Vegetable Latkes

I can't remember exactly what prompted it, but several days ago my significant other had a desire to make potato pancakes/latkes from scratch. So we swept through a few favorite recipe websites and landed on the gem that is vegetable latkes over at epicurious.com.

The recipe called for parsnip, potato, and carrot - all shredded. My wonderfully stubborn significant other did that all by hand using a 4-sided grater. In the future, I'd suggest using a mandoline or julienne shredder. Something automated might be faster but I feel like this recipe calls for ripping apart your vegetables with hand-involvement. It's a decent workout. :)

While vegetable latkes up the healthy factor over all-potato ones, we upped the ante a bit further with two substitutions. Instead of any all-purpose flour, we used an unbleached one. And instead of vegetable oil, we used olive oil. Vegans could also use an egg-substitute; it just needs to act as a binder.

The recipe claimed it made 6 latkes. Since we were feeding 4 people, we decided to double the recipe. We ended up with somewhere in the neighborhood of 24. The 6 the recipe claimed to make must have been mega-huge. The good news is the vegetable latkes were delicious, so we didn't mind eating them for days. They can be eaten plain or topped with sugar-free apple sauce.

Next time I make these I'd like to try it with a gluten-free baking flour or rice flour and either a commercial egg replacer, bananas, or sugar-free apple sauce instead of the eggs.

So here's the slightly altered version of the recipe found here that I made:

1 large parsnip, peeled and shredded
2 large russet potatoes, scrubbed and shredded
2 large carrots, peeled and shredded
1 onion, chopped
3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 large eggs, beaten
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil

1. In a colander, rinse the parsnip and potatoes under cold water. Pat dry thoroughly with paper towels; transfer to a mixing bowl.
2. Add the carrots, onion, flour, baking powder, eggs, salt, and pepper and then attempt to stir.
3. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
4. Drop in large spoonfuls of the batter, flattening each with the back of the spoon. Cook, turning once, until brown and crisp, 2 to 3 minutes a side. Transfer the latkes to a foil–lined baking sheet in a 200°F oven until serving.