Grated Apple Pancakes

I went walking through the bush on the weekend with a friend of mine, she and I had decided to explore a National Park about an hour and a half’s drive from home and it was such a peaceful, warm and sunny, relaxing day. We ambled through quite beautiful countryside, and with a little guide book and a giant map, found our way to a couple of really pretty spots. Of course while walking, we talked and talked about all sorts of stuff — life, food, travel, other walks completed and those not yet trod. We spoke about travel, in particular the different experiences we’d had when travelling to India and Nepal, having both been some years apart.

Natural Bridge, Springbrook National Park

While we were making our way up a bit of a hill, I was struck by a memory from my Nepal trip. This is a food memory of course, please bear with me while I get to the recipe we’re eventually going to talk about! I had become ill while hiking through the Himalayas and had to unfortunately cut my trip short; I had a fantastic guide who walked back with me through the mountains to the small airport so I could fly back to Kathmandu. We had stopped in at a little guesthouse somewhere between Khumjung and Namche Bazar for a snack and a cup of lemon tea (hot lemon flavoured Tang actually, and yes, there is such a thing). I had zero appetite but I had to eat something. My guide, Lal, gave me a potato thinking I’d be able to manage that. To a chorus of giggles from the other guides sitting nearby, I bit into it, not realising that one is to peel the potato before eating it. Potato etiquette…who knew? Anyway, I managed a bit of that, but Lal was not convinced I’d eaten enough, so he ordered me an apple pancake with lots of extra sugar sprinkled on top. This I ate most of, eventually, and will never forget how patiently he sat next to me making sure I got that next mouthful down. At this point in the telling, I remembered that one of the recipes in Nanna’s cookbook was a grated apple pancake recipe! I knew then what I should be cooking next for this blog.

This recipe for the Grated Apple Pancakes seemed easy enough, however as the scones have taught me, I really should know to approach some of these recipes with a cynical gaze. Before we begin cooking, a reminder, one needs to have squeezed the moisture out of the grated apples before mixing all the ingredients together and frying them. The original recipe calls for just the grated apple, sugar and eggs. What I ended up frying, the first time, were a heap of wet sloppy pieces of grated apple which formed nothing resembling a pancake. A disaster.

Grated Apple Pancakes…take two. Once the mixture had been made the correct way, and I had added the self-raising flour (a modern addition that I think is essential to this recipe, nothing was holding those pancakes together otherwise), I was thinking to myself how healthy they seemed. Apple! Egg! A small amount of flour and sugar! Then I remembered, these are shallow fried pancakes, fried in oil. Quite tasty with a sprinkle of cinnamon and a piece of fresh apple, it must be noted that these fit firmly into the comfort food category. Delicious comfort food.

Grated Apple Pancakes

4 medium apples

1 tbsp. sugar

2 eggs

3 tbsp. self raising flour

Oil, for shallow frying

Peel, core and grate the apples. Squeezes excess moisture through a strainer, and place into a mixing bowl. Add the sugar, eggs, sifted flour and stir well together.

Heat oil in frypan — only a few tablespoons should be required, depending on the size of your pan.

Spoon around a dessertspoon’s worth of the pancake mixture into the hot oil, and cook for a few minutes each side, until golden brown.

Enjoy with a glass of apple juice! (I swear, that's what's in the glass in the background of the photo.)

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For those of you who are not in Australia, please find here a selection of Measurement & Temperature Conversion Charts which should help with the accuracy of your own cooking.