Make Ahead

SANTORINI TOMATO FRITTERS

by:
October  9, 2010
4.5
4 Ratings
SANTORINI TOMATO FRITTERS
  • Makes about 12 fritters or many more little bites
Author Notes

Santorini is an arid volcanic island. The tomatoes which grow on the island are essentially dry farmed so the results are small very intense flavored tomatoes. A friend who rents a house on Santorini took us to his favorite haunts which includes the little seaside restaurants of Amoudi. My favorite was Katina and my favorite dish was her tomato fritters. I (we) tried all the other restaurants and agreed hers were the best! I complimented her and then followed her into her kitchen where she showed me the batter and her ingredients(all in Greek so I guessed all amounts and this is the resulting recipe). She spoke no English and I , no Greek ,so it took a little trial and error to figure out her recipe, like, that she used either self rising flour or put baking powder in her batter. The addition of fresh mint was what made hers different from all the others. This recipe is all about the flavor of the tomatoes. If you can't find flavorfull, ripe , in season tomatoes, don't bother to make this recipe! These are delicious with tzatziki which is a sauce made of yogurt, cucumber , garlic and mint. ******Please note! You must use very intensely flavored tomatoes. This year I pretty much dry farmed my tomatoes and it made a huge difference in their flavor. I suppose if you need to you can add some tomato paste to add more flavor for this recipe. —dymnyno

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 2 lbs red tomatoes, diced
  • 1 cup yellow onion, finely diced
  • 4 tbs fresh mint, finely chopped
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • oil for frying, I use grape oil, it needs to be very hot and not smoking
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
  1. Dice the tomatoes and put them in a colander over a bowl to drain (save the liquid). I save the liquid and add it back because I don't know how juicy any tomato is.
  2. In a large bowl, put the tomatoes, mint, onion and half the flour. Make a slurry with the rest of the flour and the baking powder. (add about 1/2 cup of the tomato juice)
  3. Add the slurry into the mixture The mix will be about the consistency of heavy batter.
  4. In a saute pan put about 1 inch of grapeseed oil and heat.
  5. When very hot, spoon the mixture into the oil and cook until golden. Turn and repeat on the other side. They should be very crispy and cooked all the way through.
  6. Drain on paper towels and spritz with fresh lemon juice. Or, I serve them with Greek yoghurt.
  7. Eat hot!
  8. ****I drain the tomatoes and then add back the liquid as needed so that the mixture will be consistent whether the tomatoes are very juicy or not.Santorini tomatoes are small and flavorful but not real juicy because of the arid conditions in which they grow.
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11 Reviews

Lizthechef
Lizthechef August 8, 2013
Such beautiful text and what a memory, Mare!
 
dymnyno
dymnyno August 10, 2013
Isn't it wonderful that food can bring back happy memories of places we have visited and people we love.
 
themissingingredient
themissingingredient July 21, 2012
Finally some early girls for this and I will be making it as long as my tomatoes hold out. We made a double batch and it wasn't enough! YUM
 
dymnyno
dymnyno July 22, 2012
Lucky you! My tomatoes are at least 3 hot weeks from being ripe enough for anything except fried green tomatoes.
 
MJLawe
MJLawe July 2, 2012
So happy I found this. I took my first trip to Santorini three summers ago and had these! Have dreamed about them ever since.
 
dymnyno
dymnyno July 2, 2012
They are delicious! It took me quite a few trials to figure out that she was using either self rising flour or baking powder in her recipe. Also, Katina was the only cook who used mint in her fritters, which really adds a great flavor. I wish that I spoke Greek or she, English so we could have discussed the recipe. She just showed me the batter and that's where this recipe came from.
 
woody
woody December 6, 2011
This would be good with kamuela tomatoes.
 
boulangere
boulangere May 1, 2011
I just got a couple of flats of green tomatoes left over from a food show, and am looking forward to trying this. Mint - wow!
 
lapadia
lapadia October 11, 2010
Love this! At the moment we have SO many garden green tomatoes harvested and turning red in our kitchen...the sun was hiding out and the weather just to chilly this year, thanks for sharing this recipe!
 
gingerroot
gingerroot October 10, 2010
These sound delicious!
 
Lizthechef
Lizthechef October 9, 2010
I love this.