Belarus: Draniki - Potato Pancakes

Draniki are one of the most popular dishes in Belarusian cuisine, and are traditionally eaten for breakfast. In fact, I think the entire Belarusian meal I cooked was a pretty spot-on breakfast, that we just happened to eat for dinner.



Draniki are typically made just from potatoes, onion, salt, and oil. That's it. No flavouring. I was shocked. Surely there had to be something else in there to give it some sort of taste? But nope, that's it. I added some crushed garlic because it just didn't seem feasible that they would make something so plain.




To be honest, they turned out pretty good. You can't go wrong with hash-browns, which is essentially what draniki are. Very greasy, due to the amount of oil that I cooked them in, but I thought that was part of the charm. Actually, perhaps on their own they would have been too greasy, but paired with the Belarusian carrot salad I made, which has lots of vinegar in it, I think they worked well.





Draniki - Belarusian Potato Pancakes
Makes enough for 2 people

Ingredients

  • 4 or 5 medium sized potatoes
  • 1/2 onion
  • Salt
  • Oil for frying
Instructions
  1. Peel and grate the potatoes, and finely dice the onion. Place in a bowl, add about a teaspoon of salt and mix everything together.
  2. Heat oil over a medium-high heat in a frying pan. Once hot, add a tablespoon of the potato mix to form a small pancake. Fry until golden, about 2-3 minutes, then flip and repeat on the other side.
  3. Repeat with remaining mix.
  4. Serve hot with sour cream or applesauce. 

Comments

Popular Posts