Vegan Potato Pancakes

Potato pancakes are savory fritters that are usually made with shredded potatoes, onions, egg, and refined flour. But these pancakes are vegan and gluten-free which means the recipe is egg-less and rice flour replaces the APF /refined flour. These savory pancakes use raw shredded potatoes that are flavored with onion, cilantro, and seasonings, and further shallow fried in oil until crisp and golden brown from both sides. Potato pancakes make a wonderful appetizer or snack and can be served with applesauce, sour cream or any dip of your choice. The recipe is very simple, most of the ingredients are pantry staples and the dish is ready under 30 minutes from scratch.

What are Pancakes?

A pancake is a flat, thin or thick flatbread, mostly round in shape, prepared from a starch-based batter that may contain eggs, milk, and butter and cooked on a hot surface such as frying pan in oil or butter. The shape and structure of a pancake vary worldwide. In England, pancakes are often unleavened and resemble a crepe. In North America, a leavening agent is used (typically baking powder) creating a thick fluffy pancake. When buttermilk is used instead of milk the pancakes develop a tart flavor and are called buttermilk pancakes. Pancakes may be served at any time of the day with a variety of toppings or fillings but in America, they are typically considered breakfast food.

Indian Pancakes

India has many styles of pancakes that differ in taste due to the main ingredient used. Almost all the Indian pancakes are made without the use of added raising agents. In North India, pancakes referred to as Cheela are popular. Cheela can be sweet or savory. Sweet ones use sugar or jaggery with wheat flour-based batter. Dosa, appam, neer dosa and uttapam are pancakes made in South Indian cooking style. Meetha pooda from Punjab are the sweet pancakes often eaten with pickles and chutney. Most of the pitha in Assam are types of pancakes served on occasions such as Bihu festivals. The Bengali semi-sweet pancake pati-Shapta is stuffed with grated coconut or thickened milk. In eastern India, Malpuas are famous festive desserts. In western India, the multi-grain Thalipeeth is popular while In Goa, a traditional crepe-like pancake known as alle belle that is usually filled with jaggery and coconut is eaten at tea-time.

What is the difference between Potato pancakes and Latkes?

Latkes are the potato pancakes of Jewish origin that are traditionally prepared to celebrate Hanukkah ( an eight-day Jewish festival of light). Both potato pancakes and latkes are savory fritters that use potatoes and eggs as the main ingredients. Latkes, however, also include baking powder, matzo meal, and even milk sometimes. Potato pancakes can also be made using cooked mashed potatoes.

What goes into my Potato Pancakes?

I have made vegan and gluten-free pancakes in which rice flour is added to shredded potatoes along with grated onions and the mix is seasoned with black pepper, green chilies, cilantro, and salt. I have not used baking powder in this recipe. Russet potatoes are perfect for this recipe because they are extra starchy that binds the other ingredients together. Use a thick cut grater for the best texture. I have immersed the shredded potatoes in water for about a minute to avoid them from discoloration and to get rid of the extra starch. Squeeze most of the moisture from the potatoes before making the batter. A small portion of the batter is added to a greased skillet, flattened a bit and shallow fried until golden brown and crisp from both sides. You can customize the dish and add veggies that are not too moist like, grated carrots, spring onions. Fresh herbs make the pancakes all the more flavorful.

Serving Suggestions:

These potato pancakes are crispier when served immediately. You can serve them with applesauce, sour cream or any dip of your choice. If you wish to make these potato pancakes for breakfast you can top them with scrambled tofu and stir-fried veggies.

Related Event

You all must be wondering, why my entire post is revolving around pancakes? Actually, the theme for this month on our Facebook group, Shhhhhh Cooking Secretly Challenge, started by Priya's versatile recipes and taken further to date by Mayuri di is Pancakes. Mayuri di's Sprouted moth and spinach pudla are worth giving a try. Archana di suggested this wonderful theme taking into account the variety of pancakes popular all around the globe. I am in love with her soft and fluffy Japanese souffle pancakes. She kept the theme broad and we had the liberty to choose pancakes from Indian or International Cuisine. In this group, each member takes turns to propose the theme for the month. All participating members are divided into pairs and both partners exchange a set of secret ingredients using which both have to prepare the theme dish. The other members of the group then take turns to guess the two secret ingredients just by looking at the pic of the dish. Doesn't all this sound interesting! If you are a food blogger and wish to join this group, do let us know in the comments section below. My partner for the theme was Anu Kollan and she gave me potatoes and green chilies as my two secret ingredients and I made these vegan and gluten-free potato pancakes. In return, I gave her ragi and cocoa powder and she made delicious Ragi Chocolate Pancakes using the two ingredients. Do visit her space Ente thattukada for the detailed recipe.

                             

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 5

Ingredients:

• 2 large potatoes
• 1 large onion
• 2 green chilies
• 1 teaspoon black pepper powder
• 2-3 tablespoon rice flour
• 2 tablespoon fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped
• Salt to taste
• 2-3 tablespoon oil

Method:

1. Rinse the potatoes well under running water, pat dry, peel and grate them either using a thick cut grater or in a food processor. Immerse the grated potatoes in a bowl of water to avoid discoloration and to get rid of extra starch.

2. Meanwhile, finely chop the coriander and green chilies. Also, grate the onions and keep aside until use. Drain the grated potatoes and squeeze well to remove all the moisture. Now transfer it to a large bowl. Add rice flour, grated onions, finely chopped green chilies, coriander, black pepper, and salt to it. Mix well to form a batter. Add little water only if required. I did not add any.

3. Next, heat a skillet and grease it with little oil. Add a ladle full of batter and flatten it slightly with the back of the ladle. Drizzle little oil around the pancake and cover it with a lid. Cook the pancake on medium flame until it turns golden brown and crisp from both sides.

 4. Make all the pancakes similarly. Serve the delicious potato pancakes immediately with applesauce, sour cream or any dip of your choice. 

Recipe Notes:

• Russet potatoes are perfect for this recipe because they are extra starchy that binds the other ingredients together. 
• Use a thick cut grater for the best texture. I have immersed the shredded potatoes in water for about a minute to avoid them from discoloration and to get rid of the extra starch. 
• Squeeze most of the moisture from the potatoes before making the batter. 
• You can customize the dish and add veggies that are not too moist like, grated carrots, spring onions. Fresh herbs make the pancakes all the more flavorful.
• These potato pancakes are crispier when served immediately. 
• You can serve them with applesauce, sour cream or any dip of your choice. If you wish to make these potato pancakes for breakfast you can top them with scrambled tofu and stir-fried veggies.

I hope a few of you would love to try out this recipe. If you do so, feel free to share your feedback with us in the form of likes and comments in the comment section below this post. All your suggestions are also more than welcome. If you like my work and feel it is worth following, do hit the follow button at the top right corner of this blog. Your appreciation means a lot to me. For more recipes and new updates follow us on social media.

• Facebook Handle: https://www.facebook.com/poonambachhavblogspot
• Instagram Handle: https://www.instagram.com/poonambachhav/
• Twitter Handle: https://twitter.com/poonampagar_B
• Pinterest Handle: https://in.pinterest.com/poonambachhav/

Related Post:

• Msemen - Moroccan Square Pancake

                                     

• Beetroot Oatmeal Pancake  

                               

• Carrot Oatmeal Pancakes

                             

• Gavhache Dhirde - Sweet Pancakes

                            

• Pesarattu - Mung Bean Dosa

                         

• Adai Dosa

                         

• Sarva Pindi - Rice flour panckes from Telangana Cuisine