How to make sweetcorn, feta and courgette fritters with Mexican bean salad​

A recipe for fluffy sweetcorn pancakes dotted with swirls of courgette and salty crumbles of organic feta, made from sheep’s and goat’s milk from free-grazing animals. A spicy Mexican-inspired bean salad on the side makes this a mouthwatering meal.

Prep: 30 mins

Serves 2

2 courgettes
2 corn on the cob
1 red onion
2 garlic cloves
100g feta
75g plain flour
2 eggs
400g tin of black beans
2 tomatoes
1 cayenne chilli
½ cucumber
A handful coriander
1 lime
150g yogurt​
Sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
2 tbsp oil

Coarsely grate the courgettes. Put them in a sieve with a pinch of salt and squeeze together a few times to get rid of some water. Leave in the sieve to drain while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Pull the leaves and silks off the sweetcorn cobs. Stand the cobs upright on your board and run a knife down them to slice off the kernels. Tip the kernels into a large bowl. Peel and finely slice the red onion. Peel and crush or finely grate one garlic clove. Stir the onion and garlic into the sweetcorn and crumble in the feta.

Give the courgettes a final good squeeze to get rid of as much water as possible, and tumble them into the sweetcorn bowl. Measure out 75g of the flour and add it to the bowl. Break in the eggs. Sprinkle in a little salt and pepper and stir well to combine. Set aside.

Drain the black beans and give them a good rinse with cold water. Shake dry and tip into a large bowl. Dice the tomatoes. Trim half of the cucumber and dice it. Peel and crush or finely grate the remaining garlic clove. Halve the chilli, flicking out the seeds and membrane for less heat, and finely chop it. Stir everything into the beans.

Grate the lime zest into the bean salad and squeeze in the juice. Finely chop the coriander and sprinkle on top. Add a little salt and pepper along with one tablespoon of oil and give everything one last mix. Set aside to mellow while you fry the fritters.

Pour half a tablespoon of oil into a large frying pan and bring to a medium heat. Add four heaped tablespoons of the batter to the pan to make four fritters. Fry for three to four minutes on each side till golden brown. Transfer to a warm plate and cover with foil. Add another half a tablespoon of oil and four more tablespoons of batter. This should use up all the batter.

Transfer the fritters to serving plates and serve with the bean salad and generous spoonfuls of yoghurt on the side.

Recipe from Abel & Cole (abelandcole.co.uk)