Spinach Fritters With Chilli & Garlic Oil

• Place the 500g of spinach into a deep saucepan and cover with a little water. Bring to the boil and cook until all the spinach has wilted. This should take around 1 – 2 minutes.
• Drain the spinach into a sieve or colander. Leave the spinach to rest until it's cool enough to handle. Then use your hands to squeeze as much liquid out of the cooked spinach as possible. Place the squeezed spinach into a dry prep bowl until needed.
• Combine the 160g of gram flour, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1 teaspoon of cumin powder, 1/2 a teaspoon of baking powder and 1 teaspoon of paprika in a large mixing bowl. Pour in 100ml of water and stir until the bowl contents are a thick and gloopy batter. Add a few more glugs of water if your batter is too thick.
• Pour the cooked spinach into the mixing bowl and mix well until the spinach and gram flour batter and evenly combined.
• Taking about 2 tablespoons worth of batter into your hands, shape into a rough patty about 1 cm thick. Place onto a baking tray lined with baking paper and repeat until you have 8 – 10 evenly sized patties.
• Heat a wide and deep pan over a medium-high heat and pour in enough vegetable oil to cover about 1/2 the width of the spinach patty. Toss a off-cut of one of the fritters into the oil and wait for it to vigorously spit and bubble.
• When the oil is hot enough place about 3 -4 patties into the pan, being careful not to crowd the pan. Fry the fritters for 4-5 minutes until the underside is turning a dark brown. Flip and fry for a further 4-5 minutes on the opposite side. When you flip the fritters press down lightly on the top of each of the fritters to flatten them a little. This will help them to cook evenly in the middle.
• When your fritters have cooked both sides. Remove and place onto a wire rack (this is essential to the fritters staying crispy). Season immediately with a generous helping of salt. Repeat the frying until all of your fritters are cooked.

Chilli & Garlic Oil

• Place the 2 chopped medium chillies, 2 chopped cloves of garlic, 1 teaspoon of chilli flakes, 75ml of olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon of salt into a blender and whiz into a smooth oil.
• Serve the fritters with the chilli oil in a bowl for dipping on the side.