This carrot fritters with halloumi recipe, from Alice Hart’s Vegetarian, is one of my favourite ‘show-off’ lunches. It looks great, and your diners tend to think that you’ve slaved in the kitchen for hours to create such a masterpiece – hence why I call it a ‘show-off’ lunch. However, they couldn’t be further from the truth. Minus the chilling time, you can have a dish to wow your pals within about 30 minutes.

The fritters are a simple and relatively cheap combo of grated carrot, halloumi, sliced spring onions, chopped coriander, coriander seeds, a bit of flour and a couple of eggs to bind the mixture together. It’s all a bit sloppy, but firms up in the fridge when left to cool for 30 minutes or so. I usually make the fritter mixture way in advance, shape them and leave them to chill until I’m ready for them – which could be anything up to a couple of hours. But, that’s a bit excessive.

One word of advice, don’t mess with the fritters while they’re cooking or you’ll be left with a frittery mess in the pan. Let them sizzle away for the suggested couple of minutes before you even attempt to turn them over. I know from experience. I’m impatient. I tried messing with them before the suggested couple of minutes were up. I ended up with a frittery mess. DON’T MESS WITH THE FRITTERS!

Alice serves the fritters in stacks with griddled halloumi, rocket and a good dose of her sweet lemon dressing – a delightful mixture of 1/2 clove of garlic, 1 tbsp honey, 1 tsp wholegrain mustard, the juie and zest of a lemon and 90 ml of olive oil. Don’t skimp on the dressing, it brings the dish to life.

I didn’t have any lunchtime diners, so I made it for the husband and I for our supper.

The verdict from the husband: ‘Nice, you can make these again.’ And I will.

Ingredients

• 9 oz halloumi
• 4 large carrots, coarsely grated or shredded
• 5 spring onions, finely sliced a small bunch of coriander, leaves chopped
• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds, toasted and crushed
• 2 tablespoons gram or chickpea flour (or all-purpose flour)
• 2 eggs, beaten

Method

1. Coarsely grate a quarter of the halloumi and add to the carrots in a mixing bowl. Slice the remaining halloumi and set aside. Add the remaining fritter ingredients to the mixing bowl, season with pepper and just a little salt, and mix well. Form into 12 round cakes, flattening them with your hand, and lay out on a tray. If you have time, chill for 30 minutes to firm them up.
2. Heat the olive oil in a pan and fry the cakes for a couple of minutes on each side until golden. Remove to a plate and keep warm in a low oven while you fry the halloumi for a minute or two on each side. You won’t need any extra oil for this. When done, the cakes should be crisp and golden.
3. Layer the fritters and halloumi slices on serving plates with the rocket, and drizzle with the sweet lemon dressing.

Recipe from Vegetarian by Alice Hart