NOPI’s Courgette & Manouri Fritters

Yotam Ottolenghi’s cookery books are amongst the titles I hear most frequently recommended to others by those who own them, with particular praise for his way with vegetables; although his cooking is not vegetarian, he has a much-lauded knack for making vegetables the star of the show.

nopi-book Plenty More Ottolenghi Cover

His most recently published title, NOPI: The Cookbook, is written with Ramael Scully, the head chef at Yotam’s Nopi restaurant – it’s a real all-rounder with dishes featuring vegetables, fruits, fish and meat and the recipes are a heady mix of Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and Asian flavours with additional influences from all over the world.

The book is full of temptations such as Roasted aubergine with black garlic, pine nuts and basil, Butternut squash with ginger tomatoes and lime yoghurt, Seared scallops with pickled daikon and chilli jam, Tomatoes with wasabi mascarpone and pine nuts, Sticky sesame rice, Lemon sole with burnt butter, nori and fried capers, White pepper-crusted lamb sweetbreads with pea purée and miso, Venison fillet with date labneh, blackberries and peanut crumble, Chicken supremes with roast garlic and tarragon brioche pudding, Persian love rice with burnt butter tzatziki, Black rice with mango and coconut cream, Caramel peanut ice cream with chocolate sauce and peanut brittle and Coffee and pecan financiers. That’s just the list that leapt out at me on the first look, but there are so many more recipes that intrigue me.

Read our full review of Nopi: The Cookbook, here.

Plenty More, published last year, is a vegetarian cookery book in which recipes are grouped by cooking method – tossed, steamed, blanched, simmered, braised, grilled, roasted, fried, mashed, cracked, baked and sweetened. After the enormous success of Plenty back in 2010, fans old and new were delighted to discover another 150 vegetarian recipes to enjoy at home.

I hope you enjoy this delicious recipe for Courgette and Manouri Fritters with Lime and cardamom Soured Cream from NOPI: The Cookbook.

NOPI Courgette and Manouri Fritters

NOPI's Courgette & Manouri Fritters with Lime & Cardamom Soured Cream

Servings 12 fritters

Ingredients

  • 3 medium courgettes, trimmed and coarsely grated
  • 2 small shallots, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • zest of 2 limes, finely grated
  • 60 g self-raising flour
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 2 1/2 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
  • 150 g manouri(or halloumi or feta), roughly broken into 1-2cm chunks
  • 150 ml sunflower oilfor frying
  • coarse sea salt
  • black pepper

For the lime and cardamom soured cream

  • 200 ml soured cream
  • 5 g coriander, roughly chopped
  • 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
  • 1 lime, juice and finely grated zest

Instructions

  • Mix together all the ingredients for the soured cream sauce in a small bowl, along with 1/4 teaspoon of salt and a grind of black pepper. Set aside in the fridge until ready to serve.

  • Place the grated courgettes in a colander and sprinkle over 1 teaspoon salt. Set aside for 10 minutes, then squeeze them to remove most of the liquid: you want the courgettes to keep a little bit of moisture, so don’t squeeze them completely dry.

  • Transfer to a large bowl and add the shallots, garlic, lime zest, flour, eggs, ground coriander, cardamom and a grind of black pepper. Mix well to form a uniform batter, then fold in the manouri cheese gently so it doesn’t break up much.

  • Pour enough oil into a large frying pan so it rises 2–3mm up the sides and place on a medium heat. Once hot, add 4 separate heaped dessertspoons of mixture to the pan, spacing them well apart and flattening each fritter slightly with the flat side of a slotted spoon as they cook. Cook for 6 minutes, turning once halfway through, until golden and crisp on both sides. Transfer to a kitchen paper-lined plate and keep somewhere warm while you continue with the remaining two batches.

  • Place 3 fritters on each plate and serve at once, with the sauce alongside or in a bowl on the side.

If you decide to buy this book after reading our content, please consider clicking through our affiliate link, located within the post and in the footnote at the end.

Recipe extracted from NOPI: The Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ramael Scully. (Ebury Press, £28). Photography by Jonathan Lovekin. Kavey Eats received review copies of both titles from Ebury Press. NOPI: The Cookbook is currently available for £12.99 (RRP £28). Plenty More is currently available for £12 (RRP £27). (At time of posting).

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60 Comments to "NOPI’s Courgette & Manouri Fritters"

  1. NickyB

    Fave recipe for showcasing vegetables is a variety plate of mini tostadas: black bean and avocado; courgette, sweetcorn and mint; spicy squash, pepper and red onion.

    Reply
  2. Katie

    Although the tacos sound good, I would say that anything with roast squash is just what I want for comfort food at this time of year! Everything from butternut squash and blue cheese tart to spicy pumpkin pasta!

    Reply
  3. Jane Willis

    Ooh Nopi is one of my current Wants! There are loads of vegetable dishes I think are really special, but like Katie, at the moment roast squash is what’s floating my boat. Butternut squash and red onions, tossed with oil, dried oregano and chilli flakes, roasted then finished with pomegranate seeds and crumbled feta is perfect for the time of year.

    Reply
  4. Janice

    Those courgette fritters look delicious. These are two books I haven’t had the pleasure of reading yet and I think I must be missing out! My favourite vegetable dish is probably a simple grated courgette and soured cream pasta sauce that I gleaned from a magazine years ago, it tastes so good.

