New Internationalist has published a cookery book The Adventurous Vegetarian by Jane Hughes, which takes recipes from 30 countries, including my favourite Belgium — where I lived for 12 happy years — as well as the rather more obviously exotic China, Cuba and Palestine. 

You can win a copy of it if you go to NI’s Facebook page. 

Until that happens though, or you buy the book, here’s a sampler from its website. This one’s from New Zealand. 

The ingredients are easy enough to get, though you could use sunflower or rapeseed oil if you can’t get rice bran oil, which frankly I’ve never heard of. 

The book is available at half price, £10 + p&p, from the website.

1 medium onion, finely diced

3 zucchini/courgettes, coarsely grated

1 cup/100g chickpea (gram) flour or wholemeal flour

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp sweet chili sauce

1 tbsp black sesame seeds

1 tsp mild curry powder

rice bran oil, for frying 

Saute the onion in a little oil until soft and translucent. 

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. 

The moisture from the courgettes should make everything the right consistency — add a splash of water if it seems too dry to hold together. 

Let the mixture sit for around 20 minutes in the fridge, then stir again. 

Heat a little oil in a non-stick pan and fry small spoonsful of the mixture for around 4-5 minutes each side or until golden brown and cooked right through. You should have enough mixture for between 10 and 20 fritters. 

Serve immediately with sweet chilli sauce, salsa or chutney on the side.