This summer my garden has been overflowing with zucchini. I probably planted too many plants and now my job has been to make use of all that I’m getting. Earlier in my blog I showed how you can use zucchini in zucchini bread and chicken tagine. Today I will show you how to make zucchini fritters that you and your family will love.

I grew up in South Asia eating deep fried fritters called Pakora. These start as an egg and flour batter that was mixed with cabbage, onions, spinach, or shrimp. In the United States you might associate fritters with the funnel cakes that you find at your county fair. These start as deep-fried batter and end up sprinkled with powdered sugar. In Asian countries fritters are more often savory, not sweet. They are an extremely popular road-side snack and are sold on street corners and in tea stalls.

The fritters I make below are vegetarian and pan fried in a hot skillet (a bit healthier than deep fried). All you need to do is grate some zucchini, squeeze out as much as water you can, add a few ingredients, and mix. After frying you can eat them plain; these zucchini fritters have enough flavor from shallots, basil, and jalapeno that they are great by themselves. You can also make a special dip for them like I show you how below: creamy basil pesto.

My family is not normally a big fan of zucchini, but if I make these fritters they love them so much my zucchini oversupply disappears fast. These fritters are great to take to a potluck. You can make these super FANCY if you add smoked salmon on top. This makes an amazing fritter even better and more sophisticated.

Have extra zucchini on hand? Make these fritters, and you will be glad you did!

Ingredients

Creamy basil dip

• 1/2 cup mayo
• 1/4 cup hazelnut pesto

Fritters

• 5 cups coarsely grated zucchini
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup shallots thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp jalapeno, chopped
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 6 tbsp canola oil

Instructions

Creamy basil dip

Whisk all creamy basil pesto ingredients in a bowl. Chill until you’re ready to serve.

Fritters

Place grated zucchini in a colander and toss with salt. Let it sit for 10 minutes. Using your hand or kitchen towel, squeeze out as much liquid as possible to ensure that your fritters don’t end up mushy. Set aside for later.

Put the shallots, basil, jalapeno, and pepper in a large bowl. Use your hand to mix all the ingredients well and break up the shallots.

Add the zucchini along with an egg and flour to the bowl. Mix all ingredients well.

Heat 4 tbsp. oil in an electric skillet over moderately high heat, but not smoking. Spoon 1 tbsp. of the zucchini mixture to the skillet and flatten it slightly with the back of the spoon.

Cook the fritters and flip it once the bottom is crispy and golden brown about 3 minutes total.

Add more oil to skillet if necessary. My skillet was large enough to fry all the fritters once. If you don’t have a large skillet, you can do this in batches.

Serve with the creamy basil pesto dip!

Makes 21 fritters

Did you make this dish? I’d love to know how it turns out! Feel free to like this post and comment or use the hashtag #globaldinein on Instagram.