Crispy Ukrainian potato pancakes with a sour cream sauce where delicate onion microgreens stand in for green onions. How to squeeze the batter so they hold together.
INGREDIENTS
- 150 g - full-fat sour cream
- 1 clove - garlic
- 25 g - onion microgreens
- 800 g - starchy potatoes
- 1 pc - onion (100 g)
- 1 pc - egg
- 2 tbsp - all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp - salt
- black pepper to taste
- 60 ml - sunflower oil for frying
STEPS
- Mix the sour cream with a pressed garlic clove and a pinch of salt. Rinse the onion microgreens, shake off the seed hulls, and dry them. Cut 15 g into 1/2 in (1 cm) pieces and stir them into the sour cream, saving the rest for topping. Refrigerate the sauce.
- Peel the potatoes and grate them on the fine side of a box grater together with the onion.
- Transfer the mixture to a sieve and squeeze out the liquid. Add the egg, flour, salt, and pepper and mix.
- Heat a 2-3 mm (1/8 in) layer of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Spoon in the batter and flatten each pancake to 1/4 in (5-7 mm).
- Fry for 3-4 minutes per side until golden and crisp, then drain on paper towels. Add more oil between batches.
- Serve hot, topped with a spoonful of cold sauce and the remaining onion microgreens.
Onion Microgreens in the Sour Cream Sauce
Deruny, Ukrainian potato pancakes, always come with sour cream, often with green onions. Onion microgreens do the same job more gently: thin, juicy threads with a clear but mild onion flavor. They freshen up the rich fried potato without turning the sauce into an onion bomb the way mature green onion can.
Some of the microgreens go into the sour cream so the flavor spreads through the sauce, and the rest go on top just before serving so you can see the fresh green threads on the plate.
About the Ingredients
Onion microgreens: 25 g for three servings. The tips often still carry black seed hulls. They’re edible but crunchy, so swish the microgreens in a bowl of water and shake them off before using: most of the hulls float away. Whether microgreens need washing at all is covered in our wiki: should you wash microgreens.
Potatoes: starchy ones, like russets. Waxy new potatoes make pancakes that fall apart.
Onion grated with the potatoes adds flavor and slows browning.
Sour cream: full-fat (18-20%) makes a thick sauce. Light sour cream gives a thinner one.
Technique: Crispy Deruny
Grated potato holds a lot of liquid, and that liquid is what makes potato pancakes pale and soggy. Squeezed in a sieve, the mixture fries faster and forms an even golden crust. The second rule: use enough oil, a 2-3 mm (1/8 in) layer, and get it hot before the first spoonful goes in. In cold oil the pancakes soak up fat and don’t brown.
Variations
- With cheese: 50 g grated hard cheese in the batter.
- With meat: a spoonful of batter, 1 tsp ground meat on top, another spoonful of batter; fry longer over lower heat.
- With mushrooms: serve with sautéed mushrooms and onion instead of the sauce.
- Another microgreen: radish or mustard microgreens in the sour cream make a spicier sauce.
Serving and Storage
Deruny are best straight from the pan. To make them ahead, reheat on a rack in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 5-7 minutes so the crust crisps up again. They keep in the fridge for up to 2 days. Make the sauce on the day you serve it: microgreens in sour cream wilt and darken overnight.
A classic Ukrainian first course to go with them: Ukrainian borscht with beet microgreens.
CHEF'S TIPS
Fry one test spoonful first: if the pancake falls apart, add another tablespoon of flour.
Don't cover finished pancakes or stack them on a plate: steam softens the crust. Keep them on a rack in a 200°F (90°C) oven.
