Potato Pikelets/Pancakes/Hot Cakes

Whatever you choose to call them, this is a recipe I made up today to use up left-over mashed potatoes. I don’t know if you have ever had, or made potato bread, which rely on mashed potatoes, but it is soft, filling and delicious. These pikelets/pancakes/hot cakes were the same. So if you have left-over mashed potato, I recommend giving it a try.

The versatile thing about mashed potato, is that generally it is there to carry other flavours, so unless you have filled yours with garlic (which is fine, I do that too), these pikelets can be sweet or savoury. If you have filled yours with garlic, I suggest going with savoury options unless you think that garlic and strawberries go together (I’ve not tried, so I’m not going to judge).

I was making this up on the fly, so the measurements are a bit loose. I didn’t measure the mashed potato, but estimated how much it was. You can resize the recipe depending on how much potato you have, and you can add savoury/sweet extras if you want, or just pile them on top at the end. This recipe made 5 or 6 large pikelets. No photo, because I was too busy eating them for breakfast.

For the extras – choose the amount that works best for you. I used a large handful of grated cheese, but wish I’d used a bit more.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of cold mashed potato (can be a bit more)
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup of self-raising flour
• a pinch of salt
• Enough milk to make a thick batter
• Extras (optional – choose one or more of) – grated cheese, berries, a tablespoon of honey, crushed nuts, dukkah, dried fruit, etc

Method

1. Put the mashed potato in a bowl. Add the egg and stir until combined.
2. Add the flour and salt and mix together, it should come together as a very stiff dough.
3. Add the chosen extras, if using, as preferred and stir through.
4. Add enough milk to make a thick batter. It should fall off the spoon.
5. Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Add a neutral oil and once hot, spoon enough batter into the pan to make a round of about 20 cm.
6. Cook on both sides until golden brown, approximately 2 – 3 minutes per side.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 until all the batter is used.
8. Serve with any other extras that suit your additions such as fried eggs, cheese, nuts, jam, whipped cream, ice cream, etc