Giant Carrot and Potato Hash Brown Pancakes topped with fried eggs

Okay so we have somehow ended up with a huge glut of carrots in our house so expect lots of recipes using them up this week. 

This took a bit of time but it wasn’t hard at all ... okay maybe the flipping was a little tricky but I have my own tricks to make it foolproof. 

I used my food processor to grate the veggies because, well why not? It saved me a bunch of work. But of course you can totally use a box grater and do them by hand. 

Also, to make sure these are properly cooked through, I start these in the pan but finish them in the oven. Nothing more disappointing than a hash brown that’s raw in the middle. 

INGREDIENTS:

2 medium floury skin on potatoes, coarsely grated

1 large carrot, peeled and coarsely grated

1 red onion, finely chopped 

3tbsp plain flour 

Salt and pepper 

Oil for frying 

1-2 eggs

METHOD:

1. Put the grated carrots and potatoes into the middle of a clean tea towel, bring up the sides and squeeze out as much excess liquid as possible over a bowl or the sink. If you don’t get the extra water out, your hash browns will steam/boil instead of frying. Tip the drained veggies into a clean dry bowl.

2. Add the chopped onion, salt and pepper, and the flour. Stir everything together till it’s all lightly coated in flour. You don’t want it to be powdery, just enough flour to bind the veggies together a bit, so it should be a little sticky from the residual moisture on the veg.

3. Pre-heat the oven to 200*C and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

4. Add a little oil to a moderate hot non-stick frying pan, add the mixture and quickly spread it out and press it down with a spatula to make a solid even layer. Fry on a low-medium heat for 5 mins or so until the surface touching the pan is golden and crisp. You are trying to start the hash brown cooking through, not just build colour. It should be a little set on the cooked side before you try flipping it otherwise it will just fall to bits. 

5. To flip, take the pan off the heat.  Put your sheet of greaseproof paper over the top of the pan and place your baking tray face down on top. Keeping you hand on the bottom of the tray to keep it in place over the pan, confidently and quickly flip everything over. Now the uncooked side of your pancake is face down on the greaseproof and the cooked side is face up. 

6. You then quickly and gently slide the pancake off the greaseproof back into the pan with the cooked side facing up.  You shouldn’t need to push it off the greaseproof, just tilt the tray till gravity pulls it down off the tray for you.

7. Fry again for 5 minutes or so, then slide it out of the pan back onto the greaseproof lined tray and pop it in the oven till it’s crispy and golden and cooked through. 10-15 mins max.

8. Serve the hash brown pancake topped with fried eggs.