brown rice (or quinoa), zucchini & cabbage fritters with mozzarella, avocado & pesto

Hi all! Well sh*t it’s been a crappy few days hasn’t it…I found myself stupidly apologising to Rich (the 18 year old) last night as we sat on the couch watching the news – for the state of the world. I remember heading off to Europe by myself, aged 17, for a year’s AFS student exchange in Switzerland – with no thought of bombs, shootings or terrorism. All I had to do was practice my German and watch movies during the flight from New Zealand…and then cope with a pretty ghastly host family for a year…but that’s another story! (Involving me being pseudo punk/new romantic with spiky dyed white blond hair and my host family being uber-conservative and religious…). Those days of carefree international travel now seem ridiculously romantic and simple, and the world is changing at a tremendous pace. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be personally affected by terrorism or war, but clearly it would be utterly horrendous.

Anyhoo, like so many people watching from far away I find these things stressful, so today, after an indulgent weekend of too much wine and chocolate (although, really, there is hardly ever too much…), I found myself in the kitchen this morning with the aim of de-stressing and throwing veges and wholesome brown rice together for a nurturing lunch. And yes, it is cooked in a little oil, but only a little! These would also make a great easy week-night dinner or lazy weekend brunch. Feel free to bung a poached egg on top, or add the protein of your choice to the mix – finely chopped bacon, cooked chicken or salmon would all work well. As a side you could swap the buffalo mozzarella for labneh, whipped feta or Greek yoghurt, and swap the pesto for chilli jam or hummus – so many options 🙂 Let me know if you give it a whirl!

1 cup cooked, cooled brown rice or quinoa
1/4 small green cabbage, finely shredded
1 large zucchini, grated
2 eggs
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
pinch of chilli flakes
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup self raising flour
3 tbsp rice bran or coconut oil

basil leaves

Mix rice, cabbage and zucchini in a large bowl. Lightly whisk eggs and add to the veges with a good seasoning of salt and pepper, chilli flakes and lemon zest. Sprinkle over flour and mix to combine. leave to sit for 5 minutes then heat a tablespoon of oil at a time in a large frying pan and cook fritters, about 2-3 tablespoonsful per fritter, for a few minutes each side, until golden and cooked through. Serve immediately with avocado, mozzarella, pesto and basil leaves. Makes 8