Potatoes may not play a leading role in any breakfast meal, but they're usually a reliable
supporting player. There is one ingredient, however, that will make them crispy on the
outside and tender on the inside. This hidden helper is pancake mix. Together, these two
bit players can have superstar potential.
The food blog Oh, Bite It gives the following instructions for making perfect pancake mix
potatoes. First wash and dice two to four medium to large potatoes into one-inch cubes,
with peels on or off, whatever your preference may be. Then, boil the potato cubes in a large
pot of water until they're tender but not falling apart.
Drain the potatoes well, then let them rest on a comfy bed of paper towels until they're
cool and dry. 10 minutes is usually good, but sometimes you may have to wait a little
longer. While the potatoes rest, stir two tablespoons of baking powder into a cup of
pancake mix. Once the potato cubes are dry enough, sprinkle them evenly with the pancake
mix, while gently tossing to make sure they're evenly coated.
Heat a pan of vegetable oil to 350 degrees, then fry the potatoes until they're golden
on all sides. Drain them on paper towels once more, then salt them to taste while they're
hot and serve them up right away.
With this breakfast hack up your sleeve, your yummy potatoes should disappear before your
eyes, just like magic. Basically, what this secret ingredient will do is make those no-longer-plain
breakfast potatoes into the star of the breakfast show.
Potatoes aren't the only dish enhanced by the secret addition of pancake mix. Taste
of Home suggests using pancake mix, combined with just a splash of carbonated water, like
club soda, to make beautifully browned fish fillets.
Just whisk two tablespoons of the water together with two eggs in one dish. Combine a cup of
pancake mix with a half teaspoon of seasoned salt and a quarter teaspoon of pepper in another
dish. Dip one six-ounce fish fillet first into the egg wash, then into the pancake mix.
From there, fry in hot oil at a temperature of 375 degrees for two or three minutes until
golden brown.
This recipe should make enough mix to coat four fish filets in all, and you should be
able to fry two at a time if there's room in the pan. While Taste of Home's recipe uses
catfish, a pancake mix coating would be tasty with any other type of fried fish, as well.
One commenter called it a real good tempura type batter, and suggested further enhancing
the recipe by adding a pinch of turmeric to deepen the golden color.
What's that, you say? You have no boxed pancake mix? In fact, you won't have such a thing
in the house, since you prefer to make your pancakes from scratch? That won't be a problem.
If you have the ingredients to make pancakes on hand, you can easily whip up a do-it-yourself
pancake mix that can be used in the breakfast potato or fried fish recipes.
"We stop at pancakes house."
"What are you nuts? We had pancakes for breakfast."
You can even use it to make pancakes without feeling as if you're cheating since it needn't
involve any assistance from a mix bought at the store. The Spend With Pennies blog provides
a simple recipe for dry pancake mix.
Simply combine four cups of all-purpose flour with three tablespoons of baking powder, two
teaspoons of baking soda, one teaspoon of salt, and three tablespoons of sugar. Stir
all the ingredients thoroughly to combine them, then store the mix in a tightly-sealed
container in a cool, dry place. You could very well store the container in the same
cabinet where you store the rest of your baking stuff.
If you do want to make pancakes out of this mix, just combine a cup of it with a cup of
milk, an egg, and a tablespoon of melted butter or vegetable oil for a batter that's all ready
to go. That should still leave you plenty left over to enhance your breakfast potatoes
and even fry some fish for dinner, as well.
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