Pumpkin Fritters with Cheese

Name: Pumpkin Fritters with Cheese
Ingredients: 500 g pumpkin (net weight, peeled); 150 g potatoes; 150 g cheese; 100 g flour; 2 eggs; 3-5 garlic cloves; 0.5 tsp spices to taste (I used khmeli-suneli (Georgian spice blend)); fresh herbs to taste (dill, parsley); salt and pepper; vegetable or clarified butter for frying

Let's continue with the pumpkin theme — last time it was Pumpkin Roll with Cream Filling, and today I'd like to offer a new way to use pumpkin: savory pumpkin fritters. The recipe is very simple — you don't need to pre-cook the pumpkin, it's used raw and will cook right inside the fritters. As I've mentioned more than once, I'm not a big fan of pumpkin on its own, so I added a variety of mix-ins to balance out its flavor. The potatoes give a subtle potato pancake vibe, while the cheese and garlic add a savory kick, offsetting the natural sweetness of the pumpkin. A small amount of spices rounds out the overall harmony — I used khmeli-suneli (Georgian spice blend), but a little oregano, marjoram, or similar would work just as well. The key is not to go overboard with the spices; you just want a light accent. All in all, these turned out incredibly tasty and unique. You can detect the pumpkin flavor, but it doesn't hit you right away — that's when they're hot, at least. Cold, the pumpkin flavor is much more noticeable. My husband didn't even guess there was pumpkin in them and kept going back for more; my daughter was gobbling them up one after another; and even I, a pumpkin skeptic, loved them — but only hot!)) I got 16 fritters out of this recipe.

Ingredients:

500 g pumpkin (net weight, peeled)
150 g potatoes
150 g cheese
100 g flour
2 eggs
3-5 garlic cloves
0.5 tsp spices to taste (I used khmeli-suneli (Georgian spice blend))
fresh herbs to taste (dill, parsley)
salt and pepper
vegetable or clarified butter for frying

How to cook pumpkin fritters with cheese

Grate the pumpkin and potatoes on a coarse grater, squeeze out the excess moisture with your hands, and transfer to a bowl. Grate the cheese on a coarse grater as well. Grate the garlic on a fine grater and chop the fresh herbs.

Add the eggs and spices, then season generously with salt and pepper. Add the flour and mix everything very thoroughly with a spoon. The batter will be thick — that's perfectly normal.

Heat a little clarified butter (or a mix of vegetable and regular butter) in a skillet. Spoon the batter into the pan in the shape of fritters and lightly fry.

Flip and fry the other side, then cover with a lid and cook over low heat for about 5 minutes until cooked through.

Serve the fritters hot — and of course, they're best with sour cream, which pairs with them perfectly. Pumpkin fritters with cheese are a delicious and wonderfully unique dish!