Gluten-Free Zucchini Lentil Fritters

This is recipe stood out when the COVID pandemic first hit. I stopped going into grocery stores for fear of getting the virus. I bought a CSA share instead from a farm in East Windsor to pick up in season vegetables from the farm stand. By early June, I had too many fat zucchinis on hand. With all four of us sheltering at home, I not only cooked a lot more, I also had more time to explore gluten free recipes for CC#2. This zucchini fritter recipe from Epicurious.com jumped out as the perfect answer. I stuffed way more zucchini into the fritter but found out that the starch in the red lentil bound together the shredded zucchini and onions. I was most surprised by the lightness of the delicious fritter which did not take on the usual heaviness from bean dishes.

Turns out my initial impression was not entirely wrong. When I made another batch of these fritters in the following winter, because I only had one medium zucchini on hand, I ended up with a much heavier and gummy fritter even when I followed the same recipe. Not enough zucchini! CC#1 told me she had the same problem when following the original recipe. So here is my recipe, made perfect by the circumstances.

Another insight I learned from later iterations is that instead of flatten the zucchini mound with a spatula, lightly press down with your fingers once in pan. The result is a lighter, crispier fritter.

Ingredients:

• Fritters:

  • 1 cup red lentils (masoor dal), best purchased from Indian grocery stores

  • 2-3 medium to large zucchinis

  • 1 red or yellow onion, thinly sliced

  • 2 tsp kosher salt

  • 1 red chilli pepper

  • 1 tsp turmeric

  • 1 cup parsley or scallions

  • Frying oil

• Lemon Yogurt Sauce:

  • 1 cup whole-milk yogurt

  • 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

  • 1/2 tsp sugar

  • 1 tsp kosher salt

  • 2-3 cloves of garlic

  • Lemon zest

  • Mint leaves, minced (optional)

• Instructions:

• Wash and soak red lentil for at least an hour and up to 12 hours

• Slice zucchini into thin matchsticks or grade them by hand. Matchstick slices likely contributes to the lightness of the fritter.

• Add onion to zucchini slices and mix in 1 tsp of salt

• Let sit for at least 30 minutes and squeeze excess fluid out of vegetable mixture

• Add drained lentil, red chili, turmeric, and 1 tsp salt in food processor and grind until a puree forms. I sometimes just throw the onion in the food processor as well. A little less work but the batter is a lot wetter.

• Mix zucchini/onion mixture, ground lentil mixture, and parsley together in bowl into the fritter batter (should be fairly messy heap with vegetable pieces sticking out)

• Heat about 1/4 - 1/3 cup of oil in fry pan over medium heat

• Scoop out fritter batter and flatten with hand or spatula, and fry both sides until golden

• The batter can be kept in fridge for a day or two before being fried

• Lemon Yogurt Sauce: Pound garlic with salt in mortar and mix with the rest of the ingredients, adjusting seasoning to taste

Why this recipe works: The secret of a light lentil fritter is high vegetable to lentil ratio and a rougher cut of zucchini and onions to form a more haphazard batter rather than a smoother dough like batter. There is more crevices to fry, just like potato latkes. The secret to a great yogurt sauce is plenty of garlic and lemon! I also put lemon zest in the yogurt sauce instead of in the fritter as the original recipe instructed. Seems like a waste of flavor in the fritter.