Monday, February 18, 2008

Finnish Carrot Pancake with Cranberry Sauce

The Finnish name for the carrot pancake is Porkkanapannukakku. The Finnish name for the cranberry sauce is Karpalokastike.


Ingredients

1 1/2 cup carrot grated
1/2 cup Onion grated
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs or wheat germ
4 lrg eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup flour white, Wheat or Rye
1 1/2 tsp salt or less to taste
1/2 tsp thyme scant
1/2 tsp nutmeg scant
1/4 tsp ground cumin
freshly ground pepper to taste
1 tbl canola oil

cranberry sauce :

12 oz fresh cranberries or lingonberries
1/2 cup maple syrup up to 2/3 cup
1 x orange
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 dsh cinnamon
Optional : sour cream


Directions

For the carrot Pancake: In a mixing bowl, combine the grated carrots, grated Onion and bread crumbs or wheat germ. Toss to mix evenly.

Preheat the oven to 450 deg F. In a blender or by hand, combine the eggs, milk, flour and seasonings until smooth.

You may need to scrape down the sides of the blender or bowl once or twice. In a large mixing bowl, combine the carrot mixture and the contents of the blender.

Heat about a tablespoon of oil in a heavy 9" or 10" cast iron skillet, or similar heavy shallow baking dish that can go in the oven. Heat the oil in the skillet.

When quite hot but not smoking, pour in the pancake mixture; make sure the carrots are evenly distributed.

Place the skillet in the preheated oven. After 20 minutes, lower the oven temperature to 350 deg F and continue to bake for another 10 - 15 minutes. The pancake should be light brown, puffy and crisp.

Serve immediately, topped with cranberry sauce and sour cream, if desired.

To prepare cranberry sauce :

Wash and drain the cranberries. Remove any soft or discolored Berries, and any stems or leaves. Wash the orange, and grate the orange rind only (avoid the bitter white pith) squeeze the juice from the orange.

You are looking to obtain about 1/2 cup of juice and grated rind combined. Mix all the ingredients in a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat for 10 - 15 minutes, stirring, until the cranberries have popped and the sauce is thick.

May be made ahead. Serve hot or cold. Commercial whole berry cranberry sauce or commercial cranberry/orange relish can be substituted, if you must.

2 comments:

Lisa Turner said...

This sounds most delicious. Plan to try this. Thank you for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Lisa, Thanks for coming by Vegetarian Cuisine. You will like it !