Belarus: Egg Roll with Potatoes

I was hesitant about putting this up on the blog. I'm never sure if I should put something up if I don't want people to eat it, but actually this wasn't a bad dish, it was just a bit boring. Maybe some hot sauce would liven things up a bit? Although that would take away the Belarusian nature of the dish.

I'm not sure what makes this specifically Belarusian in the first place. It's basically an omelette with potatoes and spinach in the middle. The recipe called for 'greens' which I found very unhelpful, so I used spring onions and spinach, making it feel even more breakfasty.

The trickiest thing about this dish rolling the omelette. My frying pan is not oven-proof so I wasn't able to cook the top of the eggs by baking them, so I just had to try and flip the omelette over. Obviously, from the photos, this was not particularly successful and the omelette absolutely broke in half. This made rolling it far more tedious than it needed to be, hence why I used skewers to secure everything in place - not my most aesthetic work.

Flipping the omelette was not my best work

The dish was... fine. I wouldn't say it was particularly flavoursome, or even that interesting. The best part was probably the fried potatoes - not all of them fit into the egg roll so I fried them some more and they turned into lovely crispy chips which were delicious. I also liked that I didn't need to peel these potatoes which means less food waste, and less time consumed!

I do feel like this is a breakfast dish. And actually, maybe if you paired this with some other breakfasty items it would be a great breakfast dish. On it's own I thought it was just a bit plain. The Belarusian carrot salad definitely added a much-needed zing, so I would make it again with the carrot salad, or something else to accompany it.

Ah well, not every dish in this project is going to be perfect. There's always tomorrow!

Rolled up and secured with skewers

Belarusian Egg Roll with Potatoes
Serves 2

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons butter
• 3 small potatoes
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 spring onion, sliced
• Handful of baby spinach, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon grated cheese
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180 C.
2. Beat the eggs and milk together. Sift in the flour and mix. Season to taste. Pour into an ovenproof pan and bake in the oven for 5-7 minutes until cooked. Alternatively, cook in a frying pan over a medium heat until cooked through - be cautious if you try to flip the omelette!
3. Thinly slice the potatoes into circles, about 5mm thick.
4. Heat some vegetable oil in a pan and fry the potatoes until browned on both sides.
5. Remove omelette from oven and place on a board. Top one half with the fried potatoes, spring onion, and spinach. Season with salt. 
6. Shape the omelette into a roll, place onto an oven tray, top with cheese and butter, and bake for 5 minutes or until cheese and butter have melted.
7. Cut the roll in half and serve.