One of my good friends told me a story once about how when she was younger she requested a “potato party” for her birthday. She wanted all the potatoes…and who can blame her? Potatoes are wonderful in all of their forms.

Draniki is the Belarusian version of a potato pancake and I’m guessing it’s pretty standard ingredients across the board. “Draniki” translates to “shredded” or “torn up” in Russian and Belarusian, so this is essentially points to shredded potatoes. Believe it or not, as someone raised on a lot of potatoes and who has been cooking for a long time, I’d never made a potato pancake from scratch. Here was my opportunity. And what did I do? I made the potato pancake the star of the show. No small fried potato cakes for me, I went hard on the “vegetable” being more of my dinner than the meat. 🙂 This pancake was a thing of beauty. The shredding was a bit time intensive but well worth the result in the end. I served this with some pork tenderloin and carrots but let’s be honest, it was all about that potato.

Recipe I used: https://www.babushkacooking.com/draniki-potato-pancakes/

Overall Level of Effort: 2

Skill Level: Beginner

Would Make it Again? Yes

Additional Notes: I decided to serve with sour cream and dill but other fresh herbs would be great as well. My partner chose ketchup and from one potato lover to another, I can’t blame him.