I love potatoes. And so do Finns. Seriously, I think potato can be the national vegetable of Finland and people will gladly accept it.

 

 

In this blog post, for once in the last few weeks, I will not say a word about the current state of the world and the current state I am in. You know what I’m talking about. No, I won’t say it out loud.

 

 

 

Instead, here are potato cakes! They are crispy on the outside, soft and juicy on the inside. Very flavourful. Very easy to make, I mean, you can’t go wrong with them. You can do it from scratch, or you can use leftover mashed potatoes. And, they can easily be converted to vegan and gluten free versions.

 

 

Kids love potatoes too, though the ones I know are mostly obsessed with fried potatoes. But I believe they may like this too and this can help in these days of isolation and getting stuck at home altogether. This is not a fried version, but the outer breadcrumb layer certainly gives it a nice subtle crispiness.

 

Enjoy your potato cakes with a nice side dish, like simple rice pilaf! Cheers!
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Ingredients:

 

Difficulty: Easy
(makes 12-14 cakes)

 

Printable PDF-recipe (no photos)

 

500 gr. potatoes, peeled and boiled until tender enough to mash
1 medium carrot, peeled and boiled until tender enough to mash
1 tsp salt
a generous pinch of freshly ground pepper
a pinch of nutmeg
4 tbsp finely chopped fresh chives
1 dl (or 1/3 cup + 4 tsp) grated cheddar cheese*
1 dl (or 1/3 cup + 4 tsp) all-purpose flour**
1-1.5 dl (or about 1/2 to 3/4 cup) breadcrumbs***
4 tbsp olive oil (or another vegetable oil)****

 

paper towel to take the excess oil on cooked cakes

 

*You can use vegan cheese or you can completely omit this to make it vegan.
**You can use gluten free all-purpose flour or corn flour to make it gluten free. You may have to use a little more GF flour than the normal one, you can feel the need or not by the softness of the dough and how well it stays altogether.
***You can use gluten free breadcrumbs to make it gluten free.
****Divide this in 2+2 tbsp. You probably won’t be able to make all the cakes in 1 batch. So I recommend making first batch with 2 tbsp and then add 1-2 tbsp more with the second batch, as some of the oil will be soaked by the potatoes.

 

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1. First, mash boiled potatoes and carrot. It doesn’t have to be extremely smooth, but it’s good to have not too big pieces. If you have leftover mashed potoates, you can use that too. IMPORTANT: Do this with potato masher or with even a fork, and NOT in a food processor.

 

 

2. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg and chives and fold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Add cheese if using and flour and fold well.

 

 

 

 

4. Take large pieces from the “dough” into your palm and roll into a ball, then flatten a little.

 

 

 

 

5. Coat each “cake” with breadcrumbs.

 

 

6. On medium heat, in a pan, put 2 tbsp olive oil at first and let it get hot. Then put the cakes into the pan, cook both sides until they are crispy, light brown. Do it in batches not to overcrowd the pan and add a little more oil each time, if potatoes soak too much oil. Put the cooked cakes on a paper towel to get rid of excess oil. Enjoy!