Recipe: Cauliflower and Cumin Fritters

This week on Good Food, Sami Tamimi and Yotam Ottolenghi talk about their latest publication, Ottolenghi: The Cookbook that they just released in an American version. This recipe for cauliflower and cumin fritters with lime yogurt, is one of their favorites from the book.

Cauliflower and Cumin Fritters with Lime Yogurt

serves 4

Lime sauce

11/3 cups / 300 g Greek yogurt

2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro

grated zest of 1 lime

2 tbsp lime juice

2 tbsp olive oil

salt and freshly ground black 
 pepper

Fritters

1 small cauliflower (about 11 oz /
320 g)

scant 1 cup / 120 g all-purpose 
flour

3 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley, plus a few extra leaves for 
 garnish

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 shallots, finely chopped

4 free-range eggs

1½ tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground turmeric

1½ tsp salt

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 cups / 500 ml sunflower oil for frying

1 To make the sauce, put all the sauce ingredients in a bowl and whisk well. Taste—looking for a vibrant, tart, citrusy flavor—and adjust the seasoning. Chill or leave out for up to an hour.

2 To prepare the cauliflower, trim off any leaves and use a small knife 
to divide the cauliflower into little florets. Add them to a large pan 
of boiling salted water and simmer for 15 minutes, until very soft. Drain into a colander.

3 While the cauliflower is cooking, put the flour, chopped parsley, garlic, shallots, eggs, spices, salt, and pepper in a bowl and whisk together well to make a batter. When the mixture is smooth and homogenous, add the warm cauliflower. Mix to break down the cauliflower into 
the batter.

4 Pour the sunflower oil into a wide pan to a depth of 2⁄3 inch / 1.5 cm and place over high heat. When it is very hot, carefully spoon in generous portions of the cauliflower mixture, 3 tablespoons per fritter. Take care with the hot oil! Space the fritters apart with a fish slicer, making sure they are not overcrowded. Fry in small batches, controlling the oil temperature so the fritters cook but don’t burn. 
They should take 3 to 4 minutes on each side.

5 Remove from the pan and drain well on a few layers of paper towels. Serve with the sauce on the side.

Reprinted with permission from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi, copyright © 2013. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House, Inc.” Photography credit: Richard Learoyd © 2013