Zucchini Hemp Seed Latkes: Cooking for Karina

This is the first in what I hope will be a veritable avalanche of recipes suitable for Karina, the Gluten-Free Goddess, who has recently found that she is allergic to milk, eggs (including whites and yolks), chicken, turkey, gluten (that includes wheat, barley, rye, spelt, kamut - and oats, to play on the safe side), peanuts, almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, soybeans, lemon, avocado, pineapple, papaya, green beans and kidney beans. In Karina’s honor, and for the benefit of the growing number of folks with multiple food allergies, and to give us all a chance to flex our food-blogging muscles, Isaiah of Gluten Free by the Bay has created “Cooking for Karina: A Blogging Festival and Cooking Challenge” for which she asks us to post wonderful recipes that don’t have any of the above ingredients.

If you have a recipe that would be useful to Karina and do not have a blog, send it along to me or to Gluten-Free by the Bay so it can be included in the round-up.

This week I made these light, flavorful zucchini latkes. The squash flavor really shines in this egg-free batter. I used some very pretty starship squash, and I was almost sorry to shred them up, but glad I did.

Zucchini Hemp Seed Latkes: Cooking for Karina

1 pound summer squash (about 4 smallish zucchini)

½ cup (about 6 ounces) hempseeds

½ cup coconut milk

½ cup chickpea flour (besan), or a bit more if needed

7-8 sprigs (4 tablespoons) snipped dill

salt

black pepper and paprika, if desired

oil for frying (be liberal)

Shred the squash place it in a colander. Salt lightly and allow to drain for an hour or so. At the same time, soak the hemp seeds for an hour or so in water. Drain the hemp seeds and grind them in a processor with the coconut milk. Drain the zucchini and mix it with the ground hemp seeds, snipped dill, about another half teaspoon of salt and some pepper if desired. Mix in the chickpea flour. Now heat the non-allergenic oil of your choice in one or two large skillets. With your hands, form the zucchini and hemp seed batter into pancakes and fry them on both sides until golden. The smaller you make the latkes, the more meltingly crisp surface area you will have. We had these with black rice and the last bit of these white beans with thyme with some sautéed chard and garlic mixed in. That was really the cat’s pajamas.