If you have been following me for a while you know that in the past 9 months I have been on a serious mission to reduce my waste. Although I have been mainly focusing on reducing my plastic waste, food waste is another serious issue which we should definitely not forget about.
I personally feel immensely blessed to be able to afford delicious and nourishing food everyday and wasting food which has required energy and resources to be produced is simply not an option for me.
So I couldn’t be prouder to have collaborated with my favourite blender brand Vitamix in their campaign against food wastage. I have been using my Vitamix for over 5 years now and it has definitely become a permanent fixture in my kitchen which I simply couldn’t live without. I still remember the excitement of when I received it for my 30th birthday, finally my cooking life was complete! 🙂
Having a kitchen appliance like Vitamix is definitely extremely helpful when it comes to get creative with leftovers and food scraps which otherwise will be thrown away. For example I use any old vegetables that are lurking in the fridge to create delicious soups. I just chuck in all the veggies into my Vitamix, select the hot soup programme and without any efforts I have piping hot soups in 6 minutes.

Vitamix is also immensely useful if are you are trying to eat a healthier diet and incorporate more plant based food into your meals. I literally use it probably at least twice a day, from my smoothies in the morning, to my dressing, sauces and dips to create delicious raw desserts and also to grind my own flour for baking. The uses are literally endless and it really makes healthy eating so much easier and less time consuming.

For this recipe I have used the latest Vitamix Ascent which has literally blown my mind in terms of its performance and efficiency. This latest model is much more powerful than the one I have and the results are just outstanding in terms of creating super silky smoothies, sauces (you can even make vegan mayo!), dressing, ice-cream, soups and desserts. I have tested also for nut butters which are normally quite hard to recreate at home unless using a very strong food processor or blender. I seriously couldn’t have been more impressed by how much easier and much quicker is to make super smooth and creamy nut butters.

The new Ascent Series does the work of multiple kitchen appliances, making it easier than ever to power through a host of cookery techniques to ensure better, more consistent results and maximum, restaurant-quality flavour at home.

Like all full-size Vitamix machines, the Ascent Series blenders generate extraordinary results using a variety of techniques – from grinding spices for spice rubs and kneading dough to creating velvety purees, sauces and finished vegetarian soups from raw right in the container. The sheer power of the Vitamix blades ensures your precious ingredients are blended in the shortest time. And the friction of the blades heats soup and sauces in under seven minutes without a separate heating element.

If you want to find more about Vitamix Ascent range you can click here: https://www.vitamix.com/gb/en_gb/shop/smart-system-blenders

These fritters have been my latest brunch obsession, they are so delicious, packed with flavour and very easy to make. They are also a great way to use up leftover cooked veggies that you might have lurking in the fridge. For this recipe I have used leftover cooked potatoes and roasted peppers but other veggies like roasted courgette, carrots, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, peas, asparagus will work as well. Just chopped them into bite size pieces and fry them with some spring onion or normal onion for extra flavour and texture.
These fritters are also a great addition to any lunch boxes or perfect for a quick dinner. I like to keep some of them in airtight container in the fridge so I always have something ready to eat when I can’t be bothered to cook. I love serving with creamy avocado but they are also great with salad or baked beans.

Makes about 7-8 fritters depending on the size

Ingredients:

2 leftover boiled potatoes cut into small pieces (no need to peel them)
1 leftover roasted pepper – or just use a fresh one if you don’t have any – cut into small pieces
2 spring onions finely chopped
1/2 tablespoon of dried mixed herbs ( I have used herbs de provence)
1 block of silken tofu (about 300g)
50gr of chickpea flour
50ml of water
3 tablespoons of nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon of smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon of pink Himalayan or sea salt
1/2 teaspoon of pepper
2 tablespoons of oil for frying

To serve:

I love keeping it quite simple as these fritters are already full of flavour and texture, so I normally go for some guacamole or for some fresh sweet chilli sauce

For the guacamole:

1 ripe avocado
The juice of 1/2 lemon
A generous handful of fresh coriander
Salt 7 & pepper to taste
Chopped spring onion and hemp seeds to garnish

For the sweet chilli sauce:

2 Roma tomatoes, quartered
110g coconut sugar
2 other red chillies
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 Tablespoon lime juice

In a large frying pan add 1 tablespoon of oil on a high heat. Once the oil is hot add in the diced potatoes, spring onion, pepper and dried herbs. Cook the veggies for 10-15 minutes until they are slightly crispy.
In the meantime prepare the batter for the fritter. In your Vitamix add in the water, silken tofu (make sure to drain any excess water), chickpea flour, nutritional yeast and all the spices and seasoning. Select variable 1, start the machine and slowly increase to the highest speed. Blend for roughly 1 minute until you have a super smooth consistency. Add the cooked veggies to the blender, select variable 4 and pulse 4 to 5 times. Leave the batter to sit in the blender for 5 minutes to thicken up a bit more.

Add 1 tablespoon of oil to a large frying pan (even better in a non stick pan) and pour about 2 tablespoons of the batter for each fritter. Cover the pan with a lid (so the steam will help to cook the fritters through) and cook on one side for 5 minutes. Flip on the other side and repeat the process. Keep cooking the fritters until you have used all the batter.

To make the quacamole add all the ingredients into the Vitamix in the order listed above and select variable 4 and pulse 4-5 times, use the tamper to press down the ingredients.

To make the sweet chilli sauce simply place all sauce ingredients into the Vitamix container and secure lid. Select Variable 1. Turn machine on and slowly increase speed to Variable 10. Blend for 20 to 25 seconds. Pour the sauce into a bowl and set aside.

Serve while still warm with the guacamole or the sweet chilli sauce. If you have any leftovers they are also great in packed lunches or reheated in the oven.

This post is in collaboration with Vitamix.