I seem to have come across lots of recipes for vegan fritters recently. Anna Jones in the Guardian and this recipe on the Kitchn. I read them and filed away the knowledge for another day because I didn’t have all the ingredients. Then as I grated all the nearly but not quite dead carrots in the fridge on Saturday morning and wondered what to do with them, I remembered the refried beans in the freezer. I tend to make a big batch of refried beans and use them to bulk out slow cooker soups and stews in the winter like freezer soup, divide them up into 200g (ish) portions and freeze them.
I thought what if I mixed the refried beans with the carrot, would they make good fritters. The answer to that question is yes and I had another easy, cheap, quick and tasty meal to add to rotation. Yay!
I made these twice this week and served them with salad and a yogurt sauce/dip. I weighed everything the second time around for this post although it’s worth noting that fritters are very adaptable to circumstances so I’m pretty sure that a tin of beans mashed up would have similar results (although maybe add some spices to make them more interesting!). I haven’t tried them with a bought tin of refried beans but I’m pretty sure it would work although it might require more flour to get everything to hold together. I prefer my fritters to have more vegetables than anything else, you may want something more structured in which case I suggest using less carrot or more beans! This made enough for two people. The yogurt dip I didn’t measure but it was my standard yoghurt/dried oregano/onion granules and powdered garlic mix (sounds weird works really well) but any kind of dip, maybe even ketchup if that’s your thing would work.
What
150g grated carrots
220g refried beans
2 tablespoons plain flour
Olive oil for frying
How
- Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix together thoroughly.
- Heat oil in pan and when hot scoop spoonfuls of the mixture into the pan and flatten with a spatula.
- Cook for 2 to 5 minutes, you want the fritters to develop a crust so they don’t fall apart when you flip them.
- Flip them and cook for another 2 to 5 minutes.
- Continue until you have used all the mixture.
- Serve with salad and yogurt dip
the poppies are lovely
but the weeds on the rest of it….oh god the weeds.
I was very busy this weekend, which explains the very quick and blurry photo of my shopping. I was really pleased that on Saturday morning the only vegetables left in the fridge were some carrots, which were peeled and grated for use in other things. Sainsburys value peppers finally stopped having green ones in them and were from the Netherlands instead of Israel! Total cost was £14.75, £8.30 in Lidl and £6.78 in Sainsburys.
On Tuesday night, I had more pasta, this time with sausage, spinach and mushrooms. This is what happened when I’m tired, something easy to cook and eat.
Jo had an exam in the afternoon, while she was doing thatTabitha and I amused ourselves at the 
We didn’t manage the Musée d’Orsay again and Jo was not keen on my suggestion of the Musée de l’Orangerie (one of my favourite museums in Paris) so we ended up in 
It worked pretty well, didn’t smell disgusting when I switched the oven on again and didn’t give me chemical burns. Ok, the oven was a bit white and dusty after I first used it again but that was easily cleaned up with a wet cloth and didn’t take any more effort than using an oven cleaner did.
They are moist but sturdy muffins that freeze well and give a good ginger kick. I love ginger but if you don’t I would suggest either halving the amount that I use or using cinnamon instead.
See that? That’s three bags and an entire box, full of weeds and couch grass that I have cleared off the plot in the last two weeks. And this is a good plot so God help the poor guys who inherited an over grown plot.
My plan is to buy tomato and other plants (squash, aubergine) over the bank holiday and I’m accepting any plant donations that come my way! Jonny has offered me some strong courgettes (yes I do know that I’m setting myself up for too many courgettes but then again, only four of my 10 sprouted up and who knows what will happen when I plant them out!)
I also bought and planted some french lavender in that section as well.
I’m away this weekend but I have Monday off work so planning to weed and tie up the raspberries and measure out and dig over some ‘beds’ in preparation for the Bank Holiday weekend when things need to get in the ground!
I went to Lidl on Sunday afternoon and stuck to the list. I still had vegetables left over from last week so it’s light produce, but that balanced because I was short on cheese! Total spent was £13.25.
Nic Dempsey 