During childhood years, school breaks were one of the most awaited days. Not just for the fact that schools were closed, but also for the reason was that our parents would enroll us in the various extra-curricular activities or we could stay at our cousins’ place (on both sides of the family lines) for a part of the break. Staying with them was huge fun, not just for the camaraderie of cousins but also to be a part of various experimentation especially when one of my close-knit cousins was diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease. So for a period of time, we were off wheat based diet and that is when the experimentation started. After all the salads and rice got tedious, my aunt had made few of the first gluten-free pancakes, of them one was the “potato pancake”.
Known as boxties, latkes, raggmunkar or simply potato pancakes, these are shallow-fried pancakes of grated or ground potato, matzo meal or flour (rice based or wheat) mixed with egg or applesauce (binding ingredient) and flavored with grated garlic or onion and seasoning. They can be had as savoury (with sour cream or cottage cheese), sweet dessert (with apple sauce, maple syrup or sugar), topped with spice condiments or just had plain. From mashing the potatoes to making pancake-shaped croquettes, there are plenty of variations with this basic meal. Interestingly with change of place, country or cuisine; these “potato pancakes” have a history of their own.
“Boxty on the griddle; boxty on the pan. If you can’t make boxty, you’ll never get a man!” (an old Irish rhyme)
One of the traditional potato pancakes, is the Irish boxty. The essence of the recipes (with regional variations) are the potatoes, finely grated and served fried. Recipe of the common version is of finely grated raw potato or mashed potato with flour (gluten-free in our case), baking soda, buttermilk, and sometimes egg. While the grated potato may be strained to remove some starch and water, it isn’t necessary. The mixture is fried on a griddle pan for a few minutes on each side, similar to a normal pancake.
When the flour is removed, one of the recipes is the Rösti or rööschti, a Swiss dish consisting mainly of potatoes, in the style of a fritter. Originating as a breakfast dish of the farmers (Bern), it has now become a Swiss favourite with plenty of European and trans-Atlantic variations. Rösti dishes are made with coarsely grated potato, either cooked or raw. With the potatoes being parboiled or grated raw, oil, butter or another fat may be added with salt and pepper. The potato mix is then shaped into rounds or patties (five inches to half inch thickness) and more commonly had pan-fried than baked. While the basic rösti consists of nothing but potato, a number of additional ingredients like bacon, onion, cheese, apple or fresh herbs are added, depending on the regional variations.
Keeping the consistency to a batter type, the Korean Gamja-jeon (or potato pancakes) is a variety of jeon (Korean style pancake), made by pan-frying finely grated potato on a frying pan with any type of vegetable oil until golden brown. Traditionally Gamjajeon is made with only potato, salt, and oil; though the grated potato may be enriched with slivers of carrots, onions or scallions, sliced mushrooms, or garlic chives, which adds color and crunchy texture to the dish. Had garnished with shredded fresh red and green chili pepper or served with a dipping sauce of soy sauce and vinegar.
There are numerous more variations to these recipes, like the Brigand’s pancake, Swedish raggmunkar, potatisplättar, rårakor and potatisbullar or the Polish placki ziemniaczane to name a few. If not for these simple changes, my cousin would have had a trying gluten-free diet. In fact, these traditional recipes make for an interesting variation from the regular cuisine. If one is not a fan of potatoes, sweet potatoes are an option. Though if one wants more gluten-free recipes, there are many others to choose from. With all these delectable variations, it is quite surprising that a bit of potatoes can bring out a lot of fun.
Sugar And Spice... Among Other Things 
