Hungarian Potato Pancakes Recipes

HUNGARIAN PLACKI (POTATO PANCAKES WITH SPICY TOMATO-BEEF SAUCE)

Steps:

• For the Hungarian-style tomato-beef sauce: Place the ground beef in a large skillet. Brown the ground beef and put on the side. In a different saute pan, add the vegetable oil and heat. Add the onions and saute for 2 minutes. Add the green and red bell peppers and saute for another 2 minutes. Add the canned tomatoes, paprika, crushed red pepper, garlic, cayenne and the browned ground beef. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover the pan and cook on low heat for up to 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Please note that the sauce can be made in advance.
• For the potato pancakes (placki):Combine the potatoes, onion, eggs and flour in a large bowl and mix well. Add salt and pepper. The mixture will be on the thicker side. Heat the oil in a heavy skillet. Place 2 tablespoons of the mixture into the hot oil, and flatten down gently with a spoon. Turn the heat to medium. Cook until the are golden brown on each side.
• To serve, place 2 tablespoons of sauce on top of 2-4 pancakes and garnish with a tablespoon of sour cream and parsley.

HUNGARIAN POTATO PANCAKES

Steps:

• Shred the raw potatoes into a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until thick and lemon coloured. Blend the potatoes, flour salt and oil into the eggs and mix until combined. Heat a lightly oiled frying pan then drop batter by spoonfuls onto the hot pan, flattening the batter (batter will be thick) to even out the pancake. Cook, turning once until golden brown.
• Note: If you spray the shredder with non-sticking cooking spray prior to shredding the potatoes, they will not stick.
• Delicious served with creamed spinach.

HUNGARIAN POTATO PANCAKES

Steps:

• 1. If you are using cold left over mashed potato you will need to moosh it up again so it will mix in well with the other ingrediants. Slightly beat the egg and add it to the potato. Sift on the flours and salt. Knead together just enough to mix all the ingrediants.
• 2. Heat oil up in a pan. I usually pop a small amount of cold oil into a bowl so I can oil my hands as I take small amounts of the Potato batter and roll in a ball, flatten by patting between hands and slip into the hot oil. The Patty should be about 1cm (1/2 inch) thick when you pop it into the hot oil. It will puff up and when it is amedium brown flip it over. Do not have the oil too hot other wise it will just burn and not cook through... but if you have the oil not hot enough it will just soak up the oil... it is basically trial and error but do test drops with small pieces. It should take only a min or so on each side to cook.
• 3. Drain on paper before serving. As kids we ate this with Jam or sprinkled with sugar but the adults had it savory with dilled pickles or olives. My Australian sister inlaw grates some cheese into the batter and adds some chives to it. She has even diced some ham and onions in it too... It is very diverse. If there was no left over mashed potato I have even gone as far as just nuking some potatoes in the microwave whole, in their skin... then scooping out the insides of the potato to make these pancakes.