Chickpea fritters, beetroot tzatsiki

One of my New Year's resolutions was to have at least one vegetarian dinner a week, and so far we are comfortably averaging two a week.

About a fortnight ago, I  saw a recipe I really wanted to try - chickpea burgers with sweet potato wedges. I thought it had been in a magazine, which prompted me to spend part of last week searching through - and tidying - all my old magazines. No joy.

OK then, it must have been in a book. I've been meaning for ages to tidy up my cook books and add them all to Eat Your Books, so I had a massive blitz, added the whole lot (I'll say more about that in another post) and then searched the recipe index.

Nothing.

That means  I must have seen it on a website or  a blog - please let me know  if  it was YOUR blog. I've tried googling for it but nothing matches the picture in my head. Maybe  I dreamed it and the picture was only ever in my head, I don't know.

But I'd got my heart set on some kind of chickpea burger, so I searched my Eat Your Books library to see what other chickpea recipes there were, and it told me that I would find Chickpea fritters, beetroot tzatsiki in Nigel Slater's Tender, Volume 1. And yes, I had all the ingredients  in the house - I was good to go.

The fritter mixture is, as Nigel warns, very soft. Even after standing, it had a tendency to break up and crumble in the pan. Next time I make them, and there will be a next time as they were delicious, I think I will add some bread crumbs to firm them up and make them more like the burgers I am fantasising about.

 

We are warned not to over mix the tzatsiki, so that the beetroot doesn't colour all the yoghurt. However my husband has an aversion to plain natural yoghurt and will only eat it when it is disguised, so I have it a good thorough mixing and loved the bright red result!

 

 

However just in case he didn't like it, I also made some chipotle mayonnaise. This is very simple - just put two heaped tablespoonfuls of mayonnaise in a bowl - use bought mayo, not your lovely home made stuff for this as the chipotle will fight the flavour of good olive oil - then stir in a rounded teaspoonful of chipotle paste. Job done.

 

 

I served sweet potato wedges and salad  with this and the result was a vibrant, colourful meal packed with zingy flavours. And I didn't need to worry about Mark not liking the tzatsiki after all!

 

 

I'm adding this post to Dish of the Month at Farmersgirl Kitchen