Many people say that Polish cuisine is full of dishes made either from potatoes or flour. And it seems to be true – the Poles love dumplings, potato soup, borscht with potatoes and even very popular, traditional Sunday main meal consists of pork chop and mashed potatoes. But there are also many simple meals that one can make quickly and easy… one of them are potato pancakes.
To make potato pancakes you first need to wash and peel potatoes. You will need about 1,5 kilo for a family of four. You can either grate them on the fine side of the greater or use a blender. If you are in favour of savoury dishes, adding one onion will help you get more specific taste of the pancakes. Put it together with the potatoes in the blender or cut it finely to match the grated ones.
Add one egg and a little bit of flour (at least 3 table spoons – but you might need more depending on how dry the potatoes are) and then season it with salt and black pepper. Ideal consistency should remind medium thick porridge – but you can also try it out by frying the first potato pancake. In case it is too watery – just add some more flour, otherwise the pancakes will fall apart before you take them off the pan.
Heat oil on a frying pan (so that the pancakes would be half sunk in it) and once the oil is hot, put the mixture on it. Make sure that you did not put too much of the mixture (they must be fairly thin to be crispy). Fry the pancake on both sides.
You can eat potato pancakes with various sauces: mushroom, tomato or simply goulash. Some people, however, prefer it in a sweet way: with cream or sugar – or with both of them. If you choose a sweet way, you might consider skipping onion as an ingredient and adding no salt and pepper during preparation. If you still prefer savoury way you can enrich your pancakes with spices such as garlic.
Potato pancakes are very easy to make. You do not need a lot of time to prepare it – therefore it is a perfect dish on one of the busy days. If you like them in a sweet way – you can treat potato pancakes as a desert. I am sure that after trying out this recipe, you will find your own way of making potato pancakes.
This recipe was originally published on the BellaOnline Polish Culture Site.
Barbara was born and is currently living in Poland. She is passionate about differences between cultures, customs and traditions as well as getting to know them from the locals when visiting a given country. Working in a tourism field, Barbara has learned to be aware of her own country´s cultural heritage and to be able to convey this passion to others. Having been brought up in a traditional Polish family this knowledge comes to her naturally.