Baked not fried! Zucchini *bhaji with cottage cheese, smoked trout, lime & sumac
(*or fritter made with chickpea flour)
If you're like me, continually trying to eat better, the clarity of Micheal Pollan's Eaters Manual Food Rules will force you to slow down and go back to basic ingredients "real food" as he refers to it in the book. Here is an aperitif - "It's gotten to a point where we don't see foods anymore but instead look right through them to the nutrients (good and bad) they contain, and of course the calories- all these invisible qualities in our food that, properly understood, supposedly hold the secret to eating well… I learned that in fact science knows a lot less about nutrition than you would expect-that in fact nutrition science is, to put it charitably, a very young science… Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
If you haven't seen my story on this book, go to my highlights- Book Club. Sharing another one of my favourite books next week. Join me as I go deeper & rediscover "real food" to transform my lifestyle & discover my purpose.
"Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognise as food"
(Food Rules, Michael Pollen pg ix, x, xi, 7)
Serves 4, approximately
Ingredients
100g chickpea flour
400g zucchini, grated
Season with sea salt
Canola olive oil blend
To serve with:
Smoked trout
Full Fat Cottage Cheese
Sumac
Lime
Carrots / cucumber/ tomatoes/ baby spinach and rocket
*use what you have in the fridge, feel free to use vegetables you enjoy or those that are available to you.
Directions
Preheat the oven to 220C
Prepare the mixture only when you are ready to cook it; the longer you leave the zucchini in the chickpea flour the more water escapes from it.
Combine the zucchini & chickpea flour bring the mixture together with your hands.
There's enough water in the zucchini to bind it all together.
Divide the mixture into 6 or 8 balls.
Prepare a baking tray with baking paper, brush it with a splash of oil then arrange the balls on the tray and lightly press them down with your fingers to form a patty.
Brush the tops with oil and bake for 20-30 minutes or until the tops are crispy and the middle is completely cooked.
Serve with cottage cheese, smoked trout, a pinch of sumac and fresh limes.
Add vegetables like baby spinach, grated carrot & preserved lemon if you have some.
Chefs tip:
Eat slower, eat together and eat real food.
Dash
