When I go on hiking trips, I always scan the surroundings for edible plants, said Hisham Assaad. The mountains around Beirut are filled with a wide variety of fantastic edible greens, such as za’atar (wild thyme), wild garlic, sour sob and many others. Dill weed, with its anise aroma and flavour, is particularly common in the hills and always reminds me of these delicious fritters, which my neighbour used to make from the bunches of wild dill she would collect.
Ingredients
- 450g courgettes, grated
- 2 tsp sea salt
- 60g fresh dill, chopped, plus a few sprigs to garnish
- 50g spring onions, finely sliced
- 6 eggs
- 1 tsp allspice
- 80g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- olive oil, for frying
To serve: - pita breads
- labneh (a Middle Eastern yogurt cheese)
- cucumber and yoghurt salad
Method
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
- Place the grated courgettes in a colander, sprinkle with the salt and set over a bowl or in the sink for 10 minutes to drain off any excess water.
- Put the dill and spring onions into a large bowl and crack in the eggs. Add the allspice and flour and mix to combine well.
- Press as much liquid out of the courgettes as possible and transfer to the egg mixture. Mix well. Just before frying, mix in the baking powder.
- Cook the fritters in batches. Heat a little olive oil in a wide frying pan (skillet) over a medium heat. Scoop 1⁄4-cup rounds of the fritter mixture into the pan and cook for 2 minutes or until slightly browned on the bottom, then carefully flip and cook for a further 1 minute. Remove with a slotted spoon to drain on paper towels.
- You can place the cooked fritters in a warm oven to keep hot until serving, if you like. Continue frying until all the mixture is used up.
- Serve the warm fritters with soft pita bread with a labneh and veggie dip, or yoghurt and cucumber salad, garnished with an extra touch of fresh dill.
- Chef's note: for a gluten-free version, you can replace the flour with cornflour (cornstarch).
Taken from Bayrūt, The Cookbook: Recipes from the heart of a Lebanese city kitchen by Hisham Assaad. To buy from The Week Bookshop for £23.99 visit theweekbookshop.co.uk.
Sign up for The Week's Food & Drink newsletter for recipes, reviews and recommendations.
-
Political cartoons for February 7Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include an earthquake warning, Washington Post Mortem, and more
-
5 cinematic cartoons about Bezos betting big on 'Melania'Cartoons Artists take on a girlboss, a fetching newspaper, and more
-
The fall of the generals: China’s military purgeIn the Spotlight Xi Jinping’s extraordinary removal of senior general proves that no-one is safe from anti-corruption drive that has investigated millions
-
Nan Goldin: The Ballad of Sexual Dependency – an ‘engrossing’ exhibitionThe Week Recommends All 126 images from the American photographer’s ‘influential’ photobook have come to the UK for the first time
-
American Psycho: a ‘hypnotic’ adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis classicThe Week Recommends Rupert Goold’s musical has ‘demonic razzle dazzle’ in spades
-
Properties of the week: houses near spectacular coastal walksThe Week Recommends Featuring homes in Cornwall, Devon and Northumberland
-
Melania: an ‘ice-cold’ documentaryTalking Point The film has played to largely empty cinemas, but it does have one fan
-
Nouvelle Vague: ‘a film of great passion’The Week Recommends Richard Linklater’s homage to the French New Wave
-
Wonder Man: a ‘rare morsel of actual substance’ in the Marvel UniverseThe Week Recommends A Marvel series that hasn’t much to do with superheroes
-
Is This Thing On? – Bradley Cooper’s ‘likeable and spirited’ romcomThe Week Recommends ‘Refreshingly informal’ film based on the life of British comedian John Bishop
-
A Shellshocked Nation: Britain Between the Wars – history at its most ‘human’The Week Recommends Alwyn Turner’s ‘witty and wide-ranging’ account of the interwar years
