Grate that lone zucchini before it spoils to make a savory pancake (and thank me later)

vegetable-packed breakfast + sadness over losing half the food to the kitchen floor

I presume all of us find some lonely vegetables in the fridge that are neither sufficient to make a full meal nor insufficient to be tossed (without the guilt). For some reason zucchini is often my lone vegetable. In the supermarket the fresh zucchini is so inviting that I get excited to buy like 4 or 5 of them. Then somehow, inevitably only one will remain, many times leading to my face contorted in confusion each time I open the fridge and stare at it. What do I do with it?!?!?

Last week I found myself in such a predicament. I came very close to just tossing it out but then my kitchen-challenge hungry hulk-like free style chef inner spirit rose to the top and dared me to turn it into something delicious (or at least edible). It was 11am and I hadn’t hand breakfast yet; I brainstormed several ideas.

1. Roasted zucchini sticks coated with parmesan cheese sounded delicious. But would require me to pre-heat the oven. I wasn’t loving the time this would take. PASS.

2. Zucchini sabji, a north Indian style dry curry dish perhaps paired with potatoes sounded interesting. But I was not in the mood for a spicy dish that would also require me to prep several other ingredients (potato, onion, garlic, ginger, etc.). PASS.

3. Pasta with charred zucchini also came to mind. But I wasn’t in the mood to boil pasta water or eat it this early in the day. PASS.

4. Shaved zucchini in a salad with a mild nutty dressing seemed inviting. But then I realized I did not have many fixings to make the salad or the dressing. PASS.

5. Grated zucchini in some kind of pancake intrigued my brain and taste buds. WINNER. I decided to pursue this idea.

I grate the zucchini into a cheese cloth and rung out moisture. I wasn’t super crazy with it, just a quick twist to get most of the moisture out. I must say the grating and removing the moisture was quite satisfying, not surprising since prepping veggies is one of my favorite things in the kitchen.

In order for this zucchini to turn into a tasty pancake I needed something that would bind it together and add some flavors. Since it was still practically breakfast time I chose 2 eggs to bind this. At the last minute I also decided to add chickpea flour (besan) to absorb any residual moisture and also add an unexpected texture and flavor undertone to the pancake. For the spices I added salt, crushed pink peppercorns, dried thyme, dried oregano, and red chili flakes. I had purchased the pink peppercorns on my last trip to Italy and was dying to use them in something.

~ a Vegan version would omit the eggs and instead add more besan (chickpea flour) ~

I added the entire mixture in a large pan on low-medium heat with a spray of olive oil. I fixed the edges to have as much contact with the pan and then put a lid on top to allow it to cook and steam for ~10 mins on one side. When I tried to flip this, I realized it was too large to flip in one go. I had made too large a pancake. I should have made 4 smaller round pancakes instead of one giant version (cue face palm emoji; next time I won’t be this lazy I promise). So I cut the giant pancake into 4 pieces and flipped each piece individually. I placed the lid back on and cooked the other side for ~7-10 mins.

I was excited about how this was shaping up, both in terms of how it looked and the aromas emanating from the pan. I was pretty proud of myself at this point for coming up with a recipe in my head, executing it, and having it look relatively decent. With this excitement, and yes perhaps also arrogance, I began plating these savory pancakes. I was motivated to plate beautifully and decided it would be like layered mountains. I held the plate in my left hand next to the kitchen counter and used the second hand to scoop up a piece with the spatula to slide on to the plate.

As I slid the first piece on the plate, I watched it slide right off the plate and on to the floor. I stood there in disbelief not able to process what just happened. As I came to my senses and the reality of the events sunk in, I may have muttered blasphemously. I rolled my eyes, decided to ignore the piece on the floor, and try again. I was sad that my layers would now only have 3 mountains. For reasons unknown to me, I repeated the same exact movement: plate in left hand, pancake piece on the spatula in the right hand…. and then watched the exact outcome repeat itself. The second piece also ended up on the floor (cue 100s of face palm emojis). How? What? Why? What? I could not believe what was happening to me (in times of tragedy we often like to blame circumstances outside of ourselves, perhaps I can blame my under-fed brain that morning?). Maybe, if I was smarter, I would have realized the first time that holding the plate in my hand is not working out? Fool me once…. fool me twice… and then…what is that saying?

I literally had to put everything back and walk away - plate back on the kitchen counter, spatula back into the pan - and take some deep breaths. After I calmed down and my breathing returned to a normal pace, I was able to think again. I walked back into the kitchen with a resolve (and a working brain). I put a new plate on the kitchen counter, not in my hand. I used one hand to slide a pancake piece on the spatula and used my other hand to guide the pancake into the plate sitting on the counter. I successfully avoided losing this 3rd piece and then the 4th and final piece to the kitchen floor. Small wins. At the end I was left with only two mountains adorning my brunch plate.

I decided to pair this low carb dish with a granch sauce (Greek yogurt + ranch powder mixed in), although it would easily pair with many other savory sauces (ketchup or sauces with asian ingredients like gochujang, soy, miso, etc. or sauces based on mayo or aioli). The pancakes turned out pretty good. They had a crunch from the bottom layer, softness from the eggs and besan, freshness from the zucchini, and interesting flavor from the spices. I would say pink peppercorns weren’t my favorite flavor in this dish, they overpowered the other spices a bit, I will omit them next time.

Despite losing half my food to the kitchen floor, I am still happy with this dish, especially as I play around with ideas to improve it next time by testing different vegetables (carrots or eggplant or cauliflower) and spices (so many options!). I hope you try these tasty savory pancakes sometime to make use of your lone vegetables and hopefully manage to get all the food on to the plate without the unnecessary challenges I faced.

Dish Debrief

• Is this my winner or disaster? leaning towards a win

• How would I rate this dish out of 10? 6 out of 10

• What would I change next time? make smaller pancakes; try other veggies and spices; try to get food on to the plate instead of the floor

• Would I make this again? yes