22 June - chilli beans, guacamole and sweetcorn fritters

I ordered a couple of avocado's in last week's vegbox, which have been sat in the fruit bowl for nearly a week and are now rather soft and definitely need eating. So the starting point for dinner is some home-made guacamole:

• Mix together mashed avocado flesh with a good squeeze of lime juice, a crushed clove of garlic, a bit of finely chopped tomato and a good handful of chopped coriander.

To go with it I make up some chilli beans:

• Fry a small red onion, add a pepper (mine was orange today) in chunks and some chopped garlic and fry gently until the pepper has softened.
• Sprinkle in half a tsp of cumin powder, a good pinch each of paprika and cayenne pepper and a bay leaf.
• Add a small tin of drained kidney beans and a tin of chopped tomatoes and leave to simmer (15-20 mins is enough, but can be left to bubble away as long as you want on a low heat).

Then the bit that really makes this meal is the sweetcorn fritters, based on a recipe originally from Waitrose Food Illustrated, but adapted, these are always great:

• Make a batter from 50g plain flour and half a tsp of baking powder beaten together with about 75ml milk and an egg yolk, until smooth.
• Add the sweetcorn cut from one fresh corn cob, a shake of dried chilli flakes, some chopped coriander, a few chopped chives and a pinch of salt.
• Whisk the egg white until fluffy and fold this gently into the batter mixture at the last minute.
• Dollop the batter into a hot non-stick frying pan with a bit of oil to make four big fritters. Fry for about 3 mins on each side, until nice and golden.