Potato Pancakes (Kartoffelpuffer)

From Omi's kitchen with notes from My Dinner

Kartoffelpuffer (or Reibekuchen or German Potato Pancakes) are popular at Kirmes (fairs), as street food and at Christmas markets. They originate from Germany, Austria and Bohemia.

Ingredients

1 kg waxy Potatoes (eg. Yukon Gold, Charlotte or Anya)
3 white onions
3 eggs
Salt and pepper
Vegetable oil or clarified butter to fry

Method

Peel the onions. Then grate them roughly with a hand grater, or if you prefer a kitchen machine.
Peel the potatoes and grate them (2-3mm) with the hand grater or kitchen machine/blender. Place the grated potatoes into a kitchen towel and squeeze out all the starchy water into a bowl (keep this).
Whisk the eggs and combine them with the potato and onion. Season generously with salt and pepper.
Now slowly pour out almost all the starchy potato water from the bowl. At the bottom of the bowl, you will find the remaining starch. Pour out the water and add the starch to the potato mixture as it will help the consistency.
Add a generous amount of oil or clarified butter to a large frying pan. The bottom of the pan should be entirely covered. Once the oil is heated, add your potato mixture into the pan. The size is up to your preference, but about 15cm in diameter is great. Press them flat with the back of a fork, as you do not want them to be too thick.
Fry your potato pancakes at medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes on each side. They should have a golden colour. Test the first one, to check that they are cooked all the way through.
Line a plate with some kitchen towel and place your finished Kartoffelpuffer on it. You can put your oven on low heat to keep them warm while you fry the remaining ones.

Notes

Kartoffelpuffer can be frozen successfully. To use from frozen, first defrost at room temperature then reheat in the oven at 200°C for about 10 minutes. Alternatively, you can fry them again for 3 minutes on each side to crisp up again.

How to serve Kartoffelpuffer?

Although Kartoffelpuffer is one of the best-known German dishes, every state in Germany eats it differently.

The most common side to kartoffel puffer and our personal favourite is to eat it with Apfelmus (apple sauce or apple compote). The sweet refreshing apple goes well with the crispy greasy potato pancakes.
Another sweet way of serving Kartoffelpuffer is to sprinkle it with cinnamon and sugar (Zimt and Zucker) or add some other fruit compote.
In Bergischen Land they serve their 'Reibekuchen' (as it is known there) with black bread (Schwarzbrot), sugar syrup and coffee.
In Bavaria, you can get Kartoffelpuffer with Sauerkraut and Beer.
Another popular combination is to eat the potato pancakes with smoked salmon, horseradish and a quark dip (Kräuterquark.)
Other dip/ sauce sides include sour cream or cottage cheese (Hüttenkäse).
It is also common to serve Kartoffelpuffer with soup. This was especially common after the second world war when bread was scarce. It was served with swede soup, potato or pea soup.
Sometimes these potato fritters are also served baked over with melted cheese. Schmelzkäse a cheese especially designed for melting is popular.
You can also serve it with creamed spinach and a fried or scrambled egg.
A popular sausage to serve alongside Reibekuchen is Blutwurst. (German black pudding)