My children and I love foraging for Dandelions! It's such a fun afternoon's activity, involving them in and leading to dinner. Pop some water in the freezer before you go out, pick just what you'll eat, pick at the flower as you don't need the whole stem, and don't eat much of the green bit (it's bitter). Always soak dandelions in salted water for a while to get the bugs out and use the coldest water you can to make the batter.
Ingredients
10 -15 Dandelion flowers per person trimmed so that there’s no bitter stalk, and washed
1 medium egg
225ml ice-cold water
100g plain flour
Optional extras:
Lemon juice
Icing sugar
Mustard
Salt
Pepper
Instructions
Beat the egg in a bowl and add the iced water. The water must be as cold as possible, as this prevents the batter from absorbing too much oil, keeping it light and crispy.
Lightly mix in the flour with a fork and beat gently. Don’t worry too much about lumps.
Dip the dandelions in the batter, and drop in hot oil. The oil should ideally be at 180C/350F for cooking dandelions; if the dandelions sink to the bottom of the oil, the temperature is too high.
Fry till golden brown, then remove and place on paper towel
For a sweet treat, drizzle lemon juice over, then dip in icing sugar. For a salty treat, dip in mustard, or our favourite, sprinkle over salt and pepper and enjoy!
Recipe by Keeper of the Kitchen at https://www.keeperofthekitchen.com/2013/05/03/dandelion-fritters/