Crispy cutlets

Oksana Kroshka moved to Hawaii five months ago from Kremenchuk in central Ukraine to live with her daughter Vlada, who married a man from Hawaii. She and her 13-year-old son, Yonatan, live in Waikiki, and Pacific Gateway is helping her to make a new life in the U.S. She shares a recipe for a traditional Ukranian dish called draniky, or potato cutlets. They are a tasty version of hash brown pancakes. They’re crispy, yet tender inside with a mild, yet addictive taste from being fried in olive oil. She calls it a dish for commoners, as potatoes grow easily in her home country. They are eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner, as an entrée or a side dish.

Oksana starts with white potatoes, sometimes called salad potatoes, and peels and grates them. She adds a small grated onion, egg, salt and pepper and then a small bit of flour to bind it together. In a skillet, she fries them in small patties in olive oil and then decorates them with sour cream. The crispy potatoes are fun to make with children, as they can write their names or place any design on them. She says even the fussiest eater will savor these potato cutlets once they decorate them. She makes these traditional draniky and remembers her home country.

Oksana Kroshka’s Potato Cutlets (Draniky)

Ingredients:

• 5 white potatoes

• 1 small white or yellow onion

• 1 large egg

• 2 tablespoons flour

• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

• Olive oil to fry

• 1/4-1/2 cup sour cream

Directions:

Wash potatoes, peel and grate roughly into a large bowl. Grate onion and add to potatoes. Mix in egg, flour, salt and pepper. Heat a frying pan on medium high with olive oil to reach about 1/4-inch deep. Use large spoon and place about 1/4 cup of potato mixture in the heated pan, leaving the liquid in the bottom of the bowl. In batches, fry about 3 minutes on each side. Place on paper towel-lined plate to drain excess oil. Using a pastry bag, tube or a zip lock plastic bag with one corner cut off, drizzle the sour cream on the finished potato cutlets with any design.

Makes about 13-15 cutlets, so a side dish for 4 and main dish for 2.

Lynette Lo Tom has written three cookbooks and loves hearing about home cooks. Visit lynettecooks.com for more information.