On Saturdays we tend to eat a late breakfast,.. not very late but around 9:30 AM, other days we eat early. My husband takes it easy and work from 10 AM – 4:00 PM and my daughter also volunteers around the same time so the lunch gets skipped. While I still prefer to eat my lunch, for them I make savory snack to eat to avoid going without food for too long between breakfast and dinner. I keep the snacks light and healthy so that it doesn’t kill their appetite for the dinner, just like these crisp tender fritters made with cabbage and mung bean sprouts.
Update 16th October 2022
Want to see the recipe in action. Check out my video on YouTube.
While you may think of cabbage and mung sprouts as the salad ingredients they also make an awesome low calorie and nutrient dense fritter base. They are more or less similar to potato latkes, minus the potatoes and egg. The best part is they are “not fried”. Of course, deep fried fritters might be tempting, but these cabbage and mung sprouts fritters taste just as good. I used regular green cabbage. You can use the green or the red cabbage or a combination of both. The shredded cabbage gives a nice texture and becomes tender on the inside and crispy on the outside. The Mung bean sprouts give them extra crunchy texture. I love to use few more key ingredients such as fresh ginger, green chili, mint, and lemon juice to brighten the flavors. The recipe is extremely simple, yet here are few tips and suggestions for perfect crisp fritters.
- Select a young green cabbage. Discard the loose outer leaves.
- Quarter the cabbage, and then cut out and remove the cores.
- Using a large sharp knife, slice the cabbage into super thin strips. You can use a big hole box grater, but slicing them with a knife works best. Add the sliced cabbage to a colander and run under cold water. If you own a salad spinner, dry in the salad spinner. If not then lay washed cabbage between two tea towels, roll it up and let it sit for few minutes. Put the cabbage on a dry dish towel and place it in the fridge for 15 min. to get crisp. I know it takes long but you need to have the cabbage completely dry before using in this recipe.
- Transfer thinly sliced cabbage into a large bowl, fishing out any large pieces and slicing them thinly by knife again.
- Add in mung bean sprouts and other ingredients. Gently mix using your hand. Check to see if it holds together. If not, add a little more flour and water. Cabbage and mung beans are the stars of the show, so you just need enough binder to hold them together. Too much flour and water will make them a doughy mess.
- As these are pan fried, you won’t have the crunchy texture of your usual deep fried fritters, but these have a perfect crisp on top & bottom and slight crunch from mung sprouts. And, when you reheat the next day in oven
These fritters taste best right out of the pan but also keep well for several days in the fridge. You can also freeze them. I make it in bulk and freeze them for my last minute guests. Pan fry until they are barely golden, and freeze them in between layers of wax paper in a container until ready to use. To reheat, bake them frozen on a cookie sheet at 425 degrees until hot and crisp, and serve.
I call them the snack but they are also good for breakfast with poached egg or avocado. You could also serve these fritters with grilled meat and salad for a main meal.
Scoop….Drop… Flatten… Cook
Tender, tasty, healthy and egg less fritters
Ingredients
- 1 small cabbage
- 1 cup mung bean sprouts
- 1/2 cup mint, finely chopped
- 4 tsp chia seeds soaked in 1/2 cup water for 20 min.
- 1 tsp. ginger, grated
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp red chili powder
- 2-3 green chilies, chopped
- 1 Green onion, white and some of green part, thinly sliced
- Sea Salt to taste
- 3/4 (+) cup light buckwheat flour (or GF all purpose flour)
- 1 pinch baking soda
- 2 tbsp. lemon juice
- 1 tbsp water
- Oil
Instructions
- To prep the cabbage, start by removing the wilted outer leaves.Cut into quarters and remove the core. Using a sharp knife, slice the cabbage thinly until you have 4 cups. Add the sliced cabbage to a colander and run under cold water. If you own a salad spinner, dry the shredded cabbage in the salad spinner. If not then completely dry with paper towels or tea towels.( Please read the tips above in the post).
- In a large bowl, combine cabbage and all the ingredients except oil. Mix it well until all ingredients are combined. Add more flour or water whatever needed to make the mixture firm enough to hold everything together ( If you make the fritters immediately, you will not need more flour. If you wait, the cabbage will weep, so you might need to rub in 1–2 more tablespoons of flour but this might make the fritters denser and not crisp).
