Recipe: Spring Vegetable + Quinoa Fritters

Nothing says spring like British asparagus season. To celebrate What's In Season this month, we create two delicious recipes to honour the fresh produce coming from UK farms. 

This recipe makes for a delicious lunch or light dinner. The fritters are quite substantial as they contain quinoa. We suggested keeping your spring veg nice and chunky when chopping so you really get the flavour and texture through the fritter.

Here's how to make Spring Vegetable + Quinoa Fritters

Serves 4 for lunch 
Prep time - 25 minutes 
Vegetarian, Gluten Free

Ingredients

• 125 g broad beans
• 125 g peas
• 125 g asparagus 
• 200 g gram flour 
• 150 g pre-cooked quinoa (we used red + white)
• 1 teaspoon vegan bouillon powder
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 tablespoon nigella seeds (optional) 
• 150-200 ml cold water
• Neutral oil, to fry (like avocado, sunflower or rapeseed oils)
• 100 g thick greek yoghurt
• A handful of wild garlic leaves
• 1 spring onion, thinly sliced
• A large handful of coriander leaves
• A large handful of mint leaves
• 100 g baby salad leaves (we used lambs lettuce)
• 1 lemon, halved, one half cut into wedges
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 
• Salt + freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Salt it generously. Blanch the peas, broad beans and asparagus for 30 seconds and plunge into cool water. If the broad beans are big, remove the papery pods, but this is not essential. Chop the asparagus into bite sized pieces. 
2. In a large bowl, mix together the gram flour, quinoa, vegan bouillon powder and spices. Gradually add the water and mix well to combine until you have a thick batter. Add the vegetables and mix well to coat. If all the vegetables are not coated, add a little more water. Season well. 
3. Add a few tablespoons of neutral oil to a large frying pan, enough to cover the base of the pan.
4. While the oil heats up, whizz together the greek yoghurt with the wild garlic leaves using a small handheld blender or food processor. Set aside. 
5. Fry the fritters, making each around 2 tablespoons of the batter, for 2 minutes on each side until golden and crisp. 
6. In a small bowl, dress the coriander, mint and salad leaves with the juice of half a lemon and the extra virgin olive oil. Season well.
7. Serve the fritters with the wild garlic yoghurt and thinly sliced spring onion with some of the herby salad on the side.