Deruny (Ukrainian Potato Pancakes)
Ukraine's favourite potato pancakes: finely grated potato and onion bound with a little egg and flour, fried crisp in sunflower oil and served with sour cream.
Method
Peel the potatoes and onion. Grate the onion first into a bowl on the fine side of a box grater, then grate the potatoes, stirring them into the onion juice as you go; this stops them turning brown. Leave the last little piece of each potato ungrated to keep your fingers safe.
Add in this stepOnion 1Floury potatoes 600 g
Tip the grated potato into a sieve set over the bowl and press with a spoon to squeeze out the juice. Leave it for and a white layer of starch will settle at the bottom of the bowl. Carefully pour off the liquid and stir that starch back into the potato; it binds the batter and adds crunch.
Add the eggs, flour, salt and pepper to the potato and mix well. The batter should hold its shape on a spoon without running. It weeps and darkens as it stands, so fry it straight away.
Add in this stepEggs 1Plain (all-purpose) flour 3 tbspSalt ¾ tspBlack pepper to taste
Pour half the oil into a heavy 24 cm pan, about 5 mm deep, and heat over medium-high heat for . When a drop of batter sizzles immediately, the oil is at about 170–180 °C. If it smokes, it is too hot: turn the heat down.
Add in this stepSunflower oil (or neutral oil) for frying 45 ml
medium-high heatSpoon in the batter and flatten each pancake to about 8–9 cm across and 1 cm thick. Fry over medium heat for per side, until the edges are deep golden and crisp, turning carefully with two spatulas. Fry in batches, 2×3 (batches × pancakes), topping up with a little of the remaining oil and letting it reheat between batches. Lay the batter in moving away from you so hot oil doesn't splash towards you.
Add in this stepSunflower oil (or neutral oil) for frying 45 ml
medium heatDrain the deruny on kitchen paper or a rack and keep them in a 100 °C oven so they stay crisp until the end. Serve hot with plenty of sour cream and a sprinkle of chopped dill.
Add in this stepSour cream 100 gDill 4 g
Cook's tip
To check they are cooked through, cut one open: if the centre looks glassy or tastes of raw potato, lower the heat a little and cook longer. Oil that is too cool makes them greasy and soggy; too hot and they burn outside while staying raw inside. Let the oil cool completely before disposing of it.
Cooking it at camp
They fry perfectly in a cast-iron pan on a burner. Grated potato browns quickly, so grate at the campsite and bring a grater and sieve. Wind cools the oil, so set up a windbreak, and always keep a pan of hot oil on a stable, level surface.