2022 is here, and the first recipe I chose for the new year is my version of “mücver” – aka Turkish courgette fritters. I added carrots to it and used cornflour to take the moisture. The result is a delicious gluten-free dish.

When I was a kid, I remember my mother or aunt making this fritter, but I don’t remember eating it. I was a very picky eater (though I ate vegetables that not everyone eats, such as okra or celeriac) when I was a kid. And I might be wrong, but I think they put dill in the fritters, and I never liked dill. So I guess I skipped this whole fritter/mücver deal, but honestly, I don’t remember what I actually felt about it.

Now, I am not as picky in my adulthood, but I still have some significant preferences. Luckily, I can decide on my cooking, and here it resulted as “no-dill” fritters. Frankly, this is much better!

As I wasn’t sure about the ingredients of the traditional version, I asked my aunt for the recipe. When she couldn’t remember the details, I checked a few recipes from other blogs. I liked Akis Petretzikis’ recipe and then worked on mine inspired by that recipe but making my own changes. Hope you enjoy it!
—

Ingredients:

Difficulty: Easy
(makes 20-22 fritters)

Printable PDF-recipe (no photos)

575 gr courgettes, trimmed and grated (370 gr when grated)*
250 gr carrots, peeled, trimmed and grated (170 gr when peeled and grated)
250 gr feta, crumbled
3 spring onions, finely chopped
20 basil leaves, finely chopped
20 mint leaves, finely chopped
2 eggs
1.5 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 dl (or 3/4 cup** + 4 tsp) cornflour, plus more if needed
5 dl (or 2 cups) vegetable oil to fry (I used colza oil, rapsiöljy in Finnish)

to put the fritters after frying:
a large plate or a board with a paper towel on top

*Both courgette and carrots may release some water while grating. Try to squeeze the water out of the grated vegetables as much as possible.
**I’m using the conversion system in this link.

1. Put grated courgettes and carrots in a large bowl and mix.

2. Add feta, spring onions, fresh mint and basil and mix well.

3. Add eggs and continue mixing.

4. Add cumin, salt and red pepper flakes and well, you guessed it, mix well!

5. Finally, add cornflour and mix well again. If you think that the mixture is still too liquidy, add a little more cornflour gradually until you get a mixture that you can make patties with. It should not be too loose, but it should not be too dry either.

6. Take a spoonful of the mixture and make fritters/patties with it. I don’t weigh each portion to make the exact same amount, but more or less, with the same spoon measurement, you should get around 20-22 patties from this mixture.

7. Now frying: in a large, medium-shallow pan, put frying vegetable oil on medium-high heat and wait for a few minutes until it gets really hot. You can test if it is ready by placing a tiny piece from one of the fritters; if it immediately starts frying, the oil is ready. Put the fritters one by one in the oil. Try not to overcrowd the pan. In my pan, I fried 10 at a time.

8. Let the fritters fry on one side for 3-4 minutes. When the bottom side gets golden brown, turn them and let them fry on this side for a few minutes (until golden brown as well).

9. When the fritters are ready on both sides, take them out of the pan using a slotted spoon and put them on a plate or a cutting board with a paper towel on it. The paper towel will absorb the extra oil and make the fritters lighter. Serve fresh with yoghurt. The leftover will taste great as well. Enjoy!