Draniki (Belarusian Potato Pancakes with Sour Cream) 🥔

Name: Draniki (Belarusian Potato Pancakes with Sour Cream)
Prep time: 18 min
Cook time: 27 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 2-4 servings
Cuisine: Belarusian
Ingredients: 1 kg starchy potatoes (russet or similar); 1 small onion; 1 large egg; 2 tbsp all-purpose flour; 1/2 tsp salt; 1/4 tsp black pepper; 4-5 tbsp neutral oil, for frying; 200 g sour cream (smetana), for serving

If Russia has borscht, Belarus has draniki: potatoes grated to a watery pulp, squeezed hard, bound with egg and a spoon of flour, and fried until the edges go lace-crisp while the center stays soft and steaming. The national obsession is the squeeze — skip it and you get cakey pancakes instead of the golden discs Belarusians defend like family honor. Served straight from the pan with a quenelle of smetana (sour cream), sometimes with crackling or mushroom gravy on the side. In Minsk every decent canteen has a draniki station, and grandmothers argue about whether the grater should be fine or coarse. Fine, obviously.

Minsk Belarusian ⏱ 45 Min Einfach

Zubereitung

1

Peel the potatoes and the onion. Grate them very finely — a blender pulse of 5-6 seconds also works. The pulp should be watery, almost juicy.
2

Pour the grate into a clean towel or fine sieve and squeeze ruthlessly. Keep the squeezed liquid in a bowl for 5 minutes, then pour off the water and return the settled potato starch to the pulp. This is the Belarusian trick.
3

Mix the drained pulp with egg, flour, salt and pepper. The batter should hold a spoon's shape, not run.
4

Heat a thick pan with oil over medium-high. Spoon flat discs about 7-8 cm wide, not thicker than 5 mm.
5

Fry 3-4 minutes per side until deep golden and the edges curl crisp. Drain on paper.
6

Stack on a warm plate with a big dollop of sour cream. Eat the first one within five minutes — draniki have a short, glorious window.

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