From the Belarus Table to Yours!

For some reason people do not invite friends to draniki, like they do to sushi or fondue. Magazines do not write about them – probably, a potato dish, moreover, fried in oil, seems to journalists twice bad for health. Or maybe even thrice – they are delicious, and everything delicious, as is known, is terribly injurious to health. Meanwhile, there are so many types of draniki and dishes with them, that you can safely cast away the false modesty and arrange a "draniki" party for your guests.
Draniki with a filling are referred to as "kolduny" ("sorcerers"). Inside there is forcemeat (usually pork) or steamed poppy seeds. Traditionally draniki with poppy seeds are served to the Belarus New Year's Eve dinner with sweet sour cream sauce. However they eat them not only on the New Year Eve.
Generally speaking, draniki are like borscht, everyone has her or his recipe verified by generations, and all of them are delicious in their own way. Therefore if you are used to adding flour or eggs to draniki, do not fight with your neighbour who does not share your approach. You had better sit together at a table and enjoy the current of life and the long-term tradition hidden in ordinary grated potatoes. Or perhaps not so ordinary?


Belarus Draniki

6 potatoes
1 egg
2 tablespoons flour
1 onion
1 tablespoon sour cream
50g vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic
soda on a knife tip
salt to taste

Wash and peel potatoes. Grate them finely and mince in a meat grinder. Peel and finely grate onions. Add whipped eggs, sour cream, soda, and flour. Mix thoroughly. Bake on a hot frying pan under a lid. Serve hot with sour cream or sour cream sauce, with fried bacon or fried ham slices.

Draniki in Pot with Veal and Prunes

100g veal fillet
6 prunes cored
1 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoons meat stock
salt, black pepper
1 small onion
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 draniki
3 tablespoon sour cream

Peel onions and slice them in circles. Separately heat a frying pan with vegetable oil, and simmer the onions until soft. Heat the oven to 120 degrees. Tenderize the veal with a mallet and dice it. Heat butter on a frying pan, add veal with prunes and fry 5 minutes on strong heat. Add hot stock, season with salt and pepper, stew on low heat until the liquid evaporates. Add onions shortly before the end of stewing. Put two draniki on the bottom of a clay pot and put meat with prunes on top. Cover with the other two draniki, fill with sour cream and stew 30 minutes in the oven.

Draniki Baked with Pork

for 2 portions:
150 g pork neck
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons sour cream
3 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon grated cheese
4 draniki

Heat the oven to 180

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