This meal is not something you will find in American recipe books. It came from Eastern Europe and is still loved there. I like it because even though it’s not a diet food, it is very filling and also gluten free. You can eat 4 of those pancakes and feel full, so overeating can be easily avoided. I try to cook more gluten free meals for my family, because we all could less of it in our life. I don’t have gluten intolerance, but I know many people who do, so this recipe is perfect for them.

After spending a few months on Nutrisystem diet, I understood that what works best for me is portion control. This meal is high in fat and carbs from potato starch, but I can eat it safely as long as I don’t eat more than I should.

There can be one obstacle for this meal though - you have to have a potato grating machine or use hand held grater, which will take forever. Potato grating machines are not common in the US, but can be purchased in European stores in Chicago or even ordered online. They cost about $65 if I remember correctly. If you don’t have any desire to buy it just for this occasional meal, you can try using food processor.

Ingredients:

• 5 large organic potatoes
• ½ package of ground beef
• 1 ½ sweet Vidalia onion
• 1 organic egg
• 2 table spoons of organic semolina or gluten free flour
• Olive oil
• Salt

You should start with meat. Add ground beef and chopped ½ of onion to a sauté pan and let it simmer on medium heat stirring periodically.

The meat and onions should be fully cooked until nice and brown.

Once the meat is done, turn it off and let cool before adding it to potato mixture at the end.

Peel potatoes and one whole onion. Get your potato grating machine ready and a medium bowl for potato mass to go into. Grate all the potatoes and onion into one smooth liquidy mass.

This just takes a minute with the machine. If you are using food processor, you might have to try a few different settings until you discover what works best. If you are using simple grate, work through it with patience and watch your fingers. I have grated my fingers more than once!

Then add one whole egg, some salt, and two table spoons of semolina or gluten free flour into the potato mass. Stir everything and add your meat and onion mixture.

Combine everything thoroughly to get smooth mass of potatoes and meat. You are ready to cook your pancakes!

Heat your frying pan on medium with a good amount of olive oil. These pancakes use a lot of oil, so be ready to refill it after each pan. Once your pan is hot, form 5-6 round pancakes, make sure they don’t touch. Each pancake is about one big spoon of potato batter.

As soon as you notice the edges starting to brown, flip them. The first side is always faster to cook than the other one, I don’t know why.

Place cooked pancakes on a plate with paper towel to absorb some oil. The pancakes are usually served with sour cream. I use organic reduced fat sour cream for me and 30% regular fat for everybody else. The pancakes are very filling, so 4-5 can really make you feel full.

Enjoy this culinary trip to Eastern Europe and have fun!