A Special Weekend Sort of Breakfast
Breakfast in our family has always been a weekend affair. Sunday morning would roll around, and someone would head into the kitchen to make a batch of pancakes or french toast, eggs, sausage or bacon, and fresh cut fruit (yeah…in our family, we take a “go big or go home” attitude towards breakfast in general). But sometimes, we want something a little different from what you might get in a Denny’s Grand Slam. These potato cakes are flavored with some of the ingredients you’d find in one of our favorite Sichuan dishes––stir-fried julienned potatoes. (My mom did a recipe for that too. Check it out here.) The ginger, garlic, chili, hint of vinegar, and Sichuan peppercorns create a really unique and crispy hashbrown-like cake, which, when combined with a runny egg, makes the perfect start to a lazy Sunday.
Recipe Instructions
Using a food processor with a coarse grating disc or a regular box grater, grate the potatoes. Place the grated potato in the middle of a clean dish towel, wrap it up, and squeeze out as much liquid from the shredded potatoes as you can. Transfer to a bowl, and toss with crushed red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, scallion, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and 1 egg until thoroughly combined.
In a 12-inch skillet, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat. Add the Sichuan peppercorns and allow them to toast in the oil for 10 minutes or so, until fragrant.
Use a slotted spoon to scoop out the peppercorns and discard. Turn up the heat to medium high. Divide the potatoes into four portions, and add to the pan, making 4 “pancakes.”
Use a spatula to press each into an even circle, and cook until the bottom is golden brown (5-8 minutes), shaking the pan frequently so the potatoes don’t stick and adding more oil as needed. Flip, and cook each of the potato cakes until the other side is golden brown.
Meanwhile cook the eggs sunny side up.
Serve the eggs on top of the potato cakes hash browns.
