Draniki
Crisp Ukrainian potato pancakes of finely grated potato and onion, fried in oil and served with sour cream.
Photograph credit: Kartoffelpuffer by Clemens Pfeiffer · CC BY-SA 2.0 at · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence
Grate the onion into the potato. That is the single most useful trick in this recipe, because the onion juice slows the potato from turning grey and adds a mild sweetness. Raw potato oxidises in minutes, and a grey pancake is not appetising.
Use the fine side of the grater for a smoother, more tender pancake, or the medium side for a lacy one. Draniki are generally finer than other potato cakes. Pour off the liquid that collects, but leave the starch that settles at the bottom, and mix it back in. The starch is the binder. It holds the pancakes together with very little flour.
Heat the oil until a drop of batter sizzles at once. Spoon in the mix and flatten to about 1 cm thick. Cook for about 4 minutes a side, until the edges are brown and lacy.
Serve immediately with sour cream. They cool and soften quickly.
Draniki: Step by Step
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Grate the potatoes and onion finely into a bowl. Drain off the liquid, keeping the starch at the bottom.
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Mix in the egg, flour, salt and pepper.
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Heat the oil in a wide frying pan over a medium-high heat. Spoon in portions of the mix and flatten to 1 cm thick.
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Fry for 4 minutes on each side until golden and crisp at the edges. Drain and serve with the sour cream.
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Worth Getting Right
- Grate the onion in with the potato.
- Keep the starch from the bottom of the bowl.
- Fry in hot oil in batches.
- Serve at once for the best texture.
What to Serve With It
Sour cream · Smoked sausage · Pickled cucumbers · Fried mushrooms
Storage
Best eaten straight away. Reheat in a hot oven.
The Numbers per Serving
No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (how much frying oil the food takes up cannot be known from the recipe). Why some recipes have none.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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