I’ve been on a hunt over the past several months, trying to come up with healthier “quick dinner ideas” as my son calls them. Quick is defined as out of the fridge or cupboard and ready to eat in 15 minutes or less. So all those 30 min dinner cookbooks are out the window for this. I had a number of small bags of potatoes laying around that needed to be dealt with as well. They take 20min to cook at the best of times, and I have one household member who doesn’t much care for them most of the time. I discovered they’d eat them in chili, but the other household member won’t touch chili!
Then the idea of hashbrown bars came to mind, similar to how you buy them from various fast food restaurants. So I went looking for recipes online, and found a very confusing instruction. Some hashbrown recipes said to rinse the grated potatoe two or three times and to toss out the starchy water, because that is what keeps it from holding together. Other recipes said to rinse once or twice, but to put the starchy cloudy water BACK into the grated potatoe, because that is what holds it together! I sat there for several minutes really scratching my head over those conflicting pieces of advice!
Now granted, I was looking for eggless versions of making hashbrown patties/cakes/etc, because I am allergic to most store-bought eggs. This means I look for an eggless version of many recipes, particularly those recipes where egg is a significant part of the ingredient list. Most cakes, breads, etc, I can eat without difficulty, but chocolate chip cookies have an egg to flour ratio that I can’t eat, just for comparison’s sake. So the recipes I was looking at with the conflicting advice were all eggless.
Then I came across a few people who made hashbrown waffles, and all they did was grate the potatoe and throw it on the waffle iron! Hmmm, I thought! My waffle iron is a bit old, requires oiling as it’s non-stick surface isn’t so non-stick anymore. Then an idea hit me. . . I was going to try out one of those eggless hashbrown recipes without rinsing the potatoe and throw it on the waffle iron! To my amazement, it worked!
Here is my hashbrown waffle recipe:
HASHBROWN WAFFLES
Ingredients:
6 – 8 medium sized potatoes
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon onion powder (or a medium onion also grated)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
- Wash and chop the potatoes into inch or less sized cubes and throw into blender. You should have enough to fill the blender before you turn it on. Use the pulse button to break up the potatoe into smaller pieces. Shake the blender cup to loosen up the chunks every now and then, use a spatula to loosen what clings to the walls, particularly if it’s larger chunks. When the potatoe is all reduced to grated-size roughly, dump into medium or large mixing bowl.
2. Plug in your waffle iron and set it to it’s highest heat setting, lid closed.
3. Add your onion, garlic, salt and pepper, and shake over some of the flour from the 1/2 cup. Take your spatula and stir till you can’t see the flour, shake more out of the 1/2 cup, stir till you can’t see that flour either. Keep dusting with flour and stirring it in until the half cup is empty.
4. Open the lid of your waffle iron and brush oil on the top and bottom plates, be sure to allow some to pool between the waffle holes.
5. Take your half cup and scoop it onto the waffle iron. Press down with a spatula, spreading out but being sure to have a total uncooked height of roughly an inch. If your waffle iron is the size of mine, you may need a second half cup of mixture to get an inch of uncooked potatoe across the entire waffle iron. Close the lid and set your timer for 10 minutes.
6. If your waffle iron has it’s own timer according to its heat setting, ignore that one and wait for the 10 minute timer to ding. Then left the waffle iron lid. If you applied enough oil, the lid should open no problem, and using your pancake flipper, the waffle should come free of the bottom iron without too much hassle. Set aside on a plate. If you find water collecting in the bowl, just stir it in with your spatula before adding the next waffle.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 until your mixing bowl is empty. You should get 4 to 6 waffles from this batch.
Unlike many of the other hashbrown recipes I found, it doesn’t matter what type of potatoe you use. This even worked with a few sweet potatoes I had on hand, although those carmelized dramatically in the waffle iron. They otherwise cooked up very nicely. My potatoe stash had russets, transparent, red, and other breeds as well.
My entire stash of potatoes created 10 or so meal portions (three of us in the household, so three waffles per package). Each waffle contains roughly 1.5 potatoes. So if you don’t want that much potatoe at a meal, just eat half the waffle, or three quarters of it. My waffle maker creates belgium waffles that have dividing lines such that each waffle can be broken into 4 pieces. Only reheat the portions you want to eat and put the rest back in the freezer.
These are far more filling than some of the “quick dinner ideas” we’ve bought at the store! Now I don’t need to worry about bringing home potatoes and others not wanting to eat them, or not having the schedule to cook them in ways the others will eat them! I can take a day and make up a number of waffle packages and feed my family better, for less!
