Cheesy Baked Broccoli Fritters

Yep, another cookbook and another recipe for our online Lambs' Ears Cookbook Club (on Facebook).  This is from Dinner by Nagi Maehashi, a very popular Japanese-Australian cook, blogger and author.  Her blog Recipe Tin Eats is a big success (her Insta account alone has 990k followers, and her Facebook page has 3.5M!).  

So here we have one of her recipes that I made recently, as I had broccoli to use up.  This is my adaptation of her recipe, using my pantry and fridge, so not exactly like hers.  I love broccoli, unlike a certain former world leader.  And it's so good for you.  

But I don't like dried garlic powder, or onion powder, or dried Italian mixed herbs (eek!) - all things which Nagi says to add to this recipe.  Nuh uh, no thanks!  So I strongly suggest using fresh as I did, and regular onion rather than spring onions/scallions.  She also says to spray the fritters with olive oil before baking, but I didn't!  I am terrified of frying, so this baked version is perfect for me!     

golden, herby and spicy ...

Makes 18-20:

ingredients:

1 head of broccoli, cut into florets - see Notes

250g./9 oz cauliflower rice, boiled in the broccoli water for 1 minute

1/2 large onion, or one small (red or brown), finely chopped or grated

2-3 garlic cloves, very finely chopped, or 1 tsp dried garlic granules (not powder)

30g./0.5 cup panko breadcrumbs

1 packet (250g/9 oz) pre-cooked brown rice and quinoa - see Notes

200g/3.5 oz/2 cups vintage tasty cheese, grated

75g./0.5 cup of wholemeal self-raising flour (use a bit more if your mixture looks too wet)

1-2 Tbs nutritional yeast flakes (optional)

1-2 tsp gochugaru or chilli flakes of your choice (optional)

4 large eggs, lightly whisked

a few happy handfuls of herbs - chives, parsley, oregano, etc.

1 tsp sea salt and 1 tsp cracked black pepper, or more if you like

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 220C/430F

Line two baking trays with baking paper

Boil or steam the florets till very tender, cool for a few minutes then mash or chop them till you have marble-sized pieces

Now grab a huge mixing bowl, and chuck EVERYTHING into it

I get Mr P. to mix it all up for me by hand, but use a big spoon, or your own hands if you don't have a Mr P.

Spoon on 3 Tbs amounts onto the trays, pat them into fritters, and flatten with an egg-lifter (these babies are thin!) so they end up about a fat 1 cm/0.5 inch thick

Bake at 220C/430F for 18 mins, then flip the fritters over, swap trays around, and bake for another seven minutes - though you may need another five minutes to get them all golden and crunchy if you have a sad, skittery old oven like mine

Serve with the sauce of your choosing - a yoghurt one, or just some mayo, or a chilli sauce ...

Notes:

Nagi's recipe calls for 350 grams/12.5 oz of broccoli florets (about 2 heads/5 heaped cups); I only had one head (tee hee) so I used the 250 grams of frozen cauliflower rice in my freezer (you can buy fresh cauli rice - i.e. not frozen - in our supermarket so try that 

You could do a cheat, and use 350 grams of frozen, thawed broccoli!  And why not, my friends? :=)

Use 260g./9 oz cooked white rice, or brown rice or just quinoa if you prefer

Nagi says to bake these at 240C/470F, but I found the lower temp. just fine

ingredients ready for mixing

half-baked; ready for flipping

and baked!

just as delicious cold the next day

time for a cappuccino and a read at a local café

Broccoli and a cheese grater