Ramadan recipes: Courgette, chickpea fritters

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Updated 05 April 2024
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Ramadan recipes: Courgette, chickpea fritters

  • Fritter comes from the Late Latin word frictura, meaning to fry or to roast

Light, nutritious, flavorful, and delicious, fritter is a pancake-like dish made of meat, seafood, vegetables, fruit, or sometimes just dough, that is battered or breaded before being deep fried.

Fritter comes from the Late Latin word frictura, meaning to fry or to roast. Legend has it that the batter-fried dish emerged from Portugal and Spain and was introduced into Japan in the late 16th century.

Different countries around the world, including India, Indonesia, and South Africa, have invented their own fritter recipes using local ingredients.

Today’s recipe is an Indian version of courgette and chickpea fritters in which courgette is used as the main ingredient and is mixed with chickpea flour, herbs, and spices.

To make the dish, which is modified to be healthier, you need one large courgette, one raw egg, 60 grams of chickpea flour, one teaspoon of mixed dried herbs, quarter of a teaspoon of cayenne, salt, and black pepper.

First, shred the courgette into small, thin slices, squeeze out the excess water in a colander, and put it aside. In a small bowl, mix the chickpea flour, dried mixed herbs, cayenne, salt, and black pepper before adding the
egg, then add the courgetti.

Mix well.

Instead of a frying pan, prepare a baking tray with wax paper to make the fritters more healthy and less oily. Spread a bit of oil on the wax paper, low-fat oil or olive oil if preferred, put a tablespoon-sized amount of the mixture on the tray, and place in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 12-15 minutes. Let it cool down a little before plating and serve hot.


Where We Are Going Today: Taste and Tales by Chef Shagufa

AN photo by Sadiya A. Nadeem
Updated 29 December 2025
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Where We Are Going Today: Taste and Tales by Chef Shagufa

  • We shared three platters among the six of us, and needless to say, the portions were generous and the flavors satisfying

Relatively new on the block, Taste and Tales by Chef Shagufa, located in Jeddah’s Al-Rehab district, has been making quite a buzz on social media.

So, on a cool Friday morning at 7:00 a.m., five of my cousins and I decided to visit the restaurant to experience its much-talked-about traditional South Asian breakfast for ourselves.

We ordered the restaurant’s hyped breakfast thali (platter), which included sooji halwa (semolina pudding), kheer (rice pudding), chickpea curry, potato curry, pickles, pooris (fried, fluffy bread), and paranthas (layered flatbread), all served in beautiful copper serveware.

We shared three platters among the six of us, and needless to say, the portions were generous and the flavors satisfying. 

Personally, I enjoyed everything on the platter except the semolina pudding, which I found a little bland for my taste.

For drinks, five of us ordered milk tea, which was fairly good. One of my cousins opted for their famed Pakola lassi and couldn’t stop raving about it. Since she didn’t let any of us sample it, we’ve decided it’s something to try on our next visit.

Our total bill came to SR150 ($40), slightly higher than what nearby restaurants charge for similar breakfast platters. However, the taste, presentation, and overall ambience more than make up for the difference.

Not many South Asian restaurants in Jeddah offer decent dine-in breakfast seating for families, but Taste and Tales stands out. With its simple interiors and modest seating, the space is clean, comfortable, and welcoming. It’s definitely a place I’d visit again with my female friends, cousins, and family.