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Zucchini Pancakes
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- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 3medium zucchini (about 1 pound), shredded
- Salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 3large eggs, beaten
- ½cup all-purpose flour
- 1tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1cup crumbled feta cheese
- 3scallions, finely chopped
- ⅓cup finely chopped dill
- 1teaspoon baking powder
- 4 to 6tablespoons vegetable oil, more as needed
- ⅔cup plain yogurt
- 2cloves garlic, finely chopped
- ½teaspoon salt
For the Pancakes
For the Yogurt Sauce
Preparation
For the Pancakes
- Step 1
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Place zucchini in a colander over a bowl, and mix with ½ teaspoon salt. Allow to drain for five minutes. Transfer to a cloth kitchen towel, and squeeze hard to extract as much moisture as possible. Squeeze a second time; volume will shrink to about half the original.
- Step 2
In a large mixing bowl, combine zucchini and eggs. Using a fork, mix well. Add flour, ½ teaspoon salt, olive oil, feta, scallions, dill and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Mix well, add baking powder, and mix again.
- Step 3
Place a cast iron skillet or other heavy skillet over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and heat until shimmering. Place heaping tablespoons of zucchini batter in pan several inches apart, allowing room to spread. Flatten them with a spatula if necessary; pancakes should be about ⅜ inch thick and about 3 inches in diameter. Fry until golden on one side, then turn and fry again until golden on other side. Repeat once or twice, frying about 5 to 6 minutes total, so pancakes get quite crisp. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels, and keep warm in oven. Continue frying remaining batter, adding more oil to pan as needed. Serve hot.
- Step 4
For yogurt sauce: In a small bowl, combine yogurt, garlic and salt. Mix well, and serve on the side or on pancakes.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
The authentic recipe is much simpler and less fattening: Use one egg only. Scallions, cheese, olive oil, baking powder, black pepper are not needed. Add 1 Tbsp of dried mint. Dill weed can be dried also (1 Tbsp). The consistency of the batter: You should be able to drop the batter into the pan easily. This is not supposed to be doughy. Once in the pan, slightly flatten it with a fork/spoon. Definitely squeeze out the water of zucchinis really hard before mixing the other ingredients.
How much (in weight) is "3 medium zucchini"? PLEASE give more concrete measurements?
To easily get excess moisture out of zukes:
-wrap shredded zukes in a tea towel, then spin them in the lettuce spinner
Or for more fun:
-wrap shredded zukes in a tea towel, then step out outside and swing the towel around in a large circle at your side. Helps if you have a teenager around.
I replaced the regular flour with chickpea flour - equally delicious and suitable for the GF intolerant...
Back home (Turkeyj we also cook a healthier version in the oven instead of frying them. We use only one egg, 3 is waay tooooo much. Add a shredded potato and only 1 tablespoon of flour. And I add about a half cup of shredded nutty cheese, back home it’s kaskaval, over in the states I use manchego. 350 oven for about 40 minutes or until the top browns. And then enjoy. It’s good warm and cold.
I made a couple as waffles to avoid the additional fat from the oil and they were even better than the pancake version. Light and crisp!
Use potato ricer to squeeze out excess liquid. Works great for spinach as well!
Hmmm. Why don't you buy 3 medium zucchini, stick them on the scale and tell us?
Seriously though, when you use something like zucchini in a recipe like this where the exact amounts are not critical, it would be silly to specify an exact weight. You'd have people grating 2-3/4 or 3-1/4 zucchini and sticking the rest in the fridge, left wondering what to do with it. Makes far better sense to say "3 medium".
Besides that, people buy zucchini by the each, not by the weight.
I made this with chickpea flour (I am gluten-free), parmesan, cilantro and used one egg; also added lemon zest and garlic. I served it with avocado crema, recipe below.
