Savory Potato Aebleskivers
The Danish classic aebleskivers consist of mounds of batter that are a rich cross between pancakes and popovers, and often contain fruit fillings. So this rendition surprised me. Yes, it’s my creation, but to fashion a savory version from lentils and potatoes— no eggs, either—well, I was pleased! These make a great starter with any dipping sauce of your choice, or even just some sour cream with a pinch of salt and some coarsely cracked black peppercorns. - Raghavan Iyer
Lisa made this recipe for us as part of a Cook the Book campaign for Smashed, Mashed, Boiled and Baked by Raghavan Iyer. You can read her full post here.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup red lentils
- 2 fresh green serrano chiles, stems discarded
- 4 slices fresh ginger (each about the size and thickness of a quarter; no need to peel first)
- 8 ounces Yukon gold potatoes
- 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
- ¼ cup finely chopped fresh thyme leaves and tender stems
- ¼ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems
- 1 teaspoon coarse sea or
- kosher salt
- Canola oil, for pan-frying
Directions:
- Pour the lentils into a medium-size bowl. Cover them with cold water. Agitate them with your fingertips to rinse off any surface dust. Drain off this water. Repeat once or twice more. Cover the lentils with warm water and allow them to soak for about 1 hour.
- Drain the lentils in a colander. Pour 1/2 cup of warm water into a blender jar followed by the lentils, chiles, and ginger. Puree to a smooth light-pink batter speckled with green and brown from the chiles and ginger, scraping the inside of the jar as needed. Scrape this into the bowl you soaked the lentils in.
- Scrub the potatoes under running water. Shred them through the large holes of a box grater, the fine teeth of a mandoline, or the shredding disk of a food processor. As soon as you finish shredding them, add them to the lentil batter along with the onion, thyme, cilantro, and salt. Vigorously beat the batter in a circular motion with a wooden spoon to incorporate some air (which makes the batter lighter), about 2 minutes.
- Line a large plate with several layers of paper towels, for draining the cooked aebleskivers of excess oil.
- Preheat an aebleskiver pan (see Tater Tips) over medium heat. Once the pan is hot, pour 1 teaspoon of oil into each of its indentations. Using 2 teaspoons (the tableware kind—one to scoop, the other to slide it out), spoon a heaping teaspoon of batter into each hole. As the batter cooks and turns reddish brown on the underside, 2 to 4 minutes, use a skewer to loosen it and flip it over. Brown the flipped side as well, 2 to 4 minutes. Tease out the spherical aebleskivers onto the paper towels to drain.
- Repeat with the remaining batter. Serve warm.