When I visited Belarus, two of the foods that my Belarussian friend recommended were draniki and kolduny. Both are potato pancakes and the kolduny have a meat filling in the middle. When I was looking for a recipe for kolduny, I found a few variations. For example, one Food Network recipe and anotehr from Natasha’s Kitchen. Although the ingredients are simple, the amounts of flour, egg and onion were different. In fact, I just made some approximations and it turned out well. Very tasty and similar to what I tried in Minsk!
Ingredients
200g ground beef
1 large white onion
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 large (or 6 medium) potatoes, peeled
4 heaping Tbsp plain flour
1 beaten egg
4 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Tbsp soured cream and more for serving
Instructions
Peel, wash and grate potatoes and 3/4 of the onion into a bowl (the onion will help you keep grated potatoes from turning brown). Use a grater with small holes. Add salt and mix until a smooth even consistency is obtained. Add the egg, flour, 1 Tbsp sour cream (optional), 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper and stir well.
Grate the remaining 1/4 onion into a separate bowl and mix with the meat. For the meat into small patties.
Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat and add 2 Tbsp oil. Once oil is hot, add 2 Tbsp of the mixture at a time into the skillet, flattening it out. Top with a thin meat patty and cover the meat with another 2 Tbsp of potato batter. Saute until potatoes are golden brown then flip and continue sautéing until golden brown and cooked through (about 4 min per side). Repeat with remaining batter, adding more oil as needed. Remove to a paper-towel lined plate and serve warm with sour cream.
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