Recipe: begonia fritters

Delicious dish to get the tastebuds going

What are you going to do for the starter? We bet you hadn’t thought of fritters featuring begonias as one of the main ingredients! This time don’t serve your guests carpaccio, prawn cocktail or bruschetta, but light begonia beignets with lemon, dill and begonia salt. 

Recept: begoniafritters Mooiwatplantendoen.nl

Ingredients for 4 people

  • fleur de sel 

  • 20-30 begonia flowers* + 5-6 extra flowers for the salt 

  • 1 egg 

  • 100 ml ice-cold carbonated water (or a little more) 

  • 100 g flour

  • 2 tbsp corn starch

  • 1 tsp baking powder

  • zest of 1 (organic) lemon

  • 10 sprigs of dill, finely chopped 

  • Sunflower oil for deep-frying

How to prepare it

Crush the 5-6 extra begonia flowers with the fleur de sel and allow the salt to dry out a bit. Then start making the batter. Loosely beat the egg and mix through the ice-cold sparkling water.
Sieve the flour, corn starch and baking powder over a bowl and add that to the cold egg mixture whilst beating. Stir through some salt, the lemon zest and the dill.

Heat the oil to 180°C. Carefully pass the begonia flowers through the batter. Deep-fry five or six at the same time until golden brown, and drain on some kitchen paper. Sprinkle them with begonia salt and serve with a delicious aperitif - like a begonia cocktail, perhaps!

* Worth mentioning: never just tuck into a (cut) flower or plant. Only use edible flowers from specialist suppliers that have been grown for consumption.