- Heat a pan over medium heat and brush generously with oil. I prefer electric griddle as you can make a bunch of fritters at a go. Keep the knob on sear when cooking on electric griddle.
- Using a cookie or icecream scoop, drop dough at 3-4 places onto hot griddle, flatten into fritter shape with wet fingers.
- Repeat, adding as many fritters as the pan or griddle can hold easily. Brush oil on top.
- Flip the fritters as soon as they’re crusty, even if they’re not completely golden brown, and press gently with your spatula to flatten the fritter for even cooking once you’ve flipped.
- Repeat, flipping, until you’ve reached the level of crispiness you desire.
- Serve immediately with mint yogurt dip and garlic chili sauce.
Notes
When making these fritters for a party, grind ginger and green chilies in a food processor, then add mint and process again.
I am sharing my fritters recipe at #CookBlogShare hosted by Hijacked by twins . Also sharing at Fiesta Friday and Cook Once Eat Twice.
Monika Dabrowski
I now have the same problem with my pins being rejected by Pinterest! I was told by their support it’s a glitch in the system and they are working hard to correct it. Let Pinterest know your blog is affected too.
Balvinder
I am going to write them again. Thanks, Monika!
Angie@Angie's Recipes
I sometimes got that issue too! Last days were fine though. These fritters look very delicious!
Angie@Angie's Recipes
p.s just pinned your post…no problem at all
Balvinder
Is that right?
Balvinder
I tried pinning three times. Can’t do it.
Abbey
What a unique meal!! I’ve never heard of Mung Beans before!
Thanks for sharing with Fiesta Friday!
Maha
Hello Balvinder ji, this is Maha. I really love your twist on the traditional fritters that are deep fried. They look so yummy and healthy!
I wanted to save it to try later but the pin is not working. You are right.
Balvinder
Hello Maha, thanks for visiting. Yes, I am working on the Pin issue but you can save the link somewhere in your word document, notebook or email it to yourself.
Blackswan
Fritters make my knees go weak, dear! I can gobble them up in seconds! xoxo
marcie
I know a few people that were blocked from Pinterest and they had to wait a while before they heard back from them but the issue was finally resolved. I’m sorry you’re having this problem and I hope it gets taken care of soon! These fritters look just delicious — this is such a great way to enjoy cabbage!
Balvinder
I have got a reply from Pinterest now but I have to check with someone techie who can look into it. I don’t think whatever they have written are relevant to my blog as everything was working fine when I updated my theme.
Thank you, Marcie, Yes these fritters are another great way to eat cabbage.
Angie | Fiesta Friday
I couldn’t pin directly from the blog, but I was able to pin your lead photo using the tailwind app. See it here on my Vegetarian/Vegan board:
https://www.pinterest.com/FiestaFriday/vegetarianvegan-recipes/
I’m going to send you a 1-month free trial of tailwind. It’ll be free for 1 month, and then you can cancel if you don’t like it. I’m not a tailwind salesperson, btw 😀 Just want you to give it a try.
Balvinder
Thank you, Angie, Yes, Please send it I’ll look into it.
Emma - Bake Then Eat
What a great snack to hold you over to dinner, I love fritters and love the fact that are not deep fried.
Abbe@This is How I Cook
I hate dealing with issues like that. Wish I had a suggestion. But I will try pinning this for sure. Reminds me of some Chinese recipes that I love except with different seasonings!
Abbe@This is How I Cook
You are right. It wouldn’t let me pin. Now I know what you mean.
Katerina Delidimou
These fritters are right up my alley!
Corina Blum
These look delicious and lovely and crisp on the sides even though they are not deep-fried. Thank you so much for sharing with #CookOnceEatTwice! I do hope you get the problem with Pinterest sorted out soon as I know how frustrating those kinds of issues can be. I couldn’t pin it normally but I have scheduled it through tailwind so hopefully that will work.
judee
Nice to have a recipe to use up bean sprouts- these look delicious
The Girl Next Door
I love the way these fritters look and sound! It’s great that you have not deep fried them. This is yet another recipe from your blog that I have bookmarked for later use – should try this out soon. 🙂