How To Make Italian Cauliflower Fritters
Nov 5th, 2009 by admin
Cauliflower Fritters © Helen Yuet Ling Pang
I’ve recently started to enjoy eating all kinds of fried things at home. They’re not the healthiest of foods, but once in a while, they’re so delicious and makes a change from all the ‘good’ food we eat, whether it’s soup, lentils or beans. After eating various fried goodies throughout the year, including Japanese tempura, Chinese pan-fried dumplings, Indian cumin & coriander potato cakes, Sri Lankan fish cutlets and Indonesian crabcakes, I found another tasty treat to make – fritelli di cavolfiore or cauliflower fritters.
The following recipe comes from cookery book My Cousin Rosa – Rosa Mitchell’s Sicilian Kitchen, in which the Australian-based Italian cookery writer and chef presents simple, rustic Sicilian recipes from her family life and childhood, utilising fresh ingredients. I own several Italian cookery books, including the classic The Silver Spoon, but I enjoyed Rosa’s style and easy-to-follow instructions and managed to mark many of the pages with little Post-it notes. My personal favourites have to be polpette (meatballs), ragù di coniglio (rabbit ragù), spaghetti al nero di seppia (spaghetti with squid in black ink sauce), pasta e piselli (pasta with peas), finocchio gratinato (baked fennel) and peparelli (honey & almond biscotti).
Vegetarians will also find more than the average number of meat and seafood-free recipes to follow, including schiaciatta (broccoli pie), zuppa di ceci, porri e patate (chickpea, leek & potato soup), orecchiette con broccoli e acciughe (orecchiette with broccoli and anchovies), pasta con le zucchine fritte (pasta with fresh tomato sauce and parmesan zucchini) and pesto siciliano (Sicilian pesto).
Cauliflower Fritters © Helen Yuet Ling Pang
Fritelli do Cavolfiore (Cauliflower Fritters) -
Ingredients: (makes about 20)
- ½ large cauliflower
- 300g (10oz / 2 cups) self-raising flour
- 100g (3½ oz / 1 cup) grated parmesan cheese
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 3 tbsp chopped Italian (flat-leaf) parsley
- 3 eggs, lightly beaten
- olive oil, for frying
What to do next:
Break up all the cauliflower into small pieces. Bring a pot of salted water to the boil, add cauliflower and cook until soft. Drain and cool in a bowl.
Add flour, cheese, garlic, parsley and some salt and pepper to the cauliflower and mix lightly. Add beaten eggs and mix again. if the mixture is too dry, add a little water.
Heat enough oil to cover the base of a frying pan over medium heat. When hot, add tablespoons of the mixture, taking care not to overcrowd them. Cook until golden, turn over and flatten slightly with a fork. Cook on the other side until golden and cooked through to the centre.
Serve hot or at room temperature as a pre-dinner snack. I can proudly announce that my fritters turned out very nicely and will be replicated for the next set of dinner guests!
My Cousin Rosa © Helen Yuet Ling Pang
My Cousin Rosa – Rosa Mitchell’s Sicilian Kitchen is published by Murdoch Books and costs £25.00. Thank you to Murdoch Books for sending me a copy.
I’ve had lots of fritters before but I’ve never had a cauliflower fritter. Amazing!
Lovely stuff! I’ve tried cauliflower pakoras and love them so I like the idea of doing these fritters
I am not a cauliflower fan but then again, I’ve never had cauliflower like this! These bites look fantastic and they may just start me off on my own ‘fry’ adventures.
Seriously, that’s just ridiculous. I mean, cauliflower + parmesan + fry? Find me a kitchen and it’s made. In fact, I may make this tomorrow night. I agree with Lorraine – they sound a bit like cauliflower pakoras but pakoras normally are spicy and don’t have cheese and eggs.
I wonder if you could potentially bake these to reduce the fat content a bit?
I love this idea – I might actually buy cauliflower now!
My mum makes me these! Really simple authenic recipe. Must look out for this book.
what a fantastic and original way to eat cauliflower! I absolutely must try this, they look so tasty.
Once in a while is absolutely fine when it comes to fried foods, which is why I am returning to Luini’s (panzerotti!!!) in Milan precisely 1 month after my last visit. Will also check out Princi Bakery since I was so curious after reading your post on the one in the UK (I’m drooling over that post again right at this moment!).
I find vegetable fritters irresistable – I think it’s because I tell myself, there’s a vegetable in there, so it’s not that unhealthy! These cauliflower fritters look so good – I hope I can persuade Ward to give them a try! ~ Belle
Oh, I can only imagine how tasty this stuff is. I am in awe at how something you may not like tastes so much better as long as its fried. I had always thought cauliflower to be a rather tasteless veggie, until we had the pleasure of having some farm fresh organic and it was awesome. That buttery yummy taste couple with frying and I’m practically swooning. I’d be in trouble.
KennyT – you know what? Me neither! They were so delicious, I ate far too many of them!
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella – you’ll like them! Make them a little smaller and they’ll be great as party snacks. I made them big and they became a meal…
Tangled Noodle – this frying business really transforms the humble cauliflower into something very delicious!
Akila – I guess you could bake them too. I might try that next time and compare the two versions.
The Graphic Foodie – you’re so lucky! It’s a great book by the way…
gastrogeek – I think you’d like these, a lot!
rowena – ohhh, panzerotti! Let me know what Princi is like. I’m sure it’s great…
Muse in the Kitchen – that’s a good way to justify eating them!
OysterCulture – mmm, I love cauliflower, it’s such a versatile vegetable and goes so nicely with cheese!
Helen Yuet Ling