Tomato Fritters (Domatokeftethes)

Greece is one of my favorite countries.  The first time I visited was in 1994, when I was in my early 20’s and single. The people, the culture, the food, the sights were so wonderful and memorable.  So much so that for the more than 20 years we’ve been married, I’ve spoken of going back to this beautiful country.  When we decided we were going to Europe a few years ago for our 20th anniversary, my husband said we must go to Greece, you’ve been talking about it for so long I must see it for myself.

Santorini was on that list of places he wanted to see. Have you ever been to Santorini? You know the place, you see these pictures all over the internet of these beautiful white walls and blue doors and you think ‘that can’t possibly be that pretty’.

It is.

Here’s a few shots of our trip in  that were taken from my now (thankfully) dead iphone 5s.  Not edited.

Sigh.  Yes, it’s that beautiful.  You need to go one day.

My husband made an acute observation on our trip.  He said that he had never seen so many women walking around in a daze, simply sighing at the beauty of this island.  It was true.  Perhaps I didn’t notice because I was too busy being one of them.

Santorini is not only special because of the way it looks.  It grows a lot of its own produce and uses it well.  Not only do they have the ever popular greek salad like the rest of the country, they have their very own Santorini salad.  The main difference is that they use caper leaves and their own cheese produced on the island called kefalotiri.  I could not copy it here in Mexico even if I tried.  And trust me, I tried.  I still dream of caper leaves.

Another popular dish on the island are these tomato fritters, or domatokeftethes. Probably one of the best fritters I had on the island was at a restaurant in the south of the island. The owner showed us the fields beside him and told us the tomatoes for the salad and the fritters were right from those fields.  How can you not love food with ingredients as fresh as that? Look at these beauties.

These little tomato fritters are served as appetizers around the island, usually with a yogurt dip.  I am usually too lazy for that so I just eat them plain or with sour cream.  I’m a sour cream addict.

They can be prepped and fried up in less than 30 minutes which makes a great meatless Monday meal.  Usually, in Greece, they use mint, but the day I went to the market here I couldn’t find it, so I used a very popular herb here in Mexico called hierbabuena which is actually spearmint.  I love the taste it adds, but you can use mint or even a mixture of mint and parsley.

Here’s to a delicious meatless meal and a taste of Greece. Opa!

 

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 lbs tomatoes
• about 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup herbs, mint or parsley or a mixture of both, finely chopped
• 2 green onions, finely chopped
• 2 TAB baking powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• cooking oil to deep free.

DIRECTIONS:

Remove seeds and insides of tomatoes and finely dice. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, herbs,  green onion, baking powder, and salt and pepper.  Add tomatoes and combine gently but well.  Form into palm size, flat patties.  If the batter is not holding together, add a little more flour.  The batter should be wet but still stay together.

Bring a small pot of cooking oil to 350. Lower patties in one at a time, depending on the size of your pot perhaps only a few at a time. Do not crowd. They will float to the top. Fry until they are a dark golden brown, 5-6 minutes.  Transfer to paper towel and let drain.  Repeat with remaining fritters until finished.  Serve with tzatziki or sour cream.

Makes about 16 fritters.