A switch to savoury with Polish Potato Pancakes

A switch to savoury cooking this week. Well, not entirely, as I did have time to whip up a couple of our favourite staples to go with ‘elevenses’: raw chocolate brownies to use up the last of the dates and a ginger cake to use the last of the black treacle. No new sweet recipes though ☹ This week it was ‘cakes’ cooked in the pan – pancakes – but not the typical English flour batter pancakes beloved on Shrove Tuesday, but Polish Potato Pancakes.

This week’s recipe inspiration came from Mr VV who was researching a future trip to Poland. The question popped up, ‘what are potato pancakes?’ What indeed? Potato pancakes crop up in a number of different culture’s culinary repertoires. It’s almost a European roll-call. Variations on the theme can be found in traditional dishes from Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Switzerland, moving east Poland, Hungary, Czech, Roumania, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Russia and Ukraine, and more. There’s also the Jewish-Hebrew version latkes which has its roots back in the Middle ages, using other root vegetables like carrot and swede.

With his Ukrainian-Polish roots, the request I received from Mr VV was for traditional Polish potato pancakes – placki ziemniaczane. The dish is popular all over Poland, a bit like the pierogi I made at Christmas, and became very popular during the Second World War food shortages. It’s not surprising that this popular peasant dish has a long history. After all, it just uses readily available ingredients: potatoes and onions. These basic ingredients are grated and mixed with flour and a binding agent, usually eggs, to produce a sort of batter. Then, shallow fried until crispy on the outside with a soft, slightly oniony flavour on the inside.

Veganising the basic recipe was fairly simple. It was just a question of deciding which type of substitute to use for the binding agent, if any. Research threw up five different alternatives. One recipe utilised a commercial egg replacer, made up with water, another made a chia egg, from a tablespoon of chia seeds, finely ground mixed with water. I was concerned that the tiny black seeds, even if ground finely, might prove a little too gritty. Maybe the suggestion of aquafaba might work? It certainly makes an excellent raising agent in cakes. One recipe actually used no binding agent at all, on the basis that grated potatoes would exude sufficient starchy water to bind with flour. In the end, I decided to use ground flax seeds, something I always have to hand, with no additional water (following the previous theory).

Making up the batter was a simple process. I decided to peel the potatoes although some recipes recommend using them skins-on for extra fibre. These weren’t bio (organic) potatoes and I’m becoming increasingly concerned about reports of pesticides and chemical levels in produce. I do recommend using the grating attachment to a food processor if you have one. It certainly saves shredding your fingertips and takes just seconds to whip up the mix. Then, just mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until you have a thoroughly sticky and stiff batter.

Next, heat up some oil in a frying pan, I made sure there was a layer of oil covering the entire base of the pan. Form the potato mix into balls of about a tablespoon and lower gently into the pan. Flatten with the back of the spoon and fry gently for about four or five minutes each side. When you remove from  the pan drain on kitchen paper. I served the potato pancakes with salad and some falafels (cooked in the airfryer as I didn’t want to sue too much oil), but I’m sure they would be great with some Polish pierogi and sauerkraut. We’re not really used to eating so much fried food, so next time I make placki ziemniaczane I’ll try cooking them in the airfryer.

Polish Potato Pancakes placki ziemniaczane

My recipe ingredients

4 medium potatoes, peeled and grated

1 small onion, finely diced

2 tbsp flax meal

2 tbsp T55 (plain) flour

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

Pinch of salt

(oil for frying)

Method

·         Peel and grate potatoes – use a food processor if you can

·         Turn out into bowl

·         Mix in all other ingredients

·         Heat some oil in a frying pan

·         Form into small balls (about one tbsp)

·         Flatten in pan with back of spoon

·         Cook gently for four to five minutes each side until golden brown

·         Drain on kitchen paper