Tortang kalabasa

Grated squash salted and squeezed dry before it meets the egg, so the fritter sets crisp.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg.

Ingredients

• 500 g squash, peeled and coarsely grated
• 1 teaspoon salt, for drawing the water
• 3 eggs
• 3 tablespoons plain flour
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3 spring onions, sliced
• 0.5 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 tablespoons oil

Method

1. SALT THE GRATED SQUASH AND SQUEEZE IT DRY -- 1 teaspoon over it, 15 minutes in a sieve, then a hard wring in a cloth. You should get several tablespoons of orange water out. Left in, that water comes out in the pan and you get a wet pancake that will not colour.
2. Grate coarsely, not finely. Fine shreds turn to purée under the salt and there is nothing left to bite.
3. Beat the eggs, then the flour into the eggs until there are no lumps. Flour straight onto the vegetables stays in pockets.
4. Squash, onion, spring onion and pepper into the egg. It should be thick enough to mound on a spoon and hold.
5. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan until a drop of batter sizzles on contact.
6. Drop in heaped tablespoons and flatten each one to 1 cm with the back of the spoon. Thicker than that and the middle is raw squash when the outside is done.
7. 3 minutes, until the edge is set and brown. Turn once, 2 minutes. Do not press them again after turning.
8. Onto paper, and eat them hot with vinegar. Stacked while hot they steam each other soft.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

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