Frittered Away

fritter [frit - er]*

1. verb to squander or disperse piecemeal; waste little by little

2. noun a small cake of batter, sometimes containing corn, fruit, clams, or some other ingredient, fried in deep fat or sauteed

I will admit to being guilty of frittering away many days by spending a lot of time online, roaming from one blog to another, and scouring recipes for hours on end.  I will also happily admit to making small cakes of batter fried in deep fat or sauteed.

Ever since I had that amazing bowl of cauliflower soup at Breadbar in Century City a couple of months ago, I buy a lot of cauliflower.  I've made cauliflower soup a few times since, and have roasted cauliflower with fennel to top polenta.  So once again, I found myself with a head of cauliflower in the fridge along with a large knotty celery root.  I knew the mellow flavours of both would work together and knew I could punch it up with curry, which has turned into one of my favourite spices.  Seriously...cauliflower soup with a drizzle of curry oil makes me swoon.

Curry Cauliflower-Celeriac Fritters
(makes 12-14 fritters)


3 cups cauliflower florets
2 cups shredded celery root
1 egg
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
olive oil for frying


Steam cauliflower and celery to soften, about 3 minutes.  Rinse lightly with to cool vegetables.  In a medium bowl, mix egg with 1/4 cup of the flour.  Gradually add the cauliflower and celeriac, mixing with your hands to mash vegetables and work ingredients.  Add curry powder, salt, and garlic powder.  Continue to add flour until all the elements come together.  It will be sticky and a little messy.  


In a skillet, heat 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat.  Form fritters in your hand or drop by the heaping tablespoon into the skillet and flatter with fork.  Fry each side until golden brown and drain excess oil on papertowel lined plate.  Add more olive oil by the tablespoon as needed.  

I topped them with a generous dollop of fat free Greek yogurt.

*definition courtesy of Dictionary.com