FFwD: Matafan (Fluffy Mashed Potato Pancakes)

Matafan

Okay, so I almost forgot about this French Fridays with Dorie but I’m glad I didn’t, this was a very interesting FFwD experiment. I made a number of changes, mainly because I wanted to work with what I had on hand. Here’s how that went:

1. First off, I made a half recipe, so I had one potato that was about 3/4 of a pound.
2. I used a…sweet potato! I know, it’s probably not a real matafan then, but I had about 5 red potatoes (which I figured wouldn’t work at all) and 1 perfectly sized sweet potato. So, there you go. I used that.
3. I added about 1/2 tsp curry powder to the batter.
4. I went ahead and still oven roasted the potato on the bed of salt. I’m not sure it had the same effect, but is seemed interesting.
5. Strangely, I thought the sweet potato and curry powder combination tasted like pumpkin pie.

Here’s a link to everyone’s FFwD posts this week.

Matafan
Pre-oven, on a bed of kosher salt. Waiting…

Matafan
Experimental curry powder added to the mix.

Matafan
About to fold in the whipped egg white.

Matafan
I used olive oil rather than butter. Just because it seemed more sensible.

Matafan
Golden and flipped over. They seemed to poof up quite a bit while cooking!

Matafan
Stacked up on the plate, ready to eat.

16 Replies to “FFwD: Matafan (Fluffy Mashed Potato Pancakes)”

  1. I adore sweet potatoes – so I think using them in this recipe is absolutely inspired 🙂
    Have a great weekend.

  2. Looks like you got quite a few pancakes out of that one potato. And isn’t that a great feeling when you get to use up ingredients which you already have lying around? Your sweet potato pancakes look great.

  3. YUM! That sounds like a brilliant combo to me. I have to admit, my pancakes didn’t have a whole lot of flavor, on their own. They were more of a vessel by which to transport other stuff to my mouth.

  4. I baked two potatoes but only matafanned one. Now I’m dying to try your sweet potato + curry variation. The color is gorgeous.

  5. Sweet potato sounds like an interesting twist especially with curry powder. That reminds me of a Ottolenghi recipe I tried not too long ago. Was the potato watery? I’m a little curious how the batter behaved because sweet potato is usually more moist than potato.

  6. amanda: thanks!
    Rose: I did. I think I got 7 pancakes, using about 2 Tbsp for each pancake!
    Eileen: Thanks. Yeah, that’s usually how I feel about potato pancakes. But I am intrigued to try these with maple syrup. Sounds weird, but they tasted so pumpkin pie-like… 😉
    Adriana: Thanks so much…they were pretty 🙂
    ComeUndone: It was not watery at all. Perhaps baking on salt helped dry it out? Some of the sweet potato inside near the skin almost got a little caramelized.
    Frankly: If I had had a russet, I would totally have stuck to the recipe. I am still very curious to see how the actual recipe is! 🙂
    Krissy: Hope you like it if you try sweet potatoes!

  7. What a great idea to use sweet potatoes! I have a bag of sweet potatoes leftover from Thanksgiving and now I have a new way to use them up! Thanks!

  8. Sweet potato and curry is a great substitution! I used to make cornmeal and pumpkin pancakes with pumpkin pie spices, they looked similar. some pecans and syrup would be a great topping.

  9. Trevor: Yes, curry! 😉
    Robin: You are welcome. It wasn’t so much an idea as it was, “hmmm, I don’t have a russet potato…just a sweet potato! 😉
    sanya: Thank you so much!
    JK: Oh, your pancakes sound delicious! I think I’m going to try the syrup tomorrow AM on the couple we have left 😉

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