Mmm, mmm, mmmmm….these are delicious! Please, please give them a go if you’re growing your own courgettes this summer. It’s easy, it makes for a crowd pleasing summertime snack, and it means you’re getting more out of your veg patch too.
Ingredients
- Courgette flowers (as many as possible, literally picked off the plant as you are ready to cook them)
- Batter:
- 100g plain flour
- 40g cornflour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 200ml fizzy water
- 1 tsp sea salt
How to make them
First, make the batter: sieve together the flour, cornflour, salt and baking powder and whisk in the fizzy water until you reach a nice creamy consistency (think single cream).
Then, heat a deep fat fryer, or heat up a saucepan filled a third full with oil – sunflower oil is the best for this.
Once the oil has heated up, take a courgette flower, give it a good dunk in the batter and then pop it in to deep fry. You can do 3 or 4 at a time. Cook it for a minute or two – you want it to puff out a bit and get a nice golden colour on the batter.
Take it out of the oil and rest it on a bit of kitchen paper for a moment to soak up excess oil, then serve.
For something a little bit different
These work well stuffed as well, just make a creamy filling using a cream cheese and a handful of freshly chopped herbs – marjoram, basil and oregano work well – and add a spoonful inside the flower twisting the petals to seal it in before dunking into the batter.