Sweet Vegan Potato Pancakes
It’s time for another dish from our childhood, at least for me, because I don’t think Isa knew this dish at all. And to be more concrete, this is a special German recipe originating from the area I grew up, and to be really honest, we often made it from the package, not from scratch. But maybe this applied to several people, because some friends were quite confused when I started to cook potatoes for this sweet dish. But yes, the base for these sweet potato pancakes are potatoes and curd (quark) – and since everyone should know how much I like this combination, it’s no surprise that I also love this sweet version. Here are a few tricks or details to keep in mind.
Boiled potatoes: I wrote the recipe below from scratch, but if you should have leftover boiled potatoes, this recipe is great to use them. It will save you the whole first step of boiling potatoes and thereby quite some prep time.
Plant-based curd: We know that curd/quark is a very German thing, and you’ll most likely not find it in your area. You can use plant-based yogurt, but you should take extra care to get the right consistency of the batter in this case. You probably need to add more flour or boiled potatoes to thicken the batter as curd is not as liquidy as yogurt.
The batter: The consistency of the batter is probably the most challenging part for this otherwise easy recipe. Even though it’s kind of a pancake, the batter should be even thicker. You should not be able to ladle it into a frying pan. But at the same time, the batter also shouldn’t be too dry as you want moist potato pancakes in the end. In my tests, the batter was perfect when it didn’t stick to the bowl anymore, but was still too sticky to form it into patties by hand. So you should rather flour your hands and the utensils that will touch the batter, e.g. the spatula to flatten them.
I think it’s safest to prepare a first test pancake to find out the right thickness and frying temperature for your stovetop. The potato pancakes should be golden brown on the outside, but the batter shouldn’t be raw inside, so you should flatten these pancakes a bit. Don’t fry it over too high heat.
Sweet Vegan Potato Pancakes
Ingredients
- 200 g (7 oz) floury potatoes
- 200 g (0.75 cups) vegan curd
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 0.5 tsp vanilla sugar
- 2 tbsp soy flour
- 2 tbsp water
- 175 g (1.5 cups) flour
- sugar and cinnamon for serving
- apple puree for serving
Instructions
Add unpeeled potatoes to a pot and cover with cold water. Season with salt and bring to a boil. Reduce to medium heat and simmer for approx. 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are done. Drain and cool down until the potatoes are cool to touch. Afterward, peel and mash them. There should be no larger clumps visible.
Add mashed potatoes, vegan curd, sugar, and vanilla sugar to a large bowl and stir to combine. Mix soy flour and water and add to the bowl of mashed potatoes. Now add as much flour as needed until a smooth batter forms that is not too sticky anymore. It should come off the sides of the bowl, but it‘s totally fine if it‘s too sticky to be formed into pancakes by hand.
Heat vegetable oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Add spoonfuls of the thick batter into the hot oil, approx. 2 tbsp per pancake should be enough. Use a floured spatula to press them down, as they shouldn‘t be too thick (this would probably end in a raw center of the pancakes). I would highly recommend preparing one test pancake to find the perfect thickness for your pan and heat. Fry pancakes from both sides until golden brown and make sure that the batter inside is done and not raw. Reduce or increase the heat if needed.
Serve right away, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon, and enjoy with apple puree or jam.
