Potato fritters with Manouri cheese

A very tasty recipe which can be served as a first dish along with this refreshing raw tomato salsa but also as a light meal when accompanied with some roast or steamed vegetables. You can always substitute the "Manouri" cheese with Feta but then you have to be careful with the amount of salt you will use. "Manouri" in my opinion, though, gives to this recipe a more subtle taste

Recipe from "Cook Book" magazine of "ETHNOS" newspaper

Ingredients (for 4-6 people)

For the fritters:
4 large potatoes, coarsely grated
3 tbsp of cornflour (corn starch)
1 tbsp of plain vinegar
salt
pepper
150gr. of Greek Manouri cheese, coarsely grated or crumbled
frying oil

For the tomato salsa:
2 tbsp of finely chopped spearmint (or basil)
2 cloves of garlic, mashed
1 large ripe but firm tomato, seedless and cut in small cubes
1 tbsp of capers, well rinsed
2 tbsp of plain vinegar
2 tbsp of olive oil
salt
pepper

Method:
Grate the potatoes and leave in a colander to drain their liquids for about 10 minutes.

Transfer the potatoes in a large bowl and add the vinegar, the cornflour and season with salt and pepper. Mix well with a spoon to combine.

In a spacious non-stick frying pan warm the oil on medium heat until it is well heated.

Using a spoon get some of the potato mixture and lay it in the hot oil in a way to look like a small pancake. Put on the centre of each fritter a teaspoon of the cheese and on top lay another tablespoon of the potato mixture. *** You will have to do this in batches so not to overfill the pan because the fritters should be rather sizeable and not too small.

Fry the fritters for 4 minutes on each side and transfer with a slotted spoon on kitchen paper to drain the excess oil.

For the tomato salsa, just mix all the ingredients in a bowl and keep in the fridge until you will need it.

You can serve the fritters individually with some of the salsa or all on a serving platter and the tomato salsa separately in a bowl.