Update: I’ve made these in the past with pumpkin purée, which works fine, but I prefer them this way, with grated pumpkin flesh. The recipe is quite adaptable, so I highly recommend frying a test pancake first and making adjustments to egg, flour, and/or seasonings as you go. Enjoy! ~October 2013

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A spooky, spicy pumpkin-and-potato pancake for your Halloween pleasure! OK, so there’s nothing spooky about these pancakes (unless you’re harvesting pumpkins from a nuclear test site. Or a graveyard. Or Wal-Mart). They may not even be pancakes: Tai calls ’em latkes and eats them with applesauce, and no one would mock if you chose to call them fritters. I like the alliterative quality of Pumpkin Potato Pancakes, myself.

These are, at least, spicy, with a healthy dose of chipotle pepper balancing the sweet pumpkin, while potato, egg and herbs bring the whole thing together. The perfect thing to serve hungry, cold Trick-or-Treaters: fill up their stomachs with potato and pumpkin goodness before the sugar rush sets in!

Happy Halloween, y’all.

Pumpkin Potato Pancakes

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb potatoes, grated (peeled or unpeeled)
• ½ lb pumpkin flesh, peeled and grated
• fine-grained sea salt
• 1 – 2 large eggs (see Options)
• 3 tbsp whole white wheat flour (or AP flour)
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• ½ – 1 tsp ground chipotle powder
• ½ tsp sea salt
• a few grinds black pepper
• vegetable oil for frying

METHODS

1. Layer the grated potatoes and pumpkin into a large colander, sprinkling salt over the layers as you go. Pack the vegetables down into the colander and allow to sit, draining excess water, for about 15 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together egg, flour, parsley, chipotle, salt and pepper. Press down on the vegetables in the colander, removing as much liquid as you can.  Transfer the grated vegetables to a clean kitchen towel, twist within the towel and squeeze out even more liquid. Add to the egg mixture, mixing just until uniform.
3. Add oil to a frying pan to a depth of ¼-inch. Heat oil over medium heat until shimmering, but not smoking (350 degrees F). Form a small (2 tbsp) test pancake: add to the hot oil and press down batter for a thin, lacy pancake. Fry until a deep golden brown on both sides, about 2 – 3 minutes per side. Cool, taste and adjust seasonings if needed in remaining batter. If pancake falls apart, add either more flour, 1 tbsp at a time, or another egg to the batter.
   
4. Fry the remaining batter in batches, draining pancakes on newspaper as they come out of the oil. Serve hot with spicy tomato chutney.

Yields about 15 3-inch pancakes.

OPTIONS

1. The batter forms a loose, lacy and delicate pancake with 1 egg; a more substantial (and easier to manage) pancake with 2 eggs. I make them both ways, depending on my mood and how the batter seems to be behaving that day. The above were made with 2 eggs.
2. I use 1 teaspoon of chipotle, which depending on your palate and the strength of your chipotle powder, could be too much or too little spice for you. I recommend starting with ½ tsp if you like things on the milder side, 1 tsp if you like the heat.
3. If what you have on hand is pumpkin purée, swap in 1 cup for the ½ lb of grated pumpkin.
4. If you need to avoid flour, these can be made without (or, presumably, easily made with a GF version): they will simply be lacier and the batter a bit less forgiving, but still quite doable.

STORE

Best eaten fresh.

SEASON

Fall through winter.