    Reply
  5. Emma @ Supper in the Suburbs

    I have heard SO much about Ottolenghi but would you believe I’ve never been to one of the restaurants nor have I read the cook books – a terrible foodie I know!

    I think fritters are a fantastic way to showcase veggies but my favourite way is to slow roast. Whether its roasted beetroot, roasted Mediterranean veggies with halloumi or root vegetables I think it brings out the best flavour!

    Reply
  6. Monica Shaw

    Well, these cookbooks have been on my wishlist since they were published, so naturally I had to enter! Favourite vegetable showcase? It might be that good ol’ Riverford salad. Or this time of year, a veggie chilli. Or stuffed acorn squash.

    Reply
  7. Ana

    I love vegetables, so it’s hard to single out my favourite preparation. However, I was recently really impressed with a pumpkin risotto. Sweet pumpkin with savoury parmesan and tart white wine – an insanely good combination.

    Reply
  8. Jeanne Horak-Druiff

    OMG those sound good! I don’t know why I don’t make fritters more often… I have loved every recipe from Ottolenghi that I have ever made and I am sure this one will be no exception!

    Reply
  9. kellie@foodtoglow

    As a veggie-centric cook, I think I would have a hard time choosing just one way, but my One-Pot Sweet Potato, Cauliflower and Chickpea Shawarma is a current love. Adore fritters too, and these crispy yet soft courgette and manouri ones sound really gorgeous with the unexpected addition of cardamom. Yum!

    Reply
  10. shaheen

    Sweet potatoes are doing it for me at the moment, I love them every way, but at the moment Wedges Roasted and doused in chilli flakes or Za’atar and maybe a little lemon for zing. Served with peppery rocket.

    Reply
  11. Maxine G

    Ooh … too many to choose from but at the moment I love serving crispy polenta with mixed roasted vegetables, blue cheese and salsa verde – delicious!

    Reply
  12. Ruth Harwood

    We have a thing at the moment for mousaka with loads of sweet potato and brocoli xx

    Reply
  13. Sue Nicholl

    At the moment we re kinda I between seasons so our current fav is roast butternut squash with sliced pepper, onions and oven baked tomatoes yum yum xx

    Reply
  14. Hester McQueen

    Not great with vegetables! Roasted veg made into a lasagne or Mushroom or roasted butternut squash risotto. Brilliant chef

    Reply
  15. Katherine L

    The first Plenty book is amazing and I’ve made several recipes from it, with veggies being the star. One of my favourites is the roasted vegetable tart which is so colourful and rich with goodness. Always a hit at parties 🙂

    Reply
  16. sandi

    Frittata which I believe I nabbed the original recipe from your blog, it has peas and goats cheese in it.

    Reply
  17. Fiona K

    My favourite varies according to the season. In the summer I love ratatouille, but this time of year I love a hearty stew made with root vegetables such as carrots, turnip, swede and parsnip, along with cabbage, kale or cavalo nero, with a tangy garlic & basil pistou.

    Reply
  18. pete c

    keeping I simple, I enjoy a Roast Lamb dish with a variety of veg but try to incorporate something new from the local shops once a month that I`ve never tried before. Cant do better than roasting them or baking them in the oven.

    Reply
  19. Rosie Dunningham

    Oh I love your blog, and Ottolenghi is my favourite chef! Jerusalem is my most used cookbook of all. NOPI looks beautiful, I keep leafing through it whenever I go to Waterstones and hoping someone will gift it to me for Christmas! My best dish for showcasing vegetables is my stuffed portobello mushroom with goats cheese, a big slice of buffalo tomato, and sauted kale in butter and garlic. Finished off underneath the grill and drizzled with balsamic glaze and a few rocket leaves, it’s super simple, tasty and all about the glorious veg! Rosie xx

    Reply
  20. Deirdre M

    I love to do a vegetarian Thali with a selection of veg curries – from dal to lightly spiced veg (eg roasted cali & cumin) to a rich veg curry. It is such a tasty way to eat a selection of veg in one meal & the spices are good for you too!

    Reply
  21. Rachel Blythe

    As many others have commented, Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem is a definite ‘go-to’ book, not least for veg, my favourite recipe being his Chemoula baked aubergines – flippin’ delicious! But, I also have a weird and wonderful ayurvedic religious cook-book published in the USA that my mum found in a boot fair years ago, which is the absolute best for producing amazing vegitarian dishes. It seems to be out of print now as I’ve searched and searched.

    Reply
  22. Karoline

    my favorite veggie treat, when I can be bothered with all the shredding, is carrot scallion latkes. So delicious!

    Reply
  23. Richard Eldred Hawes

    The first Runner beansf the season with mashed potatoes, bacon and fried egg

    Reply
  24. Victoria Prince

    My favourite way is a vegetable stir fry 🙂 I eat a ridiculous number these days, I just love how versatile they are and that I can experiment with so many different types of veg! I also love a vegetable frittata – think my favourite is red onion, courgette and mixed peppers

    Reply
  25. Corin - ProWare

    A good but tough question Kavey! I would have to say a roasted vegetable pasta where you roast the veg in the oven first then mix it in with freshly cooked pasta and fresh herbs.

    Reply

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