The children at Coledale Public School are busy in their garden this spring – running around with watering cans, carrying armfuls of mulch for veggie beds and rounding up the chickens. In November, the community will be invited inside to see the fruits of their labour as part of the second Illawarra Edible Garden Trail. Read that story here and enjoy their recipe below.

Zucchini and corn fritters

Serves 6. Prep 25 minutes, cooking 20 minutes.

Ingredients

• 1 medium zucchini, grated
• 2 small red capsicums, diced (put 1/3 aside for salsa)
• 400g can no-added-salt corn kernels, drained
• 2 spring onions, (including green tops), chopped
• ½ cup chopped basil
• 1 cup grated reduced-fat cheddar cheese (80g)
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• ¾ cup self-raising flour
• 3 eggs
• ½ cup low-fat milk
• olive or canola oil spray

Salsa

• 2 avocados, diced
• 1 large tomato, diced
• juice of 1 lime
• ¼ cup chopped basil

Method

1. Squeeze zucchini of excess liquid and place in a large bowl with 2/3 of the capsicum and the corn, spring onions, basil and cheese. Season with pepper.
2. Sift flour over vegetables then mix to combine.
3. Pour milk into a jug, add eggs and whisk together with a fork. Add to vegetables and stir well.
4. Heat a large non-stick frypan over medium heat and spray liberally with oil. Drop heaped tablespoons of mixture evenly spread around the pan and spread using the back of a spoon to 8cm diameter. Cook for 2 minutes or until firm and golden. Flip and brown on reverse side for 2 minutes.
5. Transfer to a plate, keep warm and repeat cooking process with remaining mixture.
6. To make salsa, combine remaining capsicum with avocado, tomato, basil and lime in a medium-sized bowl.
7. Divide salsa between plates and serve with a stack of 3 fritters each.