Courgette and Feta Fritters

Courgettes are mostly water, and that water is why fritters go soggy and fall apart. Salt the grated courgette, leave it ten minutes, then squeeze it hard in a tea towel. You will be surprised how much comes out, and the fritters will crisp properly.

Lunch

Serves 2 (makes 8 fritters)

Golden courgette and feta fritters on a plate with a bowl of lemon and garlic yogurt dip and fresh herbs

Ingredients

2 medium courgettes (about 400g), coarsely grated
Half a tsp salt
2 eggs
100g feta, crumbled
50g wholemeal flour
3 spring onions, finely sliced
A small handful of dill and mint, chopped
Zest of half a lemon and black pepper
1 and a half tbsp olive oil, for frying
For the dip: 150g 0% fat Greek yogurt, juice of half a lemon, half a small clove of garlic, crushed

Method

Put the grated courgette in a sieve, mix in the salt and leave it for 10 minutes.
Tip it into a clean tea towel, gather up the corners and squeeze over the sink as hard as you can. Expect about half a cupful of liquid. This is the step that decides whether the fritters hold together.
In a bowl, beat the eggs, then stir in the squeezed courgette, feta, flour, spring onions, herbs, lemon zest and plenty of pepper. Do not add more salt: the feta and the salted courgette provide enough. The mixture should be thick, not runny.
Mix the yogurt, lemon juice and garlic for the dip.
Heat half the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Drop in heaped tablespoons of the mixture, flatten them to about 1cm thick, and cook 4 at a time for 3 minutes each side, until deep golden.
Drain on kitchen paper while you cook the rest with the remaining oil.
Serve warm with the dip and a green salad. They also reheat well in a dry pan or the oven.

Why it works

Four fritters with the dip have about 30g of protein, from the eggs, feta and Greek yogurt, for around 470 calories. For a vegetarian lunch that is a lot, and it is what makes this filling rather than a side dish.

The courgette is mostly water, which is why it adds bulk for very few calories. Salting and squeezing does not throw away the goodness: what comes out is mainly water, with a little potassium.

Eggs bind the fritters and bring vitamin D, B12 and choline. Wholemeal flour instead of white adds fibre. The dip uses strained Greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise or sour cream, which keeps the protein up and the saturated fat down.

The honest part is salt. Feta is a salty cheese, often around 3g of salt per 100g, so this recipe adds none beyond the courgette salting, most of which is squeezed out. If you are watching your salt intake, rinse the feta briefly or use half feta and half ricotta.

For women around menopause, protein spread across meals, including lunch, helps protect muscle: see menopause weight loss. To make them gluten-free, use gram (chickpea) flour instead. For another vegetarian egg dish, try the spinach, feta and red pepper egg muffins.

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