It’s winter and all I crave for is comfort food. And there is nothing better than whipping up a fluffy batch of pumpkin fritters. Whenever I eat pumpkin fritters it brings back so much fond childhood memories. It was a treat that my late mom use to make all the time. It’s just one of those feel good type of things to eat.
Also over at my Miller In the City blog, I did mention that pumpkin was one of my favorite fruits as it is so versatile to use in sweet and savory dishes. Yip you’ve read correctly, it is technically a fruit. Over there you will also find my Citrus and Pistachio Pumpkin Fritter recipe. But today, I share the basic recipe with you.
Believe me when I say, once you make these pumpkin fritters you would want to make another batch immediately after the first as it is so good.
Tips for making pumpkin fritters?
- Start off by boiling your pumpkin in a little bit of water. I use fresh pumpkin but you can use canned pumpkin as well. Alternatively you can purchase cubed pumpkin in a packet and steam it in the microwave according to the instructions.
- I don’t add any sugar to the pumpkin when I boil it because sugar is added when I make the batter.
- Make sure that you drain the excess water from the pumpkin as this can affect the consistency of your batter.
- Mash the pumpkin finely as you don’t want any lumpy bits in your batter and then leave to cool.
- I use cake flour to make my pumpkin fritters but you can use self-raising flour as well. Note that if you are going to use self-raising flour that you still need to add a teaspoon of baking powder to ensure that your fritters come out nice and fluffy.
- Once you’ve mixed your batter, leave it to rest for 10 minutes. This part is important as it allows the gluten to relax and gives the batter a better rise when frying.
- This recipe calls for shallow frying. I use coconut oil to fry the fritters as it is healthy but you can use any neutral vegetable oil.
- Check the temperature of your oil. You don’t want it too hot as the fritters will burn and the inside won’t be cooked.
- Always drain the fritters on a paper kitchen towel before you sprinkle it will cinnamon sugar.
Pumpkin Fritters
Ingredients
- 1½ cups pumpkin – cooked, drained and mashed (about 400g raw pumpkin)
- 1 XL egg
- 1 cup cake flour
- 2 tsp baking bowder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 3 Tbs brown sugar
- 3 Tbs coconut oil (for frying)
Instructions
- After cooking the pumpkin, drain the excess water off. Mash it and let it cool.
- Add the cooked pumpkin to a mixing bowl and whisk in one egg.
- Sift in flour, salt and baking powder.
- Then add sugar.
- Mix the dry ingredients through until well incorporated.
- Let the batter rest for 10 minutes.
- Add the coconut oil to a skillet over medium heat.
- Once the oil starts bubbing drop heaped tablespoons of batter into the oil – making sure the batter is spaced apart.
- Shallow fry each side for 3 minutes until golden brown.
- Remove fried fritters and drain on a paper kitchen towel.
- Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
Hi there, they say, when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. Here in De Rust the farmers plant pumkin for export seeds and one of the residents here, collects the pumpkin after the seeds have been removed, cleans and chops it into blocks and then sells it cheap-cheap, like R10/kg bags. So I bought 10 bags. So for winter I ate a fair amount of pumpkin soup. But there’s still pumpkin left… what to do? Find a fritter recipe! What a delightful easy recipe.
A friend gifted me with a bottle of Trader Joe’s pumpkin pie spice and I added a pinch.. or two. Wow, the batter is so nice and fluffy.
This is the bestest of best pumpkin fritter recipe ever. Thank you for sharing. Take care
Looking forward to the fritters ..thank you .