand-written label.  I guess it was home made.

Village Door cafe: When visiting my parents in Geelong, we had lunch at the Village Door in Pakington Street.  Sylvia and my dad had Dutch pancakes, my mum had tomato bruschetta and I had avocado on toast.  It was nice, other than the oddness of the untoasted toast, but it had a lot of meat and eggs on the menu so I didn't feel I had a lot of choice.

The fun garden I: While driving through Sunshine we stopped to admire a topiary dinosaur.

The fun garden II: We discovered an amazing garden behind the dinosaur.  Lots of topiary, cacti, succulents, animal statues and whimsy.

Reading: I have been reading Rather his Own Man: Reliable Memoirs (2018) by Geoffrey Robertson.  I was fascinated by him on Hypotheticals as a kid and enjoyed reading about his compassion and travels in his wide ranging experiences, many as a human rights lawyer.

Ramadan in Coburg I: We live in an area with a strong Middle Eastern presence.  I was struck by this Modest and Islamic clothing store with a twist on Christmas messages: "All I want for Ramadam is a free Palestine."

Ramadan in Coburg II: These cute Ramadam Kit Kats were seen in our local supermarket.  I assume it is a sign of the modern Muslim who does not have a problem with images of humans.  The chocolate people seem a departure from a lot of the traditional Islamic art which does not have images of humans because it was considered idolatrous.

Cat of the Month: This cute cat was spotted on a walk to the shops.  Sylvia was so charmed by its friendliness she told me to go ahead to the shops because she might be some time.

Easter: I went to my parents for an Easter Sunday Roast.  My dad usually does an Easter egg hunt for the grandkids.  They are reaching their teens and adulthood now so instead of the hunt, my parents gave each kid a potted pansy.  Sylvia was delighted. 

This post is a work in progress as I feel my way through collating lots of information about places and other stuff that I am not always finding time to post.  It is quite similar to In My Kitchen with a touch of Sammie's Taking Stock posts but is likely to develop as the months go by.  Let me know what you think.

In my kitchen: March 2024

April has greeted us with heavy rains, cooler nights and the end of daylight savings.  March was a busy month with some hot weather.  We eased back into home life after travels in Europe.  I spent a lot of time blogging about this trip and catching up with friends and family to discuss it.  We have tried lots of new dishes for dinners and new cafes: mostly hits but a few misses.  And then there was the Oscars, Easter and the NGV Triennial to keep me occupied.

I have a few changes for this blog, which I will talk about more but will just mention briefly here.  I have added a subscribe button (finally got this done after Blogger removed the default subscribe function a few years back), It is on the right hand column of the web view but not on the phone view.  I have been working on my recipe index to break up some long sections.  And I am inspired by these In My Kitchen posts and also Sammie's Taking Stock posts to start a writing monthly companion posts to catch up on what is happening outside my kitchen.  Currently I think I will call it Monthly Chronicles.  It is intended to help with my desire to post more blog posts than I have time for.

Above is Carrot Fritters, which was one of our star recipes of March.  We found the recipe in the month's Coles Magazine.  Our version was adapted from the Coles version but the basic fritter recipe was really good and has been made twice in the last few weeks.  And requested a lot more!  It was delicious served with the yoghurt sauce from the broccoli fritters I mention below, brown rice salad and salad vegetables.

These are some of the new fridge magnets from our travels.  We loved the tiny pasta packets, drink bottles and cheeses magnets at Milan railway station and Sylvia got the fondue and cheeseboard magnets in Zurich.  If you would like to catch up on my travels, I now have a complete list of European 2024 travel posts.

We've made a few favourite recipes since getting home from our trip.  When Sylvia baked these cheese and parsley muffins, she took some cherry tomatoes from our garden.  Not many of the tomatoes were up to her high standard.  The muffins were delicious.

Sylvia still loves her pasta recipes. This creamy zucchini alfredo is one of her favourites and was a great warm weather meal.

