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No cutlery necessary, this snack goes into your mouth by hand
Photo: Sebastian Maas / DER SPIEGEL
In the middle of August you don't even have to dare to enter the garden of relatives and friends if you don't want to take basketfuls of zucchini home with you on the way home.
The other day a friend sent me a photo of a special specimen from his parents' garden - larger than his arm and in the uncomfortably plastic shape of a Hulk erection.
For me (and people who don't like the Hulk) the zucchini glut is not a good time, because I actually don't like the pumpkin vegetables at all.
At least not in its classic way of preparation - that is, overcooked in tomato sauce, as a mushy side dish to pasta.
And please don't start me with "zoodles."
But because every neighbor and every distant aunt currently wants to sell me their own zucchini harvested, I somehow had to find a way to love them anyway.
So the zucchini, not the relatives and neighbors.
A colleague gave me the idea: In Turkey there is a great dish called »Mücver«.
These are flat, pan-baked zucchini pancakes that are flavored with a combination of dill, lemon, and onion.
They taste fresh, summery, homely - but are not particularly photogenic.
To make the whole thing a bit more snacky and at the same time shine on Instagram, I transfer the concept to my favorite finger food: chilli cheese nuggets.
These are dough pieces filled with hot processed cheese and jalapeños that are actually fried.
However, we save the calories and the extra tools and just bake our cheesy zucchini nuggets in the oven.
There is also a light lemon yogurt as a dip.
What you need for two servings of zucchini cheese nuggets:
2 medium zucchini
1 cup of breadcrumbs and / or stale bread
1 spring onion
5 to 8 slices of processed cheese
2 teaspoons freshly chopped or 3 teaspoons frozen dill
some garlic
Optional: 1 egg
For the dip:
1 small cup of natural yogurt
some lemon juice
Salt pepper
How long does it take?
15 minutes of work plus 30 minutes of baking time
What does this cost?
Around 1.60 euros per serving
How to make zucchini cheese nuggets
Wash the zucchini, remove both ends and grate the rest in a bowl with a coarse grater.
In order for the nuggets to become crispy in the oven and keep their shape, as much liquid as possible must now be squeezed out of the zucchini mixture.
You can do this with your hands, but it is more pleasant in a clean cloth: simply place the rasps in the middle, flip the ends up and then wring them out by twisting them.
If you don't have a clean cloth, sprinkle the grated zucchini with a little salt, wait ten minutes and then squeeze out the mixture over a sieve.
Roughly chop the spring onion and dill, then mix in the bowl with the cheese and zucchini.
A cup of torn bread is also added.
Old white or mixed bread, which can soak up a lot of moisture, is ideal.
But breadcrumbs or panko breadcrumbs also work here.
I like a mixture of 50 percent bread and 50 percent breadcrumbs best.
If you have an egg, you add that for additional bonding.
Then mix everything thoroughly with your hands.
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Shape the mass into small balls, each slightly larger than a table tennis ball.
Spread these on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.
If you have, you can roll the balls in breadcrumbs again beforehand for more crunch.
Bake at 200 degrees (top / bottom heat, alternatively 180 degrees convection) for about half an hour.
Turn once halfway through.
Meanwhile, prepare the yogurt dip.
Simply mix the juice of half a lemon with a small mug of natural yoghurt.
Season with salt and pepper.
Take the nuggets out of the oven and let them cool for a few minutes, otherwise the processed cheese has the properties of lava.
Leave the cutlery in the drawer and eat with your fingers!
When I tried this recipe for the first time, I liked this recipe so much that I not only completely forgot my aversion to zucchini, but buried it deep in the garden.
From now on I will look forward to it every summer.
Did you recreate the recipe? Or do you know great dishes that cost little money? Write to me - or send me a picture of it.
