Beetroot & Feta Fritters

If they have a word for beetroot in Malayalam, I don't know of it. When I was a kid and at home, Mum would make beetroot thoran, so would the chechis in the REC ladies hostel mess. Of course, mum's thoran is way way better than the chechis. In fact, there is no comparison. But the fact is, beetroot any which way always had my attention. Perhaps it is the colour, or maybe the natural sweetness it imparts to anything its cooked with, or maybe because my hands always looked so bloody and gory after I'd had it. haha... so many reasons to like beetroot.


You know how it is when you're a kid and you never bothered entering the kitchen. I never really had much of a clue about cooking vegetables, what they looked like, and in funny instances how to buy them. Like the time I went to the local store and asked for a quarter kilo of coriander leaves and the store guy looked at me strangely and asked 'ningalde veettil innenna sadya aano?' loosely translated to 'are you cooking a feast today in your house'. :D :D :D

So in the same way, I really didn't know that beetroots don't look as pretty on the outside as they do on the inside. That dirty looking brown thing certainly couldn't be my lovely beets could they? It took some amount of checking and scratching the surface to figure that yes underneath that dirty, grimy looking surface, lay this pretty coloured root. Makes you wonder, how did humans really come about eating all these things. Who would have thought to dig up some dirty spud from the ground, scratch the surface and say 'oh! this is edible. And tasty too!' It's a thought that always runs through my mind. Who found out all these things first. That if you cook meat, it tastes better. Did they discover it accidentally? Something we take so for granted these days. But who would have been there to show them otherwise?



This dish is best cooked and had fresh. Inspired by an episode on zucchini fritters I once saw on Nigella's show, I substituted with beets cos well, beets are easier to source, cheaper to buy and also something I like quite a bit. Beetroot and feta is always a nice combo, the sweetness of beets cut through by the saltiness of feta. I also had a greek yogurt / hung curd dip to accompany this. But seriously the fritters are delicious straight off the pan even without any accompaniments.



Ingredients

2 beets grated
1/2 cup chopped coriander
1 egg beaten
1/4 cup all purpose flour
50g feta crumbled
1/2 tsp salt
Olive oil to pan fry.

Method

Mix all the ingredients together. Season with salt.
In a non-stick pan over medium heat, drizzle oil just to coat the surface.
Drop spoonfuls of batter onto the pan. Do not overcrowd. Gently flatten with spatula.
Cook 3-4 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels.

Serve warm!

And not even the teeniest bit difficult to make! Makes me an even happier person.

*Generally for zucchini fritters, you drain the liquid from the zucchini by prepping it with salt a couple of hours. I did not do it for the beets. I like a little crunch on the beets. You could try doing it though. Do let me know how that works out for you.

** If you find the egg mix is not enough to bind the whole batter together, add a spot of cream, just enough to bring it all together.