Ukrainian Deruny: Crispy Potato Pancakes with Peak-Harvest Tomato and Dill Salad

Grate the potatoes and onion together on the coarse side of a box grater directly into a large bowl — the onion keeps the potatoes from browning while you work.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 pounds russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled
• 1 medium yellow onion, peeled
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons fine sea salt, plus more to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
• 1/2 cup sunflower oil, for frying
• 1 pound ripe farmers-market tomatoes, cut into thick wedges
• 1 small cucumber, sliced into half-moons
• 1/2 small red onion, very thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup fresh dill, roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil and 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar, for the salad
• 3/4 cup sour cream, for serving

Instructions

1. Grate the potatoes and onion together on the coarse side of a box grater directly into a large bowl — the onion keeps the potatoes from browning while you work.
2. Tip the mixture into a clean kitchen towel, gather the corners, and wring it out hard over the sink. Let the drained liquid settle for a minute, pour off the water, and scrape the white potato starch left in the bottom back into the potatoes.
3. Stir in the beaten eggs, flour, salt and black pepper until the batter is thick and holds its shape on a spoon. Do not let it sit longer than 10 minutes or it will weep.
4. Meanwhile, toss the tomato wedges, cucumber, red onion and dill with the sunflower oil, vinegar and a generous pinch of salt. Set aside so the tomatoes release their juices into the dressing.
5. Heat the sunflower oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high until it shimmers and a shred of potato sizzles on contact.
6. Drop heaping tablespoons of batter into the oil and flatten each into a thin 3-inch round. Fry 3 to 4 minutes per side until deeply golden with lacy, crisp edges, working in batches so the pan is never crowded.
7. Drain the pancakes on a rack set over a sheet pan — never on paper towels, which steam the undersides soft — and season with a little more salt while hot.
8. Serve the deruny stacked and piping hot with cold sour cream spooned over the top and the tomato and dill salad heaped alongside.
9. Deruny sit at the heart of Ukrainian home cooking, a dish built for potato abundance and stretched to feed a table with almost nothing else. The technique that separates good deruny from great ones is the starch recovery step: wringing out the grated potato removes the water that would steam the pancake, while returning the settled starch restores the binding power that holds those lacy edges together. In late summer the traditional winter pairing of sour cream and pickles gives way to a raw tomato salad, still warm from the market crate, cutting the fried richness with acid and dill.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 480 kcal
• Protein: 11g
• Fat: 27g
• Carbohydrates: 51g
• Fiber: 5g
• Sugar: 7g
• Sodium: 740mg