Torrejas de Espinaca (Spinach Fritters)

Torrejas are a very Peruvian dish.
You can throw in just about any vegetable you have in your fridge, as long as you include a larger proportion of spinach. In fact, spinach here is not really optional; it helps hold the torreja together while frying, and later while eating. In this particular recipe I used lettuce, parsley, onions and tomatoes because that’s what I had in the refrigerator at the time.
I love to just eat these with my hands; they’re so crunchy and full of flavor. They can also be used as sides to most of the dishes in this blog.

Ingredients:
1 cup spinach
1/2 cup onion
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup water
1/2 medium habanero, seeded, deveined and diced
1 cup lettuce, only the greener parts of leaves
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1/2 cup finely diced tomatoes
1/3 cup parsley, chopped (no stems)

Preparation:
Steam the spinach for about 5 minutes.
Finely chop all the vegetables, including the steamed spinach, and place in a bowl.
In a separate bowl mix the water, flour and eggs; use a fork to blend well.
Add the flour-egg-water mixture to the chopped vegetables and mix well.
Use a large serving spoon to scoop a dollop of the mix onto a hot frying pan that was sprayed with nonstick oil. Fry, pancake-style. When the bottom has golden-brown spots, turn and fry on the other side.

Prepared on 2011-04-06 (Tulsa, OK), Pictures by Michael Findley