I love the holiday season. The lights, the decorations,
the music, especially that tangible feeling of excitement in the air (even if
it’s just for a few days off work); lazy days with family and friends spent
eating homemade croissants and mango mimosas, dark Norwegian goat cheese and fluffy kringla,
St. Germaine cocktails and tender braised short-ribs (you enjoyed all those
things too, right?). And now this leisurely slow week in between, where New Year’s
Eve festivities are being planned and resolutions devised.
As if slivers of leftover chocolate tart and my grandma’s
walnut fudge aren’t pleasure enough, I’ve been enjoying thumbing through At Home with Madhur Jaffrey: Simple, Delectable Dishes from India, Pakistan,Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, a gift from my brother. The book is perfect for
anyone looking to get to know Indian home-cooking from one of the topics' most
well-respected authorities.
Especially intriguing are her vegetable preparations. From
Kashmiri-style collard greens and sweet and sour butternut squash, to Sri
Lankan White Zucchini Curry to the dozen dal
(bean, legume and lentil dishes). I haven’t had a chance to make any of the
mouthwatering recipes from the book yet, but the other day I did make some
lightly spiced, spaghetti squash fritters that I think Ms. Jaffrey would
approve of.
Nothing more than cooked spaghetti squash (which does
live up to its name, coming apart into yellow, al dente strands when cooked)
bound together with egg and a little flour and seasoned with a bit of spicy
curry paste, these fritters cook up crispy and craveable. I topped each fritter
with a little dollop of scallion cilantro yogurt sauce for a spicy, crunchy,
smooth, creamy, mouthful. It’s the type of bite that will transport you and
your guests from this late-December rain to the patio of a warm Sri Lankan tea
garden. Happy Holidays!
Spaghetti Squash
Fritters with Scallion Cilantro Sauce
December’s Seasonal Seattleite feature is a varietal of
winter squash, spaghetti squash. While there are many types of winter squash,
from kabocha and butternut, to acorn and delicate, spaghetti squash has a fun,
different texture; when cooked the flesh comes apart into spaghetti-like
strands perfect for sautéing, saucing with ragout, stir-frying or making into
light fritters. See note below for cooking instructions.
Serves 6-8 as an
appetizer
Ingredients:
For the scallion cilantro
sauce:
1 garlic clove 4 green onions, cut into large chunks
1 cup cilantro leaves and tender stems
½ cup plain yogurt (non-fat is fine)
pinch each sugar, salt, cayenne and cumin
For the squash
fritters:
300 grams (2 cups) cooked spaghetti squash35 grams (¼ cup) all-purpose flour
50 grams (1 large) egg
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon hot curry paste (optional)
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Vegetable oil or nonstick spray for cooking
Additional cilantro and red bell pepper dice for garnish
Make the scallion cilantro
sauce. In a food processor, pulse the garlic clove until finely chopped.
Add the green onions and cilantro and pulse until finely chopped. Add the
yogurt and seasonings and puree until smooth. Taste for seasonings and adjust
if necessary. Keep refrigerated for up to 3 days.
Make the fritters.
In a medium bowl, stir together the squash, flour, egg, salt, curry paste
(if using) and black pepper. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Coat
with a thin slick of oil or nonstick spray. Drop tablespoon sized dollops of
the fritter batter onto the skillet and spread out lightly. Cook until
thoroughly browned and crisp on the bottom, then flip over and cook until brown
and crisp on the other side, adding more oil if necessary.
Put cooked fritters on paper towels to soak up any grease
and season with salt if desired. Serve immediately with scallion cilantro sauce
or keep fritters hot in a 200°F
oven for up to 1 hour.
Note: To cook spaghetti
squash, cut it in half and scoop out the seeds. Cut each half into four pieces.
You can microwave or bake spaghetti squash, but I find steaming the easiest.
Place the squash chunks in a steamer basket over 2 inches of simmering water and
steam for 12-15 minutes, until tender when pierced with a knife. Scrape squash
from the skin with the tines of a fork into long strands.
Very happy to stumble into a foodie blog in Seattle.
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I can't wait to try this one! Love spaghetti squash, and never thought to prepare it this way.
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