 

We love bangers and mash in cold weather but when it gets warm the sausages are paired with potato salad.  I think it is because we had so many barbecues with potato salad in hot weather when I was a child.  The one in the photo also has some mock tuna (chickpea) salad, rocket, cherry tomatoes and of course tomato sauce.  Perfect summer meal!  Even good when the season has turned to Autumn but is in denial.

Another current favourite salad of Sylvia's is the Ramen Noodle Salad with Kimchi.  She has made it twice and both times we thought we had kimchi but it has gone off.  When she made it recently I made some honey garlic tofu to eat it with it.  The tofu and the salad worked really well together.

Occasionally we buy something interesting from the supermarket.  I enjoyed the French onion and cracked pepper lavosh crackers and the Sun-dried tomato and olive flatbread crackers with hummus.  The buckwheat flakes were excellent and crispy in my toasted muesli.  

I was really interested in trying the Vitasoy Greek-style strawberry soy yoghurt.  I have wanted to find a vegan alternative to yoghurt but the coconut yoghurts are too rich and the soy ones are often lacking oomph and have an unpleasant aftertaste. I was pretty impressed with this yoghurt.  While there was a slight aftertaste, it was smooth and pleasing in texture and flavour.

The Whittaker's peppermint and lavender milk chocolate was excellent.  Sylvia not usually a fan of mint chocolate but with the lavender, she loved it.

 

We loved the Whittaker's peppermint and lavender chocolate so much that we tried others.  The Relax passionfruit and chamomile milk chocolate was lovely and mellow.  The Revive ginger and mandarin dark chocolate was a little more intense but very nice.  As well as great chocolate, we loved the dreamy designs.

This Super Green Sheet Pan Soup was one of Sylvia's favourites.  It was lots of roasted vegies (broccoli, cauliflower, leek, potato and zucchini) made greener by the addition of green peas with the stock.  I really liked it but found it quite thick and sludgy.  It was elevated to amazing by the pesto and cheese toasties that was chopped into croutons.

  

 

I made this Kale Potato Salad on a warm lazy night.  I loved the way the kale was massaged with lemon and salt and then mixed with a grainy salad and the potatoes were added at the last moment.  I kept the potatoes and kale separate so we could add as much as as little of the kale as we liked and then I added cashews, cherry tomatoes, celery and some yoghurt and mixed it all up in my plate.  It was amazing.

As the mushroom lover, Sylvia could not get enough of this Creamy Mushroom Gnocchi.  She added quite a bit of different seasonings to the  it more than the recipe's simple cream and mustard dressing and it worked well with the gnocchi, mushrooms and spinach.  She loved it so much she made it again for herself and E one night when I was out at the cinema with a friend.

These Raspberry and Custard Buns are from the March 2024 Woolworths Magazine.  (As an aside, it has the best vegetarian recipes I have seen in a supermarket magazine for some time.)  Sylvia made these with a little help from me.  I was impressed at her gung-ho approach to making her first yeasted recipe.  Though she has spent years helping me with yeast and sourdough recipes so she does not know of the fear some people have with yeasted recipes.  I am not sure why they were called buns rather than scrolls.  They worked ok but I felt the recipe should have had included more kneading time in it.

This chickpea pilaf is an old favourite of mine.  Sylvia turned up her nose at it.  But she was eager to taste the mushrooms that I made with our favourite tofu bacon marinade.  I have served the pilaf with tofu bacon marinade before but wanted something a bit easier than chopping up all the tofu.  The mushrooms were fried golden brown and then fried some more when the marinade was added.  They were so so good!

We tried the Recipe Tin Eats Broccoli Fritters (which came from Smitten Kitchen).  They were really good but I stumbled at the mashing the broccoli part.  I was unsure how mashed the broccoli should be.  I ended up chopping them more than my masher could do.  They were so green and delicious with the yoghurt sauce Mock tuna (chickpea) salad and Macedonian eggplant salad.  

