Shredded Carrot Pancakes

Carrot pancakes are famous in Finland and Sweden. These shredded carrot pancakes can be eaten both as savory or sweet. Eat these as breakfast, lunch, snack, or dinner.

These are called porkkanaletut in Finnish, morotsplättar in Swedish.

Ingredients

• Carrots. Can be replaced with shredded sweet potato.
• Milk. You can use full-fat or fat-free milk. For milk-free pancakes, use plant milk.
• Flour. Medium wheat flour tastes best. You can also use a gluten-free flour mix or oat flour.
• Eggs. If you don't have eggs, you can make eggless pancakes by using more flour in the batter.
• Butter. This is used for frying. You can also use oil.
• Salt. A pinch is enough.
• Sugar. 2 teaspoons of sugar works both for savory and sweet pancakes.

Add-ons for sweet pancakes

• 2 tsp-2tbsp sugar. Can be replaced with maple syrup, honey, or stevia
• 1 teaspoon vanilla. Use vanilla sugar or some drops of vanilla extract.

To make carrot cake-tasting pancakes

Add two teaspoons of cinnamon to the batter in addition to sugar and vanilla. ½ teaspoon of nutmeg and cloves can also be added if you like those tastes. Serve with a cream cheese topping that has sugar and vanilla in it.

Add-ons for savory batter

If you serve the pancakes with a savory topping, you can add one teaspoon of black or white pepper to the batter. Some garlic powder gives an additional taste.

Instructions

1. Wash and peel your carrots. Shred them using the small holes on a grater.

2. Add in the eggs and milk with the carrots. Give it a whisk.

3. Mix the flour, salt, and sugar. Add the flour with the carrot-milk mix and give it a whisk. Let the batter rest for 10-30 minutes.

4. Fry your pancakes on medium heat. Put some oil or butter on the pan and pour ¼ cup of batter to make 8-10 inch pancakes or 2-3 tablespoons for small 3-inch pancakes. Turn the pancakes when they have some color and are set on the edges.

What to serve with savory pancakes

In Sweden, one traditional savory topping is lingonberry jam, bacon, and cottage cheese.

Finnish like to eat their carrot pancakes with lingonberry jam and some with mashed potatoes. My favorite topping is smoked salmon filling. For autumn, some fried mushrooms with garlic, onion, and pepper are great.

Smoked salmon filling

• 1 package of smoked salmon 400 grams
• 250 grams creme fraiche or Turkish yogurt/cream cheese.
• 1 onion cut into small pieces
• 1 teaspoon lemon pepper
• 2 teaspoon dried dill or 3 tablespoon fresh.

What to serve with sweet carrot pancakes

• Cloudberries and buckthorns are a great Nordic taste paired with whipped cream.
• Jam
• Turkish or greek yogurt and honey
• Condensed milk
• Vanilla ice cream
• Roasted nuts

Make these even healthier

You can up the fiber content in these carrot pancakes by using whole wheat flour. You can also add one tablespoon of chia or flax seeds to the batter.

Changing half of the flour to oatmeal flour also adds soluble fiber to your pancakes.

Nutritious carrot pancakes are great for toddlers. They make excellent finger food and let your toddler feel different structures in the pancakes from the shredded carrot and also if you have added some flax seeds in the batter.

The sugar and salt content is low in this recipe, and you can leave them out also.