Lightly spiced courgette fritters

We all know that encouraging children to help in the kitchen is a great way to get them to taste new things.  Often, children are more enthusiastic about tasting if they've helped make the food in the first place.  This is a great way to introduce a little spice - start with a small amount, and next time you cook them, you can add a bit more.  The courgettes (often something that children don't like) have a completely new texture too.  There's plenty of scope for little helpers here - younger children can help with the mixing, and older children can do the grating too.  

Ingredients

2-3 courgettes

1 red onion, halved and very finely sliced

1/2 chilli, deseeded and finely chopped (make sure you remove all the 'pith' which is where the heat is)

Pinch salt

1 tsp curry powder (or you can make your own mix of the usual suspects: cumin, coriander, turmeric, chilli, etc)

Chopped fresh coriander (big handful should do it)

150g self raising flour (or half and half gram flour/self-raising flour, if you have it)

Method 

Grate all the courgettes (mind those fingers!) and place them in a sieve over a bowl. Sprinkle withthe salt and leave for an hour or two, discarding any liquid.

Add in the onion, chilli, another pinch of salt, curry powder and coriander, break in the egg, then sprinkle over the flour. Stir it all together as much as you can (it's quite lumpy).

Now slowly add cold water, about a tablespoon at a time, until you’ve got a really thick pasty mixture (you’ll probably need around 100ml or so, but judge it by eye). Leave this to one side while you heat up a wok or large saucepan with a good couple of inches of oil (groundnut is fine).

Once the oil is hot - you can test this by popping in a little bit of the batter and seeing if it sizzles – just drop in heaped tablespoons of the batter.

When the first side is a deep golden brown, carefully flip the fritters over and cook the other side.  Drain on kitchen paper and serve with a nice yoghurt and mint dip, or maybe some mango chutney.  Sprinkle with some coriander leaves and serve.