Okra Fritters w/ Creamy Remoulade Sauce {Mezze Madness w/ I Heart Cooking Clubs}

Almost the entire summer has passed without much of anything Cajun, Creole, or southern appearing on the blog.  Does it matter?  Probably not.  But I have some guilt each time I look at my masthead.

 

I just haven't felt it.  And I have to feel it to write about it.  No sparks.  No epiphanies.  No brilliance.

Still no epiphanies or brilliance, but when I found this Spicy Okra Fritter recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi there was a spark.

Love it or hate it, summer in the south means tons of okra.  It's one of the few things that will keep on chuggin through the heat.  Using the Spicy Okra Fritter recipe as a guide, I put a little south Louisiana into it by nixing the exotic spices and flavoring my fritters with Tony's Creole Seasoning and hot sauce.

Then it came to me...making a creamy Creole remoulade for dipping.
Ok.  That was brilliance.

I had trouble with some of the ingredient quantities--particularly the water.  As the original recipe is written, the batter was much too thick and I had to double the water.  Overall, these fritters were good.  Would make them again.  The recipe doesn't have a high yield, but the fritters are dense so you aren't going to be eating a lot.

Mezze Madness is our theme @ I Heart Cooking Clubs this week.  Even though I made the Okra Fritters as a side dish for Shrimp Etouffee, they would also be good as an appetizer.

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Okra Fritters w/ Creamy Remoulade Sauce
inspired by Yotam Ottolenghi's Spicy Okra Fritters

18-20 small, tender okra pods, thinly sliced crosswise, ends trimmed
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp Tony's Creole Seasoning
¾ tsp chilli flakes
1 tbsp grated lemon zest
½ tsp salt
Black pepper to taste
a few shakes of hot sauce (to taste)
About 2/3 cup cold water
Vegetable oil, for frying

Start heating about 1/2" of vegetable oil in a large skillet.

Place sliced okra in a large bowl.  Add the rest of the ingredients except for the water, hot sauce and oil.  Mix.  Add the hot sauce and slowly stir in the water until a batter forms.  The batter should not be runny, but should be spoonable.

When the oil is hot, spoon mounds (about serving spoon size) of the batter into the pan  Cook until golden brown, carefully turn, and cook until the second side is golden.  Serve as is or with creamy remoulade sauce (below).


Creamy Remoulade Sauce

2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoons vinegar
2 Tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon prepared horseradish
2 Tablespoons Creole mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
2-3 Tablespoons green onions, finely chopped
1 Tablespoons parsley, minced

Thoroughly whisk the first 7 ingredients (through paprika).  Stir in the celery, green onion, and parsley.  Refrigerate--better if made ahead.

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