Russian Potato Pancakes – Learn in 2 Minutes: You could compare Russian potato pancakes to fritters, but I mash mine with onion and spices in a food processor or mixer. The inside is creamy and wonderful, and the outside is crispy from being pan-fried. The hash brown and pancake seem to have come together in the kitchen to make this potato-filled pancake, which would be great for breakfast or lunch.
Russian Potato Pancakes – Learn in 2 Minutes
INGREDIENTSÂ
Potato Cakes
- 4 large Russet potatoes roughly chopped
- 1 small brown onion roughly chopped
- 2Â large eggs
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- Salt to taste
- Black pepper to taste
- Cooking oil for frying
For Serving
- Herbs Green onion, Dill, Parsley
- Sour cream
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INSTRUCTIONS
- Cut up raw potatoes and onions into small pieces and put them in a food processor. You can pulse it until it’s smooth, or you can leave some chunks. Finally, it’s up to you to choose which style you like best. You can also use a box grater to grate the potatoes and onions in a medium-sized size. If you’d rather, you can just dice them very small.
- Gather the potato mix in a clean kitchen towel, fine mesh sieve, or cheesecloth. Squeeze out all the liquid into a large bowl. The potato starch at the bottom of the bowl should be kept.
- Throw away the liquid. It helps the pancakes stay put. For the pancakes to stay together, they can’t skip this step because the potatoes need to be dry.
- Put the potato mixture that has been rinsed and the starch into a big bowl. Put in the eggs, flour, and spices. Use a stir to mix.
- Put a nonstick pan over medium-high heat and add a tablespoon of oil. Drop 2 tablespoons of potato batter slowly into the pan once it’s hot and dancing. If you don’t want to spread the batter out, press down gently with the back of the spoon (see notes). Fry the pancakes for two to three minutes on each side, until golden brown and crispy. Don’t put too much in the pan; you’ll have to work in batches.
- Make sure to clean the pan of any cooked food and add more oil if needed between batch.
- Place the pancakes on a plate that has been lined with paper towels to soak up any extra water. Keep the latkes away from each other by putting them on a big plate or putting parchment paper and kitchen paper between them.
- In the traditional way, potato latkes are eaten with fresh herbs and sour cream. I like these salty, but if you’d rather have something sweet, serve them with applesauce.
FREEZING AND STORING INSTRUCTIONS
- To Store. These Russian potato pancakes are best enjoyed right away. Keep the latkes warm in the oven while you finish the batches. Make as much as you’d consume but in case leftovers keep them in the fridge for 2 days in an airtight container.
- Separate each potato pancake with parchment paper or kitchen towels. For the freezer, tightly cover the pancakes with plastic wrap and store them for up to 2 months. Thaw and reheat in the oven or over low heat in the pan with a little butter.
- How to reheat potato pancakes – your first option is to reheat on the stovetop on medium-low heat with a little butter or oil. Just until they are warm. Alternatively, reheat in the microwave in 30-minute increments or in the preheated oven at 400 degrees F. Cover them with foil while in the oven so they don’t dry out.
Recipe Tips – You Should Follow
- Potato pancake toppings: these are savory pancakes, and I think the best ones are sour cream (straight or with herbs), spinach cream cheese dip, the famous fry sauce, or any other dipping sauce you would use for fries and fritters. On top of that, put fresh onions or herbs.
- Adding apple sauce, fruit jam, or caramel sauce makes them sweet for some people. Since this is the case, I would fry these with less salt and add a little sugar or maple syrup/honey to the batter along with the other ingredients.
- People usually use a food processor to grate potatoes for latkes, but I find that the food processor makes the job much easier and the texture smoother.
- Putting the hot latkes on a cooling rack on top of a baking pan lined with paper towels will catch any drips and make less of a mess.
- Don’t crowd the pan; use a big skillet instead. This will let the cakes cook equally while still giving them room to “breathe.” This will help make the outside crisp and the cooking more even.
- An electric grater can be used to shred the potatoes and onions if you don’t have one. It will be a bit of a workout and the texture won’t be as smooth as with a food processor, but you can still do it.
- To make crispy latkes, you need to get rid of as much extra liquid as you can from the potato mixture. For this, you can use a cooking towel, cheesecloth, or some other smaller strainer.
- Vegetable Oil—Usually, I use oils with high burn points, like avocado or grapeseed oil.
It doesn’t take much oil—we’re not deep-frying, and the process is like making pancakes—you only need a little butter or oil. - You can eat this recipe by itself or as a side dish with a lot of different main dishes. It tastes better with brown sugar added to our mashed sweet potatoes.
- Heat of the oil—You need to find the right heat because if the oil is too hot, you won’t be able to spread or make the pancake at all. It will spread out too much if there isn’t enough hot oil.
- Place fried potato pancakes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper to keep them warm while you cook the rest of the pancakes. In a hot oven until ready to serve, keep warm.
