Recipe for Vegetable Pancakes with pear sauce (Gemüsepuffer mit Birnenmus)

Living in Germany has given me a different perspective on food. The cuisine is very different from Indian cuisine. The food is made with minimal spices and ingredient combinations and is yet sumptuous and delicious. One of the most common German foods I have tasted is the Kartoffelpuffer, a potato pancake usually served with a fruit sauce called mus( like apple sauce or pear sauce).

Today I am sharing a recipe for Gemüsepuffer (vegetable pancake), slightly different from Kartoffelpuffer ( potato pancake) but equally delicious and satisfying. It takes some time to make, but the recipe is easy to follow. In my home, I usually make it on the weekend, when I have enough time to spend in the kitchen and when everyone expects something different from the usual everyday breakfast.

So, here goes the recipe. Let’s start with the Ingredients:

Ingredients for making Vegetable Pancakes:

For the Pancake (Puffer in German):

• Potatoes: 500gm
• Carrots: 200 gm
• Onion: 1 big
• Ghee: for frying ( for my readers in Germany, if you don’t have ghee, use Butterschmalz)
• Salt: According to taste
• Milk: About 1/4 cup
• Butter: 1 tablespoon
• Pepper: 1/2 teaspoon
• Nutmeg Powder: 1/4 teaspoon
• Eggs: 4
• Refined Flour (I used Typ 450): 6 tablespoons

For the fruit sauce( Mus in German):

• Ripe pears: 4 ( you can even use canned ones if the fruit is not in season)
• Lemon juice: 4 tablespoons
• Cloves: 4
• Vanilla sugar: 1 packet, 10 gm ( here, if you don’t have vanilla sugar, take two teaspoons of sugar and a few drops of vanilla essence)

In addition

• Whipping cream ( if you don’t have whipping cream, fresh cream will also do)

Recipe for Vegetable Pancakes:

1. Take ghee in a pan, and fry onions. When the onions are translucent, add chopped carrots. Add salt, close the lid and cook for 5 minutes.
   
   
   
2. Then add the boiled and chopped potatoes. Fry a bit. Then add milk, butter, nutmeg powder and pepper. Close the lid and cook for 5-7 minutes.
   
   
   
3. Then take it out from the heat, roughly mash it and let it cool a bit. Then add eggs and flour and combine well.
   
   
   
4. Now, take a tablespoon and scoop out portions and fry them on a non-stick pan. Add butter to fry them. Fry till they are golden brown.
   
   
   
5. You can simultaneously start making the sauce. I say this because the sauce needs to cool a bit for serving. For the sauce, chop the fruit.
   
   
   
6. Add the chopped fruit, lemon juice, cloves, and vanilla sugar to a pan. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Mash roughly with the back of the spoon. Then remove it and let it cool.
   
   
   Note that you can even buy ready-made sauce from the supermarket. My readers in Germany: Please see my article to understand more. The product is called Birnenmus.
   
7. Now with the pancakes and the sauce ready, we are prepared to assemble. Take your serving plate. Keep one pancake. Then put some sauce. Then add another pancake, followed by some sauce. Many a pile with three pancakes like this. Then top it with more sauce, whipping cream, and serve.
   
   
   
   

The pancakes are ready!

Some notes for my readers in Germany:

You can get all the ingredients needed for this recipe from the supermarket. However, you can buy them from amazon.de too. Here is the ingredient list in German and links for buying these:

• Potatoes: Kartoffeln (https://amzn.to/3nm66Q4)
• Carrots: Möhren (https://amzn.to/44fC6pL)
• Onion: Zwiebeln (https://amzn.to/3HwFfrv)
• Ghee: Butterschmalz (https://amzn.to/3Vrhk2s)
• Salt: Salz (https://amzn.to/3NuFGpK)
• Milk: Milch (https://amzn.to/3ntxwU1)
• Butter: Butter (use ungesalzen i.e unsalted) (https://amzn.to/40R5Oy9)
• Pepper powder : Pfeffer pulver (https://amzn.to/3LrcJbE)
• Nutmeg Powder: Muskatnuss pulver (https://amzn.to/3HwvY2n)
• Eggs: Eier (https://amzn.to/3LIp7FD)
• Refined Flour: Mehl ( use Type 450) (https://amzn.to/3oX9122)
• Ripe pears: Birnen (Buy fresh or canned. I used canned pears for this recipe).(https://amzn.to/3Hw74zQ)
  
• Lemon juice: Zitronensaft (You can get this ready-made, Or take 2 fresh lemons and squeeze out the juice) (https://amzn.to/41UcA7N)
• Cloves: Nelke (https://amzn.to/3ALSAYY)
• Vanilla sugar: Vanillinzucker (It comes in small sachets like this) (https://amzn.to/3NtqFVc)
  
• Whipping cream: Schlagsahne (https://amzn.to/3nkbwee)

Equipment needed:

Mixing Bowl:https://amzn.to/3V8ZPUl

Pan: https://amzn.to/3LOQBcV

Cooking Pot:https://amzn.to/3LqFrtj

Some notes for my readers in India:

You can get most of these ingredients easily in India. However, here I would mention that you can replace pears with apples if you don’t get pears. If you can’t get Vanilla Sugar, replace it with two teaspoons of sugar and a few drops of vanilla essence.

Try this recipe, and let me know how it came out for you.

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