Carrot Fries & Potato Fritters

Today we're back with another easy, delicious, healthy brunch: carrot fries with garlic potato fritters! As you can tell from my recent posts, I have really been launching myself into cooking lately. As a young adult, I feel I am long overdue for brushing up on my skills in the kitchen. Granted, I'm not exactly ready to tackle a paella or a croquembouche, but nevertheless I am proud of how far I've come in the past few weeks. If practice indeed makes perfect, then surely I'm well on my way.

For this recipe, I used:

•  a couple of carrots (peeled)
• a potato (peeled)
• 2-3 garlic cloves (shredded)
• cheddar cheese (preferably aged)
• extra virgin olive oil
• flour
• an egg
• salt and pepper
• flatbread
• cream cheese (to serve)

And for the dipping sauce:

• curry powder
• chilli powder
• parsley flakes
• greek yoghurt
• honey
• Indian five spice blend: cumin, brown mustard, fenugreek, nigella & fennel

As always, keep in mind that this recipe is very loose and open to adaptation. If you're missing a few ingredients, do improvise! Go off-script. I promise that I will not be offended.

Skinny-sliced carrots and crumbled cheddar

Alrighty, shall we begin? 

1.  Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Slice the carrots into skinny shoestrings.
2. Shave approximately 50 grams of cheddar. Use your hands to break up the pieces into small crumbs (as seen above). Set aside. 
3. In a small bowl, crack an egg. Add 2 tablespoons of water, a pinch of salt, and plenty of pepper as desired. Mix thoroughly with a spoon.
4. Line an oven tray with baking paper. In small bundles, dip the carrot sticks into the egg mixture, making sure they are entirely covered. Then, roll them in the crumbled cheddar and place onto baking paper. 
5. Place in oven and set the timer to 15 mins. Meanwhile, to the remaining egg mixture, add any remaining crumbled cheddar, as well as a generous dash of olive oil and the shredded garlic cloves. 
6. Add 2 tablespoons of flour, and mix thoroughly. Set aside.
7. Using a peeler or sharp knife, shave the potato into thin strips. Combine these with the mixture and make sure all of the potato is coated. Form into a small patty and set on a greased baking tray. Place into oven.
8. Once the timer goes off, turn the carrot fries and bake for a final 5-7 minutes. Keep an eye on the potato fritters - take them out after 15 minutes or once they are golden-brown. 
9. For the dipping sauce, simply combine 3 tablespoons of greek yoghurt with 1/2 tablespoon of curry powder. Add a pinch of chilli powder, a few shakes of pepper, 1 teaspoon of parsley flakes, and 1 teaspoon of Indian five spice blend. Add 1 teaspoon of honey and mix thoroughly.
10. Tada! All done. Serve piping hot with toasted flatbread, and cream cheese to dip. Enjoy!

Carrot shoestring fries with curry yoghurt dip and cream cheese

Garlic potato fritters

Serve with flatbread and dipping sauces

One of the joys of cooking is the pride you feel when you successfully create something that you genuinely enjoy eating. The most valuable lessons I've learned in the kitchen over the past few weeks have nothing to do with technique; more importantly, I've learned to be daring and inventive, to follow my instincts, and to never be afraid to improvise.