Everybody is looking for ways to stay away from frying. It works for most of the time. I was not successful with zucchini pancakes for a long time. Finally after plenty of trial and error, I have managed to make a list of check point leading the way to success.
How do you get water out of shredded zucchini?
First of all zucchini is a very watery vegetable, more than 90% of it is water. You will notice that the more it sits, the more water it leaves out. So grate the zucchini, sprinkle with salt as this will help it to leave out its water even more. Then when you come back either squeeze out its water or use a cheese cloth to do this. The method I use is I place a colander over another bowl and squeeze and press the zucchini down to get rid of the excess water either with my hands or with the back of a wooden spoon.
The second tip is not to treat the zucchini mixture like a cake. It will just not rise like a cake. So use a wide oven tray and lay down the zucchini mixture flat as possible so the middle of the mixture will get baked too.
Using a savarin cake tin to help to cook the middle, which I think is a brilliant idea. I generally go for a wide rectangular or round pyrex.
Why are my zucchini fritters falling apart?
You can increase the amount of flour to be successful, but do not exaggerate, as you might loose the taste of zucchini. If you put less flour there is a risk of your zucchini slices falling apart, add flour gradually and keep flour handy till the moment you pour the batter to your baking tray.
Another method is placing scoops of zucchini batter as if frying onto a baking tray with a baking paper.
Try and find out what works best for you. If you still prefer to fry the zucchini pancakes here is my recipe: Authentic Zucchini Pancakes: Mucver.
Enjoy.
Baked Zucchini Pancakes
Ingredients
- 2 zucchini
- ½ bunch parsley chopped
- 7 stalks dill chopped
- 50 grams white/feta cheese grated
- 2 spring onions chopped
- 2 eggs
- 10 grams baking powder
- 3 tablespoons plain yogurt
- 4-5 tablespoons flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- Grate the zucchini with the coarse side of the grater. Sprinkle with salt so it leaves out most of its water and set aside.
- Prepare all the other ingredients in a separate bowl.
- Squeeze out the excess water of the zucchini by placing a colander on top of another bowl and pressing down.
- Then mix everything together.
- Grease your baking dish with some olive oil and spread the zucchini bater evenly. Do not make a very thick layer, as this mixture will not rise like a cake and if the mixture is too thick, the middle might not get baked enough.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven at 185° Celsius, with no fan, for about 45 minutes until golden on top and bottom.
- Rest for about 20 minutes and then serve.