Did one of my very favourite things today and had a play in the kitchen and ended up with these pea-crumb fritters.

Have been thinking about doing some kind of frittery thing using mushy peas for a while now. Had a little Google and a look around t’internet. Found one blog that made them using dried mashed potato which I thought was a good idea, the mash would soak up the juices and you could control exactly how moist the mixture was.

I was going to have a go that way, when I remembered the Zombie burgers using breadcrumbs made from dead bread. The breadcrumbs would work in the same way as the dried mash I thought, so I dug some out of the freezer. I just mixed a tin of mushy peas with some breadcrumbs, and an egg, stirred it all up and tasted it. It tasted good, so I fried some up and they were lovely!

I’ve priced it using a value loaf, but if you have made breadcrumbs from some bread, it’s odds on that it would have been wasted if you hadn’t, so these are mega cheap, using up slices that have staled, end of baguette left to go hard, bits of toast left on the plate etc.

pea-crumb fritters

One tin mushy peas, Asda value, 15p
About 180g breadcrumbs, Asda value, 36p/800g loaf, 8p
1 egg, Asda mixed weight, free range, 13p
Total cost 36p, 6p per fritter

Total nutrition, 783 calories, 92g carb, 11g fat, 32g protein
Per fritter, if 6, 130 calories, 15g carb, 2g fat, 5g protein
Plus however much fat you use to fry

Makes at least 6 large fritters, the one in the picture is on a large tea-plate

Tip the peas, egg and breadcrumbs into a bowl, stir it well and leave to soak for a minute or two. Bread varies in its ability to absorb, and I’m sure different brands of peas will have differing amounts of juice, so you’ll have to use your judgement a bit here. Add some more crumbs if you need to. Or a splash of water or milk if it’s too dry.

The peas have salt and sugar already, so they didn’t need that kind of seasoning. I don’t know what brand my peas were as they were a deidentified Approved Food tin, with no label. It’s possible that the value ones may have more juice than the tin I used.

Add a splash of oil to a frying pan and heat it until fairly hot. Add ice cream scoop sized dollops of mix, flatten them and fry until brown and crispy. Flip them over, add a bit more oil and fry the other side until crispy. To get a lovely crispy finish, I found that I needed to add that second bit of oil.

Serve immediately before they lose that crispiness.

These are delicious just as they are, crispy, mildly pea-ey, filling and nutritious – packed full of protein. Creating a tasty mix that has a breadcrumb base means that you always get that lovely crispiness.

different flavourings

I tried several different flavourings during my play. The first was 2 tblsps vinegar from a jar of ancient pickled onions. The resultant fritter tasted very mildly piquant, barely noticeable. I felt that they would benefit from something acidic, so tried a good squeeze of lemon juice in the next one. Ok, but not hitting the spot. Next up was a tsp of mild curry powder. That one was really good. As was the final one that had a heaped tsp of grainy mustard. My favourite one.

I still have mixture left, so will be trying a couple of others. Horseradish: ginger and garlic: sweet chilli sauce: miso or soy.

‘serving suggestion’

Serve 2 each with a bit of veg, or a handful of oven wedges, and maybe a poached egg, and you’ll have a good meal. You could have them just on their own. In which case you’ll probably need a third fritter, accessorise with tomato ketchup or brown sauce: sweet chilli: mayonnaise, maybe flavoured with tomato purée or sweet white miso.

Actually, these would be lovely for breakfast with a poached egg and a rasher!