La petite biscotte Now in Munich…

Bento n°9: Potato Pancakes (Kartoffelpuffer)

Contents

• Potato pancakes (see below for recipe)
• Radishes
• Ricotta (for the potato pancakes and the radishes)
• Red pepper/green bean stir fry with soy sauce
• Mini sandwich (using whole-wheat bread with poppy seeds) with comté (french cheese) and ham
• Chocolate cookie

What I liked about this bento

Visually thumbs up. Pretty happy about the balance of colors and the overall detail of this bento. The ricotta cheese went really well with the pancakes but you can also eat them with apple sauce if you have a suitable container to transport it. Oh, why the heck apple sauce you’re asking? Well in Germany potato pancakes (Kartoffelpuffer) are often served with apple sauce… and actually it goes really well! It’s like baked camembert with redcurrant jelly or goat cheese with honey. And yes I can assure you that my taste buds still function properly ^^
Vegetable stir fry had a really nice taste to it. My husband who only eats vegetables if they are drowned in potato purée actually liked them!

What I didn’t like about this bento

If you plan on packing potato pancakes in your bento you better make a bunch for dinner and use the leftovers in your bento the next morning because it takes quite long to make them. It took me about 20 minutes which I’d consider way too long in the morning.
The green beans were a little overcooked and the sandwich was simply too much (if you only have time to eat once). If you can have several breaks the sandwich is actually perfect for a little afternoon snack at about 3 or 4 pm.

———————–

Potato Pancakes

Ingredients

• 500g waxy potatoes
• 1 egg
• 40g flour
• salt/pepper to taste, a little nutmeg if you like
• olive oil or butter, as you prefer

Preparation

1. Peel the potatoes, rinse the starch off a little and grate them. You can also cut them in julienne stripes if you have a suitable kitchen mandolin.
2. Add the egg, the flour and the spices. Mix well until you get a nicely smooth batter.
3. Heat the olive oil in a pan. Once it’s hot, drop generous spoons of the batter in the pan. Flatten the piles of batter with the spoon to a thickness of 1 cm approx. Cook over medium heat until golden brown from both sides.
4. Repeat until no batter is left. Makes about 7-8 pancakes.

Serves 4, enjoy. This goes really well with ricotta, cream cheese, crème fraîche or apple sauce.