The Wong Ohana

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned on my blog yet, but breakfast is my favorite meal of the day! There are so many options to choose from, Hot, Cold - Eggs, Cereal, Waffles, Sausage, Bacon, or not, etc.

But by far, one of my favorites, especially on cold mornings is Potato Pancakes!! You can eat them alone, or add them as a side dish to your eggs and “whatevers”. You can also use these as a side for your main dinner meals also. They go great with Pot Roast, Pork Chops or any meal you would normally serve potatoes with.

Depending on how finely you chop, grate, or blend your potatoes you can have a variety of textures. Some people like them very smooth like a pancake batter, I usually like to keep a few lumps and pieces in mine for texture and “crunch value”. Its totally a personal matter, you can try them a few different ways and see how you like it best!!

This is another recipe that I never “measure” anything. As far as I’m concerned measuring is for stuff that will suffer greatly if you don’t which isn’t much in my opinion. Some people need to, but for me, its a wasate of time and creates more stuff to wash - so I estimate, use my hands, shake stuff, you get the idea. Its really a simple method of figuring out how much you need, and after you conquer your fear factor its really quite simple and more accurate than you would guess.

In this recipe, you can alter the quantity quite easily to serve any number of people. These are also great re-heated, so don’t be concerned if you find you’ve over-done the amount the first couple of times until you get used to how much it cooks up.

For a snack, you can just throw them back on the griddle, or frying pan. I also find that they do quite well in the toaster as long as you haven’t gone overboard with the butter (which will melt down and drip in your toaster - not a pretty sight, or easy to clean!). They also microwave quite well, so it really makes these the perfect breakfast meal, dinner side dish, or leftover snack that I can think of!!

This one is a little different from my other recipes since we’re not using measuring cups at all - - - You can figure on approx. 1/2 medium-small potato for each person. Now this doesn’t sound like much, but it will be just about right when they are cooked up, especially if being used as a side dish. Most people will eat 2 “or so”, some more, some less, but that is a good guestimate. I like “at least” 3, but then I really love them, so I may tend to gobble them up. If you want some leftovers (which I highly recommend), add an extra potato. You’ll get the hang of it after you’ve made your first batch.

So let’s get to cooking, I’m getting hungry just thinking about them!!!

INGREDIENTS:

* 1/2 medium-small potatoe for each person you are serving
* 1 medium egg (for each 3 potatoes used)
* 1/2 onion (for each 3 potatoes used)
* flour (we’ll get to how much in the recipe portion)
* garlic salt to taste
* approx. 1/2 tsp salt (just guess, its not important to be exact)
* approx. 1 tsp baking powder (again, not important to measure)
* butter or margarine (your choice)

I think you’ll find that this is really an easy recipe!! You can use a blender if you have one, or a grater if not, thinly slice and dice if you don’t have either.

If your potatoes are “hard skined” brown russet potatoes, you will want to peel them, if thin skinned, or red potatoes, it is not necessary to remove the skin. Dice them into cubes, then toss them into a blender with the onion, add the egg for some moisture, and blend away. Keep blending until all your chunks are blended down, then add in the salt, garlic salt and baking powder, give it another nudge on the blender until mixed in and pour contents into a large bowl.

Now, add in “enough flour” (you’ll notice my expert cooking terminology, and precise measuring techniques) to absorb up most of the moisture until it reaches a thick-ish batter consistency. Depending on the amount of potatoes, and the size of your egg, this will vary so its best to do it by “consistency” than by “measuring”, and you know how I hate measuring anyways!!! It should be thick enough to easily spoon into clumps, but not so much that it is a “dough”, more like a creamy oatmeal consistency.

Now heat up your griddle, evenly coat with butter and spoon on your pancake mixture into nice round circles. If they flatten out like thin pancakes, you didn’t add enough flour. They should be thick and kind of clumpy, this is OK and is the preferred texture. Again you’ll know better after this first batch.

Now cook them on your griddle over a med-high heat. You’ll know when its time to turn them over, as you’ll see the edges and top start to cook and form bubbly air holes. When you see this, turn them over. You should now see a nice golden brown bottom, if not, leave them for a bit more and try again. Once turned, you can mash it gently a bit with your spatula to flatten out the high ones.

They’ll be done when you can press with your spatula, and dough doesn’t squish out from the sides. You’ll feel the firmness and know they are done. You can also lift and look underneath - you should see an even golden brown color.

Filed under: Cooking on December 19th, 2006