Veggie Pancakes

I love my mother's potato pancakes, but tonite for dinner I made a variation of them.  I had only one potato, but I did have half an onion, half a zucchini, and a friggin' boatload of carrots.  So I made veggie pancakes with all four of the veggies instead of just potato pancakes.

I think any ratio of the veggies would work as long as the onions are a minority.  Amount-wise I ended up with mostly carrots, then potato, then zucchini, then onion.  Just as with the usual potato pancake recipe, I grated all the veggies and then strained out as much liquid as I could.  Then I mixed in a beaten egg and a little flour, along with salt and pepper.

I made small patties out of the mixture and sauteed them in a little canola oil on high heat on each side until golden brown.  I quickly discovered that with non-potato veggies, I needed more egg and a little more flour to compensate for the lack of starch that is normally abundant in just-potato pancakes.  Some of them fell apart a little while cooking.  It was too late to fix this batch, but next time I do this I will add more egg and flour to hold them together a little better.

I served them as I do potato pancakes with plenty of sour cream (no applesauce though).  I was a little worried that they would be too carroty but as it turns out they were delicious.  Really delicious!  Almost as delicious as the regular potato pancake recipe -- and in our family that is saying something.  And for a bonus, these veggie pancakes have an extra nutrition kick what with the carrots and zucchini.  I actually would like to try them again with mostly zucchini instead of mostly carrot next time.  But for a quick throw-together based on what I happened to have in the fridge, these were definitely a success.  Luckily I have plenty left over, so I am looking forward to a yummy veggie pancake snack later tonite.

My Veggie Pancake experiment DEFINITELY counts as a success.  Happy eating!