Moroccan cauliflower fritters

Moroccan cauliflower fritters can be served as a starter, side dish or as a garnish for a good chicken or meat cooked m'qualli or mchermel (the same recipe to cook the meat and the sauce without adding the cauliflower in the sauce) style as we know how to make them in Morocco, flavoured with subtle spices and served with a good thick marqa (sauce).

When I have a couple leftovers and dead cold, I just drizzle them with lemon juice and snack on them. They're good like that too.

Yummy Moroccan cauliflower fritters with chermoula

It's funny that when my mother used to make them a lot when I was little, I always dismissed them until recently when they popped into my mind. I've been making them ever since. We do really change throughout time and our taste buds do change as we grow old.

The recipe is fairly simple as we just parboil or steam cauliflower before coating it with a spiced batter before we shallow-fry them for a few minutes. That's all what there is to it really. If you have a chermoula jar ready, it's the time to pull it out from the fridge. If not, you can still make this in no time.


Ingredients
Prep: 15 min - Cooking: 20 - 30 min

• 450 g (+/-) head of cauliflower, broken or cut into chunky big florets, leaves and inner heart discarded
• 1/2 tsp of salt

For the batter

• 100 g of all purpose flour, sifted
• 30 g of fine durum semolina 
• 1/2 tsp of baking powder
• 220 - 240 ml of water, at room temperature (depending on flour absorption, it should have a batter texture)
• 2 eggs, medium-size
• 3 tbsp of coriander, chopped
• 2 tbsp of parsley, chopped
• 1 1/2 tsp of garlic, grated or finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp of ground cumin
• 1 tbsp of paprika
• 1/2 tsp of turmeric
• 1 tsp of salt or to taste

For frying (depending on the depth of your pan as you just want 1 to 2 cm of depth in oil)

• 30 cl of vegetable oil for frying

For serving 

• Lemon wedges 
• Spicy harissa vinaigrette

Have a bite..

Preparation

Chop the herbs finely, mix all the ingredients for the batter. Set aside for at least 30 min the fridge.
You can steam the cauliflower florets ahead of time. Sprinkle them with salt and place them on top of a double boiler or a couscoussier and fill the bottom with hot boiling water. Cover and steam for 7 min or until cooked but firm. Set aside to cool.


Making the cauliflower fritters or beignets

Heat the oil over medium heat.

Dip each cauliflower floret in the batter after you stir it. Coat all the way through and place into the pan. Do no fill the pan a lot as you want to have space to flip them over.

Fry each side for about 2 minutes, all the way around until nicely golden.

Transfer to a sieve and when they're cold, over a kitchen paper to get rid of excess oil.


Serving 

Serve the cauliflower fritters warm or at room temperature, with lemon juice or wedges. If you have a harissa, make our family spicy harissa vinaigrette.