Zucchini Fritters: Kolokithokeftedes

Why do Greek dishes have such long names? Kolokithokeftedes, that’s insane. Nevertheless, Greeks really can cook – enough said. A week ago, I was looking for a new recipe to cook for this blog and I started typing in different searches into Google. I love watching Barefoot Contessa, so I decided to do a Google search. I clicked on a blog all about these things called zucchini fritters, it was called, "Cooking from the Farms: Zucchini Cook Off" at: http://authorjaneward.wordpress.com/2010/08/12/cooking-from-the-farms-zucchini-cook-off/. They sounded delicious and I had never had them so I started reading. It was very interesting and the pictures were mouthwatering. But, that was not what caught my attention. The author, Jane Ward, mentioned near the beginning, that she received her August/September copy of Saveur magazine and it was “The Greek Issue,” which included many delicious recipes. It was there that she read about zucchini fritters, after having also seen them on a Barefoot Contessa episode. Yet, she said, that the magazine called the recipe “Kolokithokeftedes” which is Greek for zucchini fritters. When I heard that word, or rather read it, it sparked a memory. I suddenly realized that I have had zucchini fritters before, in fact they are one of my favorite foods.

The first time I had this dish, was at my yiayia’s (grandma’s) house in Cyprus, with my cousins Savva and George and my brother Greg. For some reason, and I’m not exactly sure why, but this memory is much more vivid than others near that time. I remember, very clearly, playing a “Crash” game on the PlayStation 2 or 1, actually, being more of a spectator than an actual player. I had been recording our conversations with my mp3 player just for fun. I even remember the level we were playing - Crash (the character, he’s a fox) was on a tropical island collecting diamonds and playing with the tiki statues. I can’t believe I’m talking about a video game on a food blog but it all ties in - keep reading. How do I remember all of this, I have no idea. It was a fun game, but we had been playing all afternoon, and it was almost dinner time. I started to smell something really yummy coming from across the hall in the kitchen. My mom and yiayia came over with plates of these fried patties. Now, fried food tastes good, no matter what it is, but these were something I wasn’t expecting. They were sizzling hot, but they smelled so good and I was so hungry that I dug into one. It was absolutely scrumptious! It turned out that my grandma took zucchini from her garden and shredded it, adding fresh dill, breadcrumbs and an egg. I had at least four of those that night, and they weren’t exactly small. Who would have known that fried zucchini tasted so good? I absolutely loved the Kolokithokeftedes and this memory makes me all the more eager to try this recipe. The last time I had these was probably around that time, so I felt the need to make these again.

On the food blog I found, there was a recipe, but I continued to search to see what other recipes I could find. It turns out that they’re all pretty much the same, so I chose one and bought the ingredients.

Ingredients:

2 eggs

3 medium zucchini

1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup chopped dill

¼ cup chopped parsley

4 green onions, finely chopped

2 teaspoons minced garlic

Zest and juice of one lemon

Freshly ground pepper black pepper

½ lb feta cheese, crumbled

2 Tablespoons breadcrumbs

2 Tablespoons flour

Procedure:

Grate the zucchini, sprinkle salt on top and let it sit for 10-15 minutes in colander or strainer so that it can lose the water. Squeeze excess water out and place into a bowl. Add the eggs, dill, parsley, onions and garlic and mix. Then add the flour/breadcrumb mixture until thick. Add the crumbled feta and mix well.

 

Heat some oil in a pan for the frying. (I didn’t fry mine, I pan fried, these fritters can be cooked either way, but I would probably recommend frying because they do taste better and have a better texture). Make small round balls of the zucchini fritter mixture and place in pan. Cook on each side until brown and crisp, yet moist on the inside.

On the side I like to serve these with a tzatziki sauce, a Greek yogurt sauce. Any normal tzatziki sauce works fine. I used Fage yogurt (pronounced Fah-yeh!) with chopped dill, garlic, olive oil, salt, and finely diced cucumber. It’s a cool and refreshing dip that perfectly complements these delicious fritters. I hope you enjoy this recipe!