A fritter is my most favourite way to eat vegies for breakfast. You might have noticed this already! I have tried to avoid repetition, but, since I do love them so much, I want to emphasise the joy they can bring, as a simple, easy vegie meal.
This fritter makes use of leftovers, as a lot of Vegies for Breakfast recipes do. Specifically, mashed root vegetables. Eat one of these and you’ll find yourself WANTING to make a mash, just to eat these in the morning.
Root Veg Mash, and Leftover Mash Fritters.
Start the recipe with
1 each or any combination of parsnip, swede, turnip, carrot and small wedge of pumpkin.
Clean, peel and cut the vegetable into similar sized pieces. The smaller they are, the quicker they’ll cook. Place the vegies in a wide bottomed saucepan, add in about 2 cups of water, salt and set over high heat. Once the water is steaming hot, cover with a lid and turn down to low to steam-cook through. This will take about 20-30-40 mins, but check on it regularly and top up the water if it’s getting low. Test with a fork for readiness, they must be soft enough to mash easily. Drain off the remaining water, reserving it for use when mashing or as a base for a vegie soup.
Alternatively, you can use your steamer. It is better to steam rather than boiling these vegies, as they contain a lot of moisture to begin with, boiling them just dilutes their amazing flavour, and leaves you with bland, soggy mash.
Mash with butter, salt and pepper, adding in a little of the cooking water to get the desired consistency, as you would for potato mash. It can be chunky or smooth as you like.
Eat for dinner, reserving one cup of mash for the morning.
In the morning, take out your cup of mash and put it in a large mixing bowl.
Break it up with a fork and stir through-
one large beaten egg,
½-1 cup of flour, depending on how wet the mash is. Start with ½ a cup and add in more if needed. You are looking for a thick, pancake consistency. Be aware that the more you stir it, the glue-ier the batter will become, so stir lightly and know that a wetter mixture is no problem. Add in some of the vegie liquid if the batter is too stiff, but a tablespoon at a time, only. Any kind of flour is fine- plain, gluten free, semolina, millet, coconut, even almond meal or LSA can be used here. Bear in mind if your flour has a flavour, you will taste this was well.
salt, pepper and a grate of nutmeg or mixed spice(up to ¼ teaspoon)
pinch of chilli flakes, if you like, or a handful of any chopped herbs you have to hand- chives would be ideal.
Place a heavy bottom skillet or frypan over medium heat and once warmed, melt in some butter. Drop spoonfuls of mixture in and allow to cook until the underside is deeply golden and crusty. Then flip, gently, and continue cooking until this second side matches the first.
The fritters are great as is, but since the pan is already warm, I usually crack in an egg and serve these fritters with a runny fried egg. And a smear of tangy beetroot relish. So, I’d better give you the beetroot relish recipe….soon.
