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About Forkful
We are friends who love making simple food look beautiful. We hope our recipes will inspire you to get into the kitchen this season. Aoife McElwain works in front of the camera writing the recipes and styling the food, while Mark Duggan works behind the camera to make sure it all looks as delicious as possible. We work with editors such as Killian Broderick and music supervisors like Nialler9 to make sure that our finished videos look and sound as smart as possible. We work with brands like Glenisk and Folláin to help them create delicious video content for their online platforms. When we're not making videos, we write a weekly column called Speedy Suppers on Thursdays in The Irish Independent. Aoife writes the recipes and styles the food while Mark takes the photographs.  

parsnip fritters

Here at forkful, we’re inspired by the ingredients and seasons around us. At the moment, our Irish weather is hosting its usual ritual of straggling between the seasons – when we think we’re out of the clutches of winter and ready to bask in the summer sun we’re snapped back into the cold spells of spring.

These parsnip fritters are a reflection of the spring/winter/summer temperatures we find ourselves in these days – a summery treat made with wintery ingredients, delicious at any time of the year.

What you need for a forkful of parsnip fritters

4 lovely local parsnips 
4 heaped tablespoons of gram flour (made from ground chickpeas and available in health food or specialist stores – plain flour just won’t do we’re afraid)
1 teaspoon of chilli flakes
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
Salt
Pepper
100ml or so of cold water
Sunflower oil

How to make a forkful of parsnip fritters

Start by trimming, peeling and finely grating your parsnips. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the gram flour together with the chilli flakes, cumin and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Gradually mix in the cold water until you have a lovely glossy batter.

Add the finely grated parsnips to the batter and mix until the parsnips are evenly coated.

Heat about 2cm of sunflower oil in a large deep frying pan over a medium to high heat. Once the oil is hot, carefully add a generous tablespoon of the parsnip batter to the oil, flattening to make fritters. This mixture will give you around six fritters.

Cook for about 5 minutes on both sides, or until golden and cooked through.

Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set them on kitchen paper towel to drain off any excess cooking oil.

Serve in the sun {optional} with a crispy salad and some sweet chilli sauce on the side.

A hundred thanks to Hundred Waters for the use of their beautiful song Sonnet for this recipe.

28 Comments
  • Paul
    Posted at 07:40h, 23 May Reply

    More a parsnip bhaji? Not exactly your OWN recipe to use a time honoured Indian recipe, gram flour and all!

    • forkful
      Posted at 07:46h, 23 May Reply

      They could most certainly be referred to as bhajis, you’re entirely right. Isn’t gram flour great? We love it. Thanks for your comment, Paul.

      • Rory
        Posted at 19:16h, 28 November Reply

        bhaji’s are usually deep fried…
        These are different…
        cant wait to try the recipe 🙂

  • Samuel
    Posted at 08:59h, 23 May Reply

    Lovely video – I can almost taste them. Best of luck with Forkful. The site looks great!

    • forkful
      Posted at 09:26h, 23 May Reply

      Thanks so much Sam 🙂

  • kieran harnett
    Posted at 09:04h, 23 May Reply

    amazing work guys, I love it, I’m off to make some fritters

    • forkful
      Posted at 09:27h, 23 May Reply

      Thanks Kieran, hope you enjoy them 🙂

  • Dominic
    Posted at 09:24h, 23 May Reply

    beautiful film… I love the style, so simple and clean and so delicious… thank you for inspiring me to get off my arse and do something like this for my blog x

    • forkful
      Posted at 09:27h, 23 May Reply

      Thanks for your lovely comment Dominic 🙂

  • Eleanor Johnston
    Posted at 10:23h, 23 May Reply

    Beautifully shot video. Simple, engaging and effective. I’ve never tried making fritters or bhajis before but this makes me want to try. Thank you! Btw I think I spotted a tiny typo.. double-check your spelling of chilli!

    • forkful
      Posted at 10:36h, 23 May Reply

      Thanks so much for the lovely comment Eleanor, I hope you like the fritters! I can’t see the typo myself – unless you mean we should spell chilli as chili? I think both are technically correct but thanks for pointing it out 🙂

  • Paulinesensa
    Posted at 18:29h, 23 May Reply

    Gosh, my partner says he hates parsnips, but I can’t wait to try these and then tell him he’s just eaten parsnips! Cute doggie.

    • forkful
      Posted at 19:04h, 23 May Reply

      Thanks Pauline – I think I know someone just like your partner! I hope he falls for it and enjoys the parsnips 🙂

  • Donna
    Posted at 19:27h, 23 May Reply

    This is such a good idea, the way it was shot, the recipe and the music together is so good, and i like the way you put the name of the song and the artist! thank you!

    • forkful
      Posted at 12:59h, 25 May Reply

      Thanks so much, Donna, that’s lovely of you to say. We love Hundred Waters whose song Sonnet we used in this video. They’re from Florida and they’re just amazing. You’ll find them over here http://hundred-waters.com/ 🙂

  • Wooder
    Posted at 22:15h, 23 May Reply

    Really impressed with the whole concept. Well done, and I am looking forward to eating these and watching the next wee film!

    • forkful
      Posted at 12:59h, 25 May Reply

      Thanks so much, really glad you enjoyed it 🙂

  • TheGlutton
    Posted at 16:21h, 24 May Reply

    This is really gorgeous Aoife! I love it. Well done.

    • forkful
      Posted at 13:00h, 25 May Reply

      Thanks a mill Annette, really glad you like it!

  • Nina
    Posted at 22:51h, 25 May Reply

    Looks yummilicious.. gram flour is gluten free, right? Great music too.

    • forkful
      Posted at 19:17h, 27 May Reply

      Thanks Nina. Gram flour is indeed gluten free – it’s amazing stuff!

  • Pageturners
    Posted at 15:21h, 26 May Reply

    Made them. Spicy! Yet still faintly parsnippy. Will be added to the canon.

    • forkful
      Posted at 19:18h, 27 May Reply

      So glad you enjoyed them – hope they were spicy in a good way 🙂

  • Tara
    Posted at 10:55h, 27 May Reply

    I’m guessing rapeseed oil would work just as well as sunflower oil?

    • forkful
      Posted at 19:19h, 27 May Reply

      Absolutely. Sunflower oil is good for frying as it has a super mild taste whereas lovely oils like olive and grapeseed tend to be a bit more delicious and hence affect the flavour of your fritters. But in this case they would affect them in a most yum way. So go for it and report back! 🙂

  • DepthChargeEthel
    Posted at 19:14h, 27 May Reply

    Thanks for this recipe, made them this evening, really tasty and easy, I think the gram flour really makes em taste wise, Kudos!!

    • forkful
      Posted at 19:19h, 27 May Reply

      Delighted to hear that. Gram flour is what makes this recipe work – it’s the business! Really glad you enjoyed them and thanks so much for taking the time to tell us so 🙂

  • Pageturners
    Posted at 21:03h, 31 May Reply

    Spicy in the most delicious way. Have now made them with rapeseed, olive and sesame oil, and with varying levels of spices – perfect every way.
    When’s the next recipe coming along?

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