Eggplant fritters and beet dip with za’atar and goat cheese

This past summer, an excess of beets from my local CSA forced me to find new ways of cooking them. Roasting, I discovered, works best. As does pairing them with vinaigrettes involving (what else) anchovies. That said, I was almost glad when the CSA season was over. I thought, “good, no more beets!”. I know they are supposed to be good for you but I never particularly liked them, at least not the way they are usually served: as an afterthought, cloyingly sweet, their bright red juices staining everything. Until, that is, I came across today’s recipe for a dip.

To be honest what caught my attention was the use of za’atar – a Middle Eastern spice blend often sprinkled on flatbreads – that I was eager to incorporate in my cooking. It helped that the recipe was due to Yotam Ottolenghi, whom I’ve already mentioned in a previous post. This one is from his new cookbook via Food and Wine Magazine. Since I first made it several weeks ago it has become a staple that I like to have on hand to dip everything in, from crackers to bread, and tortilla chips to crudités. But it goes well, too, with these very simple pan-fried eggplant fritters. Growing up, I often ate them as an after-school snack. The batter is made of chickpea flour (which you can find in Indian grocery stores labeled as “gram flour” or “besan“). Zucchini works well instead of eggplant. This batter, incidentally, is highly versatile and central to many Indian snacks. For instance, you can deep fry instead of pan fry: sort of an Indian version of Japanese tempura generically known as “bhajia” and widely sold as street food in India. In that case, vegetables such as green peppers, green chillies, sliced onions, potatoes, and yam are also commonly used. Or, for something healthier (beware that bhajia are dangerously addictive!), add shredded cabbage, diced tomatoes, minced chillies and cilantro and you have a fantastic pancake batter (sort of an Indian version of Korean pajeon).