Potato Pancakes {Placki Ziemniaczane}

Anna

8 years ago

80 / 100

Potato Pancakes {Placki Ziemniaczane}

This very thrifty dish is not only weirdly delicious, but it also won’t break your budget. Poles, through many economic and political turbulence over the centuries, were forced to get creative with their resources.

Potatoes are cheap and always in everyone’s pantry. Onions? Who doesn’t grow onions or knows someone who grows onions.

I believe this is a great example of Polish resourcefulness. To make this $1 dinner you will need just a few ingredients that you already have in your pantry or fridge.

Potato pancakes are pan-fried savory dinner dish, that my family served with a dollop of cold and creamy sour cream and a sprinkle of sugar. Hot pancakes melt the cream slightly and gives enough moisture to dissolve the sugar. Somehow, the savory and sweet works well and the dish is very popular with kids.

Potato Pancakes {Placki Ziemniaczane}

Yields: 16-20 pancakes
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

2 lbs / 1 kg of raw potatoes
1 onion
2 eggs
½ c / 60 g of all-purpose flour
2 tsp of salt
½ c / 120 ml of water (if needed)
Grease (oil or lard) for frying
ADDITIONALLY:
Sour cream and sugar for topping

Instructions

Peel and rough dice the potatoes and onion (be prompt; you don’t want the potatoes turning brown) and place in your blender (I needed to put some water with the veggies to get it going, but it’s not necessary if you have a high-speed super blender). I did this in two batches. Make sure to leave some onion for both batches: it prevents raw potatoes from turning brown. Blend on high for a couple of minutes to create a smooth paste.
Put a colander lined with cheesecloth over a bowl. Transfer your mixture into the colander and let it sit for a few minutes to drain some of the liquid. You may also bring the edges of the cheesecloth together to squeeze it out. Reserve the liquid.
Transfer potato / onion mixture into a bowl, add lightly beaten eggs, flour, and salt.
On the bottom of the liquid that collected in the bowl, you will see a thin layer of potato starch. Slowly pour the liquid out, but leave the starch behind and add it to your potato / onion mixture. Mix together until combined.
Heat oil / lard in a pan and fry thinly spread pancakes until golden brown on both sides.
Serve immediately topped with sour cream and sugar.

Notes

You can also serve them with beef or pork goulash, or Hungarian style, with roasted red bell peppers and onions (will have to make that recipe sometime).

Till then, let me know what you think! Please leave me a comment below.

Smacznego!!

Anna

ps. you can now see me making this dish below!