Sunday, October 17, 2010

Floury potato cakes

A potato cake is a kind of pancake with mashed potato as an extra ingredient. A floury taste is fine in pancakes or batters; but I'm not sure it's welcome here, when your taste buds, registering the potato, miss the buttery smoothness of true mash. (I wrote about flourless potato cakes here.)

Still, I may get used to them.

450g mashed potato
4tbsp plain flour
1 egg, beaten
Sunflower oil, for frying


Mix the potato, flour and egg, and form into small patties. They will be very squidgy. You will have to handle them gently, and plop them on to a plate, or half of each will stick to your hands. But you do not need to worry about the consistency, because they will firm up and form a crust when fried.

Warm a thin layer of oil in a heavy pan, over a low heat. Drop in the cakes, and fry them gently, turning once. They brown quite readily, in my experience, so keep an eye on them.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Persevere with them because they are delicious - think less of them as replacing mash potatoes and more of an entity in their own right (I guess they could be seen as most similar to potato dumplings). I often serve them alongside pan-grilled chicken breast + light sauce - they pick up the sauce very well (as long as it is not too thick and have the benefit of being less stodgy and heavy than mash). One difference is that I do not form them into patties but plop a tablespoon or cup of the mixture into a heated, non-stick frying pan a la regular pancakes. This suggests I also use less flour - can't quite remember of the top of my head - because I wouldn't be able to form them into patties.

Nicholas Clee said...

So the texture of your cakes before you fry them is quite soft and loose? That's interesting. Perhaps you use less flour, and more egg? I must try that. Thank you.