I preferred the amazing carrot fritters at the top of the post would love to make them again.  Sylvia is now loving fritters and requesting other vegetable variations.  I really want to try Dreams of Sourdough's idea of adding corn to sourdough starter to make fritters.  (She is an inspiration with her beautiful creative sourdough baking!)

Another warm weather meal Sylvia made was this delicious haloumi and lemon pasta.  It had little chunks of crispy, salty, golden haloumi and red onion that we complemented by the lemony flavours.

We were inspired in our pizza toppings by our trip to Rome, especially the Campo de' Fiore Forno.  We made one zucchini pizza with lots of cheese and grated then wrung out zucchini.  That was Sylvia's favourite.  I really loved the mushroom and truffle pizza made with the truffle paste we brought home.

When planning to make tteokbokki, we found some kimchi and enoki mushrooms at ima Pantry in Brunswick when waiting for a table at sister venue ima asu yoru.  We forgot about the enoki and when we looked at the kimchi it was mouldy.  I wonder if it is because when we carried it home it leaked brine.  I was surprised as usually jars are well sealed but I am not sure what happened here.  Sylvia fried some enoki to have with noodles and enjoyed it but I think we haven't paid the packet enough attention.

Here is Sylvia's tteokbokki.   I was under the impression there was a recipe she was using but apparently she just watched some videos and made the sauce with butter, gochujang, soy sauce, brown sugar and cream. It had udon noodles, rice cakes and cheese in it.  Hers had eggs and spring onions.  It is pictured in our lovely new bowl.  I served my tteokbokki with broccoli, tomatoes, spring onions and black sesame seeds but it is not pictured so you will have to imagine how colourful it was.  This Korean rice cake stew was better than one we had at a restaurant a few weeks back.

I had this page torn from a Coles Magazine with the colourful variation on my childhood zucchini slice.  I tried the broccoli and pea zucchini slice that was even greener than the original.  It was something I would like to make more for lunches.  Sylvia didn't love it.  In fact she said it "tastes like a fart."  Brassicas!

I only baked one batch of Hot Cross Buns this Easter.  They were delicious warm with butter.  Much better than the ones I bought but my mum's were amazingly soft and pleasing.

I went to my parents on Easter Sunday for a family roast dinner.  It was great to catch up with everyone.  I made a nut roast to use up a creamy pesto that Sylvia made with lots of cream cheese and no nuts.  I added breadcrumbs, ground nuts and eggs.  It was a little dense but worked well with my mum's roast potatoes, roast pumpkin, peas, tomato sauce and my sister's cauliflower cheese.  

For dessert we were spoilt by my mum.  She made a pavlova, a berry meringue cake (based on Nigella's lemon meringue cake), and a baked cheesecake with chocolate chunks.  When my sister got up in a hurry she knocked her glass of white wine into the cheesecake.  Even though the wine was drained off the cheesecake immediately and could not really be tasted, it amused us to call it the drunken cheesecake.

This is my grandmother's handwritten cookbook that my mum gave me after she died.  I have had it for years but my mum wanted to look at it so it has left the building.  I have asked that it comes back some day.

We had a visit to see my parents in Geelong a couple of weeks back.  Sylvia and my mum spent some time in the garden and we came home with a couple of boxes of cuttings from my mum's plants.  Once home, Sylvia repotted them in our backyard.

On the trip to Geelong, we had lunch at the Village Door in Packington St followed by a browse at Geelong Fresh.  I bought some of the amazing Irrewarra sourdough bread and large twisty pasta.  My dad said one piece of that pasta would be enough for a meal.   So I came home with these plus some lovely tomatoes from my brother in law, John and lemons from my mum's tree.  You might also be able to see a chunk of apple cake my mum gave me.

I am sending this post to Sherry of Sherry's Pickings for the In My Kitchen event. If you would like to join in, send your post to Sherry by 13th of the month.  Or just head over to her blog to visit more kitchens and her gorgeous hand drawn header.