Garden ‘pakora’

Ingredients

• 6 asparagus spears, woody ends trimmed
• 1 zucchini, trimmed
• 8 green beans, trimmed
• 4 zucchini flowers or pumpkin flowers
• 1 small handful warrigal greens (native spinach)
• 1 small handful picked basil leaves
• 5 nasturtium flowers
• 5 nasturtium leaves
• parsley flower and seeds (optional)
• 1 litre vegetable oil, for shallow frying

Batter

• 50 g brown rice flour
• 50 g chickpea flour (besan)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• salt flakes, to taste
• 130 ml cold water

Herb yoghurt

• ¼ cup coriander sprigs, roughly chopped
• ¼ cup mint leaves, roughly chopped
• ¼ cup flat leaf parsley leaves, roughly chopped
• 150 g natural yoghurt
• 1 lemon, zest and juice
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. For the batter, place the flours, baking powder and a good pinch of salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Gradually whisk in the water until smooth. The batter should be the consistency of crepe batter. Set aside.
2. For the herb yoghurt, place all the ingredients in a small bowl, stir to combine, then refrigerate until ready to serve.
3. Using a mandolin, shave the asparagus and zucchini into lengths about 2 mm thick. Slice the beans in half lengthways and place them into a bowl with the other shaved vegetables. Roughly tear the zucchini blossoms, basil, warragal greens, nasturtium leaves and flowers, then gently mix into the vegetables with the parsley flowers and seeds if using.
4. Heat the oil in a heavy based saucepan to 180˚C.
5. Gently stir the vegetable mixture into the batter until everything is well coated.
6. Cooking in small batches, take a small handful of the coated vegetables, pinch them together to squeeze the layers firmly and allow the excess batter to drip away, before gently placing them into the hot oil. Allow the vegetables to stick together for a few seconds before agitating and flipping so they cook and brown evenly.
7. Once golden and cooked through, remove from the oil and drain on a wire rack. Season with salt flakes and serve with the herb yoghurt on the side.

Photography by Kitti Gould.

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