Kartoffelpuffer: German Potato Pancakes

Germans do love their potatoes. Potatoes are served with many dishes, whether it is the simple salt potatoes, bratkartoffel, pommes fries, potato salad or soup and around here knödel or klöße, it is the staple of German dishes. Although I have grown up eating rice at least twice a day, I have also learnt to love potatoes – hmm a bowl of hot crispy potato chips can never go wrong (other than to your waistline).  Carb, fat and salt: a perfect combination for comfort food! We all have craving for those food we grew up with, and when that craving comes we would go to great length to enjoy it again. Now I have found the comfort food of my husband. It is something his mum used to make and is eaten with a bowl of hearty bean soup, but this potato pancake is more commonly eaten with apple muss. In the local dialect here, it is called “Krumben Pfannekuchen” or in high German "Kartoffelpuffer". How happy and surprised he was when he found out that I too could make this local dish. It is really easy.

You might be wondering that it is eaten with apple muss but it is traditionally so, but if you prefer leave the apple muss and simply munch on the pancake or serve as side dish. So however you would like to eat it, it is simply yummy!

Ingredients:
Source: I learnt this recipe from my aunt

800 gr potatoes

2 medium onions 

2 eggs

A handful of flat leaves parsley

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

2 tablespoons potato flour

1-tablespoon plain flour

Salt (~1 teaspoon)

Pepper

Oil for frying

Steps:

1. Wash and peel the potatoes and then grate it finely. The potatoes might turn brown; you can add a couple drops of vinegar to stop the browning process.  Drain and press as much of the liquid out as possible. Use a tea towel to make it easier, twist and squish until the grated potatoes are pretty dry.
2. Chop onions and parsley finely. I used a small food processor to do this (to prevent me crying from the onion juice).
3. Mix the grated potatoes, chopped onions, parsley and eggs together in a bowl.  Add flour and mix thoroughly. The flour provides consistency but you don’t want to use a lot of it otherwise it becomes clumpy, so add a little at a time.
4. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
5. Heat oil in the pan, use enough oil to allow the batter to slightly swim in the oil. It should be hot, but not smoking hot. Put one tablespoon of the potato batter into the hot oil and flatten it a little (half cm thick) and fry for around 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Fry the batter in batches (don’t crowed the pan with too many, otherwise it won’t fry very well). I normally do a trial to test for taste and consistency. It should have a crunchy outer and soft inside. You can add a little bit more potato or plain flour if the batter gets too watery.
6. Once ready take it out and drain on kitchen towel. Serve hot with apple muss. A trick to keep it warm whilst you are finishing with frying is to keep the already cooked pancakes in a preheated oven at 80^o C.

Note: This recipe is enough for 4 persons and it also tastes good eaten cold