It was once mentioned to me that potato pancakes to Latvians is what spaghetti Bolognese is to Australians – it is a fairly quick mid-week meal that everyone knows how to make. Personally, when I was growing up, I hated potato pancakes, but I’ve learned to appreciate them. In mid 2000’s they became more than just a cheap meal at home to tie you over until the next payday as crispy potato pancakes started to appear on countless coffee shop menus in Riga. They were served with duck and lingonberry sauce or smoked salmon and sour cream, becoming quite a fancy meal.
Potato pancakes
Ingredients
- 7 medium potatoes (around 1 lbs or 600g)
- 1 large egg
- 5 tbs flour
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Finely grate potatoes in a large bowl. Squeeze grated potatoes and drain any excess liquid.
- Mix in egg, flour, salt and pepper. Combine well.
- Heat oil in a large frying pan.
- Drop four heaped tablespoon of potato mixture into the pan and flatten in to make four pancakes.
- Fry, turning once, until golden brown.
- Serve with sour cream, lingonberry sauce, green onions and/or butter.
Notes
Makes 12 pancakes.
February 10, 2018
[…] our Latvian meals I settled on Kartupeju pankukas (potato pancakes) and Ceptas kartupeju pelmeni (pan fried potato dumplings) using two recipes I […]
June 26, 2020
[…] often serve them with sour cream and green onions, or possibly lingonberry jam. Here’s a Latvian potato pancake recipe to make at […]
October 29, 2021
Thank you for these! My 9 year old was wanting to try food from different countries (we are in Scotland) and chose Latvia first. Had these and your meatballs. Yum!
March 1, 2023
Used these for a school project and they were very tasty and simple to make.
December 30, 2023
Thank you for this recipe. My mother made potato pancakes without onion and I was never able to find a similar recipe, now I have!