Food Matters Project: A Fritter Duet

The Food Matters Project challenge for this week was Mark Bittman's Sweet Potato and Corn Fritters with Thai Dipping Sauce, chosen by Aura of Dinner with Aura.

Click here to see what everyone else made; look in the comments section.

Just this morning the boys had asked me "What is a fritter?" Granted they were talking about the sugar-glazed apple monstrosities that they had eyed at the donut store with my husband, but I figured it was perfect timing. And since I wanted to turn this into dinner, I decided to make two different savory fritters.

Curried Pumpkin-Corn Fritters

I didn't have any sweet potatoes, but I had some pumpkin puree leftover from my son's pumpkin pie, so I swapped that. And I added in some curry powder for extra oomph.

2 C pumpkin puree
1 C corn kernels
2 eggs
1/2 C white whole wheat flour
1 t curry powder
freshly ground salt and pepper, to taste

Mix all of the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl to form a thick batter. In a large flat-bottom pan melt 4 T butter with a splash of olive oil. Working in batches, drop generous tablespoons of the mixture into the pan and spread them out a little bit. Cook, turning once, until golden brown. This will probably take two minutes on each side.

Serve with a spicy Thai-inspired dipping sauce: 1/4 C lime juice, 1 T fermented fish sauce, 1 t minced garlic, pinch of red chili flakes, splash of sesame oil.

Leek-Fennel Fritters

I had been looking for the chance to make A Thought for Food's Leek Fritters. Tonight was the night, though I did add in some fennel love with fresh fennel and fennel seeds added to the mixture.

4 large leeks, cleaned and thinly sliced
1 fennel bulb, cleaned and diced
2 eggs
1/2 C white whole wheat flour
1 t fennel seeds
freshly ground salt and pepper, to taste

Mix all of the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl to form a thick batter. In a large flat-bottom pan melt 4 T butter with a splash of olive oil. Working in batches, drop generous tablespoons of the mixture into the pan and spread them out a little bit. Cook, turning once, until golden brown. This will probably take three or four minutes on each side.

Brian, of A Thought for Food, served his with a lemon-garlic sour cream. I opted to use my Vanilla Bean Ketchup.

Jake and I liked these. The boys declared that they would probably like sweet fritters better than savory fritters. Probably true.

Next week, the Food Matters Project will be cooking Whole Wheat Carrot Gnocchi. Stay tuned!