London Sweetcorn Fritters To Recreate At Home

Soft and sweet like pancakes, but with savoury hints from courgettes, spring onions and more goodness baked into the batter, sweetcorn fritters are comforting, filling and hugely versatile. London brunch spot Proud Mary’s does them spicy with red chilli peppers, Deliciously Ella serves the fritters on a bed of baked beans and Lomond elevates each pattie with three different toppings – these recipes are shared by the café owners for you to recreate at home.

Sweetcorn & courgette fritters: Lomond Coffee

Served three ways, Lomond Coffee makes every sweetcorn fritter unique with a mix of warming and refreshing toppings. Black beans, chunky avocado smash and tomato relish, it’s so worth the effort doing all three and everything is completely vegan too. 

*Please note I have adapted Lomond’s recipe to one person, so the measurements aren’t exactly the same as done by the chefs in their café.  

Ingredients

For the three fritters:

• 1 courgette, grated
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 1/4 tin of sweetcorn (around 100g), drained
• 30g chickpea flour, or extra to fully bind
• 1tsp cumin powder
• 1tsp garlic powder
• 1tsp mixed herbs
• Salt and pepper
• Rapeseed oil to fry (olive oil also worked for me)

For the tomato relish:

• 6 tomatoes
• 1tsp smoked paprika
• 1tsp garlic powder
• 1tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• Salt and pepper

For the black beans:

• 1/2 tin black beans
• 1tsp Cumin
• 1tsp Garlic powder
• Salt and pepper

For the avocado smash:

• 2 ripe avocados
• 4 cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1 spring onion, finely chopped
• Handful of coriander, finely chopped
• Lemon juice, to taste
• 1tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Extras:

• Sriracha and cress to decorate

Method

1. To make the fritters, mix all of the ingredients together with your hands. The mix shouldn’t be too wet, add more chickpea flour if needed. Season generously with salt and pepper and allow to rest for 10 or so minutes.
2. To make the relish, pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees. Place the cherry tomatoes on a baking tray. Coat them in the smoked paprika, garlic powder, olive oil, sugar and salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for about 12 minutes. Until the tomatoes are soft, but not burning.
3. For the black beans, empty the black beans with their juice into a saucepan. Heat through on the hob, add the cumin, garlic powder, salt and pepper and reduce down until all the black bean juice has almost evaporated – this should take about 7-10 minutes. Take them off the heat.
4. Make the avo smash by removing the ripe avocados from their skin and discarding the stones. Place in a bowl with the tomatoes, spring onion, coriander, olive oil and lemon juice. You want enough lemon juice for a zing. Smash together but keep it chunky. Season with salt and pepper.
5. To cook the fritters, heat rapeseed oil in a large frying pan and scoop rounds of the fritter mixture into the pan. Allow them to get crispy on one side and then flip them. Once cooked, place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper and put them in the oven at 180 degrees for around 8 minutes.
6. To assemble the dish, make a swirl of the sriracha sauce on your plate, serve each fritter with a different topping: the black beans on one, tomato relish on the other and avocado smash on the third. Sprinkle with cress and enjoy!

Sweetcorn fritters: Proud Mary’s

Red chillis, spring onions, sweetcorn and chilli jam on top, London café Proud Mary’s makes sweetcorn fritters that are spicy, crunchy and sweet at once. Served with avocado smash and a dollop of yoghurt to bring down the heat – enjoy!  

*Please note I have adapted Proud Mary’s recipe to one person, so the measurements aren’t exactly the same as done by the chefs in their café.

Ingredients

For the sweetcorn fritters:

• 30g gluten-free flour (I used chickpea flour)
• 1tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 2 spring onions
• 1 red chilli
• Handful of coriander
• 1/4 tin of sweetcorn (around 100g)
• Splash of milk
• Salt and pepper

For the toppings:

• A dollop of yoghurt (I used COYO coconut yoghurt)
• Chilli jam (I cheated and bought a jar from M&S, but Proud Mary’s makes their own)
• Avocado smash: 1 avocado, juice of 1/2 lime, salt and pepper
• Handful of coriander

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.
2. Mix the flour and baking powder in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle for the egg, add a splash of milk and whisk slowly until the batter is smooth.
3. Stir in the spring onion, red chilli, sweetcorn and coriander. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Heat a frying pan with olive oil, use a spoon to scoop the batter into the pan (the batter should make two thick fritters) and fry for 3-4 minutes on each side until they go crispy.
5. Place the fritters on a baking tray in the oven at 180 degrees for around 8 minutes.
6. To make the avocado smash, scoop the avocado into a bowl and mash with a fork. Add the lime juice, salt and pepper, and mix through.
7. Place one fritter on a plate with the avocado smash, before adding another fritter with a dollop of yoghurt, chilli jam and some coriander on top.

Sweetcorn fritters: Deliciously Ella Deli

A firm favourite at the Deliciously Ella deli, these sweetcorn fritters are completely vegan and even better when served with smashed guacamole, smokey baked beans and a dollop of coconut yoghurt. Each patty needs patience as you’ll need to fry the mixture for five minutes on either side, but the result is a stack that is cakey, soft and full of flavour from the spices. I used a slightly different version on the Deliciously Ella app (costs £0.99 a month), but you can also find the recipe and cooking tutorial on Youtube here.