Söcce with Onion Flower Stalks (Allotment Herb & Cheese Fritters)

Last year I made spring onion and cheese fritters from Özlem Warren’s book Sebze. The recipe uses two bunches of spring onions, and I made it with spring onions from our allotment. They were nothing like the neat little bunches you find in the supermarket. Ours had grown huge, with long green tops and plenty of flavour, and the fritters were absolutely delicious.

This year we planted a large bed of onions back in October, and they are almost ready to harvest. About a month ago they started sending up flower stalks. To encourage the onions to put their energy into developing good bulbs, those flower stalks need to be removed, so I started cutting them regularly.

As I was looking at another handful of onion flower stalks one afternoon, those spring onion fritters came back to mind. I remembered how much we had enjoyed them and wondered whether the stalks could be used in a similar way.

Around the same time I had been looking through The Turkish Cookbook by Musa Dağdeviren. One of his courgette fritter recipes uses five eggs, and I was curious to see how his herb and cheese fritters compared. To my surprise, the proportions were remarkably similar: lots of herbs, five eggs and only a small amount of flour.

That combination appealed to my type 2 diabetes curiosity. The eggs and cheese provide plenty of protein, while the relatively small amount of flour keeps the fritters light. So this year I decided to use Musa Dağdeviren’s herb and cheese fritters as the starting point for an allotment-inspired version, replacing the spring onions with onion flower stalks, also known as onion scapes.

If you don’t grow your own onions, don’t worry. This recipe works just as well with two bunches of spring onions in place of the onion flower stalks. In fact, spring onions were the inspiration for this version in the first place. The scapes simply add another way of capturing that fresh onion flavour when they’re in season.

Since then I have made these fritters again and again with the steady supply of scapes coming from the allotment. They are crisp on the outside, soft and herb-packed in the middle, and a wonderful way to use something that might otherwise end up on the compost heap.

Most importantly, I’ve served them week after week during onion scape season, and nobody has complained that they’re eating onion flower stalks.

Onion Flower Stalk and Cheese Fritters

Ingredients

5 onion flower stalks (onion scapes), finely sliced

100g feta, crumbled

A large handful of dill, finely chopped

A large handful of parsley, finely chopped

A handful of mint leaves, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, grated

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 tsp fine sea salt

5 eggs, lightly whisked

2 tbsp plain flour

Black pepper, to taste

Sunflower oil, for frying

Method

1. Finely slice the onion flower stalks and place them in a large bowl.

2. Add 1 tsp fine sea salt, 1 tsp chilli flakes, the feta, dill, parsley, mint, garlic and cumin.

3. Add the flour and use your hands to mix everything together thoroughly.

4. Pour in the whisked eggs and stir with a spoon until you have a thick, evenly combined mixture.

5. Pour sunflower oil into a frying pan to a depth of about 3–4 cm and heat over medium heat.

6. Spoon heaped tablespoons of the mixture into the hot oil and flatten slightly with the back of the spoon.

8. Fry for 3–4 minutes on each side, or until golden brown and cooked through.

9. Transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper while you cook the remaining fritters.

10. Serve warm or at room temperature with a dollop of yoghurt.

Notes

If you don’t have onion flower stalks, replace them with 2 bunches of spring onions, finely sliced. The recipe was inspired by spring onion fritters from Özlem Warren’s Sebze, so spring onions are not just a substitute, they are the original inspiration.

These fritters are inspired by recipes from both Sebze by Özlem Warren and The Turkish Cookbook by Musa Dağdeviren, adapted to make the most of the onion scapes from my allotment.