Buñuelos de algas – seaweed fritters with salad
Beach food from Uruguay's Rocha coast: fresh sea lettuce, well washed and finely chopped, in an egg, flour and milk batter with a squeeze of lemon and a little nutmeg, fried by the spoonful. They're eaten hot with lemon and, at home, with a lettuce and tomato salad. Pick the seaweed off the rocks, never what floats at the water's edge.
- 1 h 10Time
- 50 minHands-on
- 4Portions
- 20 gprotein per portion
- 660kcal per portion
Ingredients for 4 portions
- 250 gSea lettuce
- 2 tbspVinegar, for soaking
- 3Eggs
- 250 mlMilk
- 300 gPlain flour
- 1 tbspBaking powder
- 1Lemon
- to tasteSalt
- to tasteBlack pepper
- to tasteNutmeg
- 6 tbspRapeseed oil, for frying
On the side
- 1Lettuce
- 3Tomatoes, in wedges
- 2 tbspOlive oil, for the salad
- 1 tbspVinegar, for the salad
Method
- Wash the sea lettuce in several changes of cold water until it is completely free of sand and tiny shells. Put it in a bowl of cold water with the vinegar.
- Leave the seaweed to soak for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the salad: wash and tear the lettuce and cut the tomatoes into wedges. Keep it in the fridge.
- Whisk the eggs with the milk in a bowl. Whisk in the flour mixed with the baking powder a little at a time, to make a smooth batter slightly thicker than pancake batter. Season with the juice of half the lemon, salt, pepper and nutmeg.
- Drain the seaweed, squeeze out the water firmly and chop it finely. Stir it into the batter.
- Heat plenty of oil, about 2 cm deep, in a deep frying pan over a medium-high heat. Drop in tablespoons of batter and fry the fritters in batches for 2–3 minutes a side, until puffed and golden. Drain on kitchen paper.
- Dress the salad with the olive oil, vinegar and salt. Serve the fritters hot with the rest of the lemon in wedges and the salad.
