This recipe is a family classic with our farmer Stelios, who grows organic olives on the Greek island of Crete with his wife and three children. We got this recipe from his daughter Kyriaki. She can’t remember exactly when her parents, Meropi and Stelios, first made these vegetable fritters for her and her siblings. But she knows that they are a classic with the Zacharioudaki Apelidou family. Today Kyriaki lives in Hamburg and often thinks back to the taste and wishes she could enjoy some fritters with tzatziki in the family garden right. 

The Greek “Plouti” organic olive oil from Stelios and the fresh organic winter vegetables from Jakob, make for the perfect ingredients for these delicious veggie fritters. Jakob grows a variety of different vegetables on the organic farm “Hof am Weiher” in Rhineland-Palatinate and is happy to contribute fresh ingredients for this recipe.

The vegetable fritters  are perfect for any weather and even taste great cold!

Instructions:

1. For the tzatziki, wash the cucumber and cut out the seeds. Grate coarsely into a bowl and sprinkle a little salt on top. Leave to rest for about 10 minutes. 
2. In the meantime, chop the dill and squeeze the lemon. Squeeze the liquid from the grated cucumber and add the yoghurt, dill, lemon juice, salt & pepper and some extra virgin olive oil. Stir everything together and store in a cool place until the vegetable fritters are ready.
3. To make the vegetable fritters, wash the vegetables and peel if necessary –  If you are using organic vegetables, you can leave the peel on – it adds vitamins and colour to the vegetable fritters. Coarsely grate all the vegetables, add salt and, if necessary, a little more flour and oat flakes so that the vegetable mix is just a little liquid. If you decide to add an egg to the whole thing, feel free to tip away most of the liquid from the vegetables before adding the dry ingredients. 
4. Chop the dill and mint and add to the vegetable mix along with marjoram, basil and thyme to taste. Stir until an even mix is formed. 
5. Heat a generous amount of olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. For each vegetable fritter, take a heaped tablespoon of the vegetable mix, place in the pan and press down gently. Fry until one side is crispy and flip to the other side. If necessary, top up the olive oil after each portion of vegetable pancakes and remove the leftover vegetables from the pan.
6. Serve the vegetable fritters with the tzatziki.

Enjoy!