Name: Kartoffelpuffer
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: German
Ingredients: 1 kg floury potatoes, peeled; 1 onion; 1 egg; 2 tbsp plain flour; 1 tsp salt; 60 ml rapeseed oil absorbed, from 200 ml for frying; 200 g apple sauce, to serve

Kartoffelpuffer

Thin, lacy pancakes of grated potato and onion fried until crisp, served with apple sauce, in 40 minutes.

40 min total Serves 4 servings Easy

The Method for Kartoffelpuffer

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Grate the potatoes and onion finely. Squeeze hard in a cloth over a bowl and let the liquid stand for 1 minute. Pour off the water, keeping the starch.
Mix the potato with the starch, egg, flour and salt.
Heat the oil in a wide pan over medium heat. Drop in spoonfuls and flatten to thin rounds.
Fry for 4 minutes on each side until deep brown and crisp. Drain on kitchen paper.
Serve at once with the apple sauce.

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Keep an Eye on These

Squeeze the potato until almost dry.
Keep the starch from the bowl.
Press the pancakes thin for a crisp edge.

The Short Version

Kartoffelpuffer means potato puffs, though the best ones are anything but puffy: they are thin, lacy and crisp at the edge, like a latke without the stodge. The name changes across Germany, from Reibekuchen in the Rhineland to Kartoffelpuffer in the south.

Grate the potatoes finely, and the onion with them. Squeeze the mixture hard in a cloth and let the liquid stand for a minute so the starch sinks. Pour off the water and stir the starch back in, which holds the pancakes together with almost no flour. Mix with egg, a spoonful of flour and salt.

Fry thin rounds in a hot, well oiled pan, pressing them flat, and turn when the edge is deep brown. Each side takes about 4 minutes. Drain on kitchen paper and keep them warm in a low oven while you finish. Serve with apple sauce, or with smoked salmon and soured cream if you prefer a savoury plate.

On the Table Alongside

Apple sauce · Smoked salmon · Soured cream

Keeping Kartoffelpuffer

Best fresh. Reheat in a hot oven.