Sweetcorn & Cheese Fritters

Ingredients

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 80 g plain flour
• 3 spring onions, sliced
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 150 ml sour cream, to serve
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 x 198g tins sweetcorn, drained
• 80 g cheddar, grated
• Crusty sourdough bread, to serve
• Dressed green salad, to serve
• Fresh parsley, to serve

Method

1. Drain the sweetcorn thoroughly and tip it onto a clean tea towel — pat it properly dry. Wet corn means a sloppy batter and fritters that steam instead of crisp.
2. Tip the corn into a large bowl with the flour, beaten eggs, grated cheddar and sliced spring onions. Season generously with salt and plenty of black pepper — this is your first seasoning moment, and the batter needs to taste seasoned before it hits the pan.
3. Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Sprinkle in the smoked paprika and let it bloom in the oil for 30 seconds until fragrant — raw paprika tastes dusty, bloomed paprika tastes of smoke and sweetness. Tip the bloomed oil straight into the batter and stir to a thick, spoonable mix that just holds its shape on the spoon.
4. Wipe the pan, add another splash of oil and bring it back to medium heat until it shimmers, about 1 minute.
5. Drop in heaped spoonfuls of batter, pressing lightly with the back of the spoon to flatten into rounds about 1cm thick. Don't crowd the pan — three or four fritters at a time, single layer, with breathing room. All at once and they'll steam, the edges won't crisp, and the cheese won't catch.
6. Cook for 3 minutes per side until deeply golden and crisp at the edges, with the cheese catching and crackling here and there. Transfer to a low oven (around 100°C) to keep warm while you finish the rest in batches.
7. Taste one. Adjust now — a flake of sea salt over the top if they need it, not at the table.
8. Pile the fritters onto plates, spoon over a generous dollop of soured cream, scatter with chopped parsley and squeeze a lemon wedge over each plate — the acid cuts the cheese and lifts the whole thing.