Potato Mushroom Cakes

I am more an "offline" person than an "online" person. I can't read e-books for the life in me. I don't think I can snuggle in bed with a laptop. A book is so much easier. That would probably explain why, despite the existence of so many food blogs, I continue to buy cookbooks with amazing regularity. There are old favourites and then there are new discoveries. While I continue to add to my collection, I fear that some of my books will wear out sooner than the others. One such book is "Favorite Vegetarian Dishes". It was a gift from my boss in the US. It is so full of recipes that call out to me. I have made several dishes after adapting the recipes to my taste from this book. Some of them are Grilled Garlic Potato Wedges, Garlic And Sage Bread, Pumpkin Soup, Middle Eastern Salad and Punjabi Kadhi Pakoda.

I made this on a winter weekend afternoon and they were gone in no time at all. I had originally intended to send this to the Potato events that were doing the rounds, but this just sat languishing in my drafts. Sia said we could post recipes throughout the year as an Ode to Potato, so I am doing just that.

2 cups Potatoes, boiled and mashed

2 tbsp Butter

2 cups Mixed Mushrooms (I used Button, Shitake and Oyster)

1 Egg, beaten

2 cloves Garlic, chopped

1 tbsp Mixed Fresh Herbs

¼ cup Bread Crumbs

2 tbsp Flour

Salt and Pepper to taste

Oil for frying

Melt the butter in a pan and add the mushrooms and garlic. Cook for about 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly. Drain any excess liquid. Stir this mixture into the potatoes and add the beaten egg and herbs. Shape the mixture into small balls and flatten each.

Meanwhile, mix the flour with a little water to make a batter. Place the bread crumbs on a plate. Heat the oil for frying. Coat each cake with the flour batter and then roll in the bread crumbs until evenly covered. Slide each cake into the hot oil and fry on each side until slightly dark brown. Drain on absorbent paper. Serve with tomato ketchup. Alternatively, you could shallow fry these cakes in a skillet. In that case, you could omit the bread crumbs and roll the cakes in plain flour (not flour batter).

These are like the western cousins of AlooTikkis and make for a great snack. I'm sending these to Mansi over at Fun and Food for Meeta's Monthly Mingle, the theme of which is Appetizers & Hors'Doeuvres.