How do you get your kids to eat more vegetables? One way is to disguise them!

My sister Lizzie dished up this idea, originally in the form of cauliflower and cumin fritters, but you can adapt it to use other vegetables, such as grated raw courgette, broccoli, pumpkin, grated raw potato and sweetcorn – try what’s to hand through the seasons. Combinations of the above work well too. We all love them.

Ingredients and method

Prepare vegetables, discarding peel where necessary, cut into small pieces and cook until very soft (either roast in oven or steam).

Meanwhile, combine the following in a bowl –

120g plain flour
2 to 3 tablespoons of chopped fresh herbs (flat-leaf parsley, chives)
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 medium finely-chopped onion or shallots
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, 1 and a half teaspoons of ground cumin and half a teaspoon of ground turmeric
Ground salt and pepper to taste
Whisk in 4 whole free-range eggs to form a batter

Combine the warm, cooked vegetable(s) into the batter and mix well, ensuring everything is coated. Put a little flour on your hands to prevent sticking. Take about two to three tablespoonfuls of the mixture and mould into a firm ball. Then flatten to about 1 and a half cm thick.

Pour extra virgin olive oil or sunflower oil into a wide pan to a depth of about 1cm. When very hot carefully place the fritters into the oil. Keep them well spaced from each other. Fry in small batches, controlling the temperature of the oil so the fritters cook but don’t burn, approx 3 to 4 minutes on each side. When done, remove from the pan and drain well on two or three layers of kitchen paper.

Serve with sauce on the side, and a fresh salad.

The sauce we like to have with the cauliflower and cumin fritters is a combination of Greek yoghurt (250g), 2 tablespoons (tbsp) freshly chopped coriander, grated zest of one lime/lemon, 2 tbsp of lime or lemon juice, 2 tspb of Mother’s Garden olive oil, salt and pepper.

If children don’t like this sauce you can use a tomato-based, fresh olive oil sauce.