Crispy pea fritters – great emergency meal!

Crispy pea fritters is a handy recipe for those times when your fridge is bare. Because who doesn’t have some frozen peas lurking in the back of the freezer? Pull them out, and you’ll have a delicious stack of fritters ready in just 20 minutes – no need to thaw the peas first!

Crispy pea fritters

This recipe was born from an emergency breakfast situation. The fridge was extremely bare, I didn’t have bread, I only had one egg and I don’t eat cereal.

Very little batter and lots of raggedy crispy cheese edges

The batter is based on my beloved crispy corn fritters recipe which uses equal parts flour and cornflour/cornstarch to make a crispier fritter, with just enough batter to hold the fritter together. We’re not making pancakes here – we want to taste peas, and cheese, not fluffy cakey crumb!

I also switched out the parmesan for pre-shredded cheese because I didn’t have the motivation to shred at the time these fritters came into existence (I was still in my PJ’s), and found that the fritters cooked up with jagged cheese-laced edges. Very rarely in life does less effort get rewarded with better results, so I’ll take that!

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What you need

Here’s what you need to make crispy pea fritters using frozen peas.

• Frozen peas – Just regular frozen peas or baby peas, it works fine for both. No need to thaw or pre-cook. Frozen peas are cooked before being frozen so there’s no need to cook it beforehand, they just need to be heated which happens in the time the fritter takes to cook on the stove (3 – 4 minutes).

  Fresh peas – For show offs who want to use freshly harvested home-grown peas , blanch the peas, drain well, cool, then use per recipe. No, I’m not jealous at all.

• Cheese – Any melting cheese other than mozzarella can be used (it’s not flavoured enough). Cheddar, tasty cheese, colby, Monterey Jack, pepper jack.

  Packet shredded cheese is fine, no need to shred your own like I sometimes (strongly!) recommend. I use a 3 cheese blend (mozzarella, colby, parmesan), see photo above.

• Cornflour (cornstarch) AND regular flour – This recipe calls for both because cornflour makes the fritter crispier, but if you just use cornflour then the batter is too gluey and has an unpleasant texture. So the flour adds lightness to the batter while cornflour adds crispiness!

  Can you skip the cornflour? Yes you can. The fritter is still fairy crispy thanks to the cheese, but it’s crispier with the cornflour. But if I was out, I wouldn’t hesitate to make the recipe!

  Gluten-free flour – I haven’t tried it myself but a reader reported success, saying you wouldn’t even know the difference! Given how little batter there is compared to peas, this makes sense. 🙂

• Baking powder – This lightens up the batter a bit so it’s not overly dense inside. You can substitute with baking soda (bi-carb).

• Egg and milk (or water) – To make the batter. The egg holds everything together (the ultimate food glue!) and the milk is to loosen the batter a touch to get the right consistency.

• Garlic powder – For a touch of earthy garlic flavour. Substitute with fresh garlic pressed through a garlic crusher or very finely chopped (if the pieces are too big, they won’t cook through sufficiently).

• Green onion – For a touch of freshness, though I wouldn’t hesitate to make this if I was out.

  Substitute with onion (regular or red) – sauté it in a little oil then let it cool before mixing it into the batter (I would add finely minced fresh garlic too).