Paleo Zucchini Jicama Latkes
I have a thing for latkes and hashbrown-esque foods (as evidenced by my Turnip and Rutabaga Latkes or my Butternut Squash and Parsnip Hasbrowns) . Maybe it’s because it indulges my love of crispy fried things. Maybe it reminds me of breakfast potatoes which I very rarely indulge in. Maybe I just love food. Yeah… that.
I’ve tried to make oven jicama fries a few times and they’ve never come out as well as I’d hoped – the flavor is always good but the texture always ended up floppy and wilted. So I decided to mix them up with some zucchini and make a latke. To be honest, I tried cooking these three different ways before I was able to get them right. I tried frying them in coconut oil in my stainless steel skillet and this made them crispy and awesome, but I had such a hard time not getting them to stick. I tried putting them in a muffin tin and though they cooked up well, they lacked that crispy fried goodness. I finally tried “frying” them on my electric skillet with some coconut oil.
Apparently, Sawyer agrees that this is the best method.
I mean, could this face lie?
Both jicama and zucchini have very high water content, so after you shred them you have to squeeze the bejeebus out of them to get out all the excess water. Otherwise, your batter will be watery and your lakes will just kind of suck. :) I used a Parmesan/Romano mixture for the added flavor, but if you’re dairy-free you can omit it and just increase your salt from 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp (and maybe add in a sprinkle of garlic or onion powder). These ended up with very few ingredients and though they took a little time preparing because of the peeling and shredding, they came together quickly after that and were so worth it!
Recipe: Zucchini Jicama Latkes
Ingredients
- 2 c. zucchini, shredded and water squeezed out
- 2 c. jicama, peeled, shredded, and water squeezed out
- 1/2 c. onion, pureed or finely shredded
- 2 tbsp. garlic, finely minced
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1/4 c. Parmesan/Romano blend
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- coconut oil for cooking
Instructions
- Squeeze out all extra moisture form the zucchini and jicama.
- Mix all other ingredients in together.
- Heat a skillet medium and melt coconut oil – around 1 tbsp is a good start for a few latkes.
- Place a spoon full of mixture down on the skillet and flatten as best as possible – if the latkes are too thick, they won’t cook evenly and will be hard to flip.
- Cook around 3 minutes on each side or flip when golden brown.
- Serve with applesauce, sour cream, or just eat them cold for breakfast, standing over the sink. :)
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I’m going to try these! Your skillet looks non-stick. Do you think this would work in a cast iron pan, or would that be asking for trouble?
I used my nonstick electric skillet because I love it so hard. I try not to use any Teflon when I can but when I tried to pan-fry these in my stainless steel skillet, it was a FAIL, even with a ton of coconut oil. I’m pretty sure I just haven’t mastered the art of cooking in steel yet, so if you consider yourself a pro, I say give it a try. Just plop one in at a time; that way if it fails, it’s only wasted one, right? :)