Today, it is harvest time for various types of string beans, cabbage, and zucchini. I recently received an new and lovely cookbook: Summer Kitchens: Recipes and Reminiscences from Every Corner of Ukraine by Olia Hercules. Olia also wrote another popular Ukrainian cookbook, Mamushka, and this one seems like a step up, featuring more interesting, recipes that are still approachable. The book is titled after a shed-kitchen that many Ukrainians cook out of during the Summer months. I decided to cook some simple zucchini fritters from this book to give it a try. For the beans and cabbage, I chose one of the few vegan dishes in Nopi (a favorite reliably impressive cookbook of mine.) Stay tuned for more beans and zucchini, as well as kale, nasturtiums, cucumbers, summer squash, peppers in the coming weeks!

Zucchini Fritters (Summer Kitchen): I used a slightly larger grater setting than the book recommended, and it worked fine. I also decided to keep the seeds in the fritters, and this also had no detrimental effect on the dish (just be sure to adjust the other ingredients to account for the added weight of the core). I squeezed the grated zucchini very hard to get out as much liquid as possible. This recipe calls for self-rising flour, so note that you can make self-rising flour by combining a cup of all-purpose flour with a half tablespoon of baking powder and a quarter teaspoon of salt.

The resulting fritters were light, fairly cakey. I would cut the flour down by a small amount next time. I served them with salted yogurt. It was refreshing and delicious!
Joe’s Rating: 7
Difficulty: 4

Snake Bean and Peanut Achar (Nopi): This dish combines Malaysian achar paste (spiced onion paste) with cabbage, peanuts, and snake beans. I actually just used regular garden-grown string beans instead of snake beans, a fine substitute! They recommend serving this with a poached egg or some other egg dish. As it was getting late, I just ate it with simple salted yogurt, and this was a fine way to enjoy the dish.
Joe’s Rating: 6.5
Difficulty: 5