Cauliflower Fritters (Gobi Pakora)

I still had a lot of cauliflower left after making a healthy chou fleur vinaigrette, so I finished the remaining head of cauliflower in a slightly less healthy way. These Indian cauliflower  fritters take no time to prepare and no resting time is required.  The batter is made from besan (garbanzo flour) mixed with lots of Indian spices. The rest really comes down to what vegetables are available in the refrigerator. 

Pakora are my go-to snack food whenever we have last minute guests. Fried food is always a crowd pleaser in my house!

Fried Feta Cheese Stuffed Olive Recipe

According to Daddy (my father-in-law), any snack tastes better fried. For this particular recipe he came up with, I tend to agree. We recently served feta stuffed olives at a dinner party. At the end of the evening, there was still a bowl full of the black olives leftover. Daddy challenged me and said they would have been all gone had I deep-fried them. The following day, I coated the cheese stuffed olives in a fritter batter and gave them a bath in boiling oil.

An entire bowl of fried olives never really made it to the dining table; they were devoured as soon as they were ready. What makes fried olives so tasty is that ther're perfectly crisp on the outside, but still remain soft on the inside. The key to success with these fried appetizers is to make sure you allow the excess batter to drip back into the batter bowl, then place the olives one at a time in the hot oil. I’m big enough to admit it; Daddy was right!

Deep Fried Feta Cheese Recipe

This weekend is the Super Bowl, but Lulu and his friends are so disappointed that the Niners didn't quite make it (and with Kyle Williams in particular) that they're threatening not to watch the game. Even though the boys are being such party poopers, I still plan on putting out a nice spread. As they say, the game must go on!

This particular dish is my take on the traditional fare of breaded mozzarella cheese sticks. Instead of mozzarella though, I made my fried treats with raw feta cheese. The cheese is from Redwood Hill Farms, and it is just delicious! It has such a strong flavor and really holds up well to being deep-fried. Unlike mozzarella, feta cheese doesn't melt but keeps a very pleasant firm texture. 



To finish the plate, I drizzled a basil dressing on the appetizers for a contrast of color. For the party, I'll probably serve the fried feta cheese on a large tray, but you could also place a smaller portion as I did on a bed of diced vegetables.