1 avocado, peeled and pit removed (chop into pieces)
1/4 cup sour cream
2 cloves garlic
2 green onions, chopped
Zest of half a large lemon
1-2 Tablespoons lemon juice (use less if you want thick crema)
1 teaspoon sea salt
freshly ground pepper
chopped fresh cilantro, basil or parsley for garnish
Pulse in food processor.
the trick here is to make them super crispy. don't skimp on the time you allow and be sure to flip them several times. i found the ingredients perfectly balanced. first batch i rushed and they were not particularly great. but when i really let them brown, and brown again, and again...WOW...they were fantastic!
For those seeking more specifics on quantity, just made these using 4 zucchini with total weight of 1.75 lbs. Shredded with medium disk of Cuisinart & squeezed out the liquid strenuously using a cotton napkin. Only substitute was 1 T dried dill weed instead of fresh - all else the same. So delicious, they needed nothing, not even the leftover yogurt tahini sauce I had from a previous meal. Served as a side with tonight's dinner, could have been a meal in itself. To be repeated!
I drain in my salad spinner....gets all of the liquid out in a sec....good for many other things also....
I wish all NY Times recipes featuring fruits or vegetables would include approximate weight as well as general size.
The best way to get the water out of zucchini is to grate it, freeze it, then thaw and drain it. Magic. Let temperature do the work. Zucchini doesn't suffer in freshness. I haven't tried this recipe but I've been making muçver for a long time, and this way works without you having to work.
Made these last evening. Stunningly easy to make and incredibly delicious. Subbed tarragon for the dill. Will add diced jalapeño next time for some spice. Subbed sour cream with a good grind of black pepper for the yogurt sauce. Panfried in a large cast iron skillet on a gas grill. Kept the splatter and the heat out of the kitchen. Sat on the patio, looking at the zucchini plants from which the pancakes were made—and ate them as they came out of the pan. A wonderful meal. Thank you!
Delicious - great flavor balance. I had better luck with the cast iron pan heated to medium high.
Avocado cream shared by a reader was wonderful!
What a beautiful meal and the yogurt was so simple but flavorful and perfect for these delights! Biggest surprise: grated the zucchini, salted, and squished a bit, IN THE MORNING. Left it to sit and drain all day (cool here in Vermont), and by the time I got back to it 7 hours later, it was totally free of its liquid and needed no squeezing AT ALL! If you can plan ahead, go for it! (And had it been hot, of course it would have gone into the fridge.)
These pancakes were fluffy and great tasting although I did add a grated carrot and parmesan cheese. Definitely making these again.
Excellent recipe. Family loved it.
These were easy and fun to make. I used Romano cheese and basil because that’s what I had on hand, but I’ll make it with feta and dill next time. Also I added chopped olives and tomato to the yogurt sauce. All yum!
And make sure you really squeeze the water out of the zucchs. Maybe try the potato ricer?
Delish, the feta cheese adds depth, even with no sauce
Maybe it was added later, but recipe says 3 medium zucchini (about 1 pound).
I keep wondering why the baking powder is not stirred into the flour first instead of adding it separately near the end. Seems to me that it would be dispersed better that way.
I made this with rice flour, and it tasted delicious! I have made things similar, but I like the feta in this recipe.
Baked in oven at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes, it came out super puffy with a crunchy bottom , with less oil. I added two smallish large eggs, not three large, omitted the scallion, and instead added half mint/dill for the herbs and some grinds of pepper. I happened to have some aged feta, and split that with grated Gruyère. Both or one would work great.
Made without the dill and scallions and they tasted quite nice still. :-)
This would be good ( minus the feta) for breakfast with a poached egg on top!
Folks, don't stress over the weight of zucchini. I have a Turkish friend over tonight who is making these off the cuff. She used one summer squash, one zucchini, two eggs, a few spoonfuls of flour, a few spears of green onion, a handful of fresh dill, S/P and she's using sunflower oil to fry them up. Experiment! I lived in TR for 17 years and never saw anyone add baking powder or cheese to mucver, but I say - go for it! Have fun! Serve at room temp and remember to spritz with a lemon wedge!
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