Non-Meat

Lokshe (Lokše)

Ingredients: 6 potatoes, cup of flour, oil, salt, sauerkraut or jam with poppy seeds
Prep Time: 30 minutes

An indispensable part of the Slovak kitchen are lokshe (lokše, lokša singular). They are thin pancakes made out of potato dough that are baked on a hot plate or an ungreased frying pan. They are kind of like Slovak tortillas. These will be found on any Christmas table! You will also find them offered at Christmas markets held in just about every town during the holidays. Today I am again at my grandma, so I watched as she prepared a batch. Follow the following easy steps to prepare this delicious and cheap Slovak treat at home.

Start by boiling unpeeled potatoes (zemiaky v kožke, potatoes in skin). Don’t boil them all the way, just long enough so that you can stick a fork in part of the way. Remove the skin, and grate them.

Then add about a cup of flour (múka) and a dash of salt (soľ). Work into dough.

Transfer onto a floured board, and roll into a tube some 2-3 inches in diameter. Cut out individual slices about an inch thick.

Then take each piece and transfer onto a floured section of the board. Sprinkle more flour on top. Pat it down a bit with your fingers and roll out with a short back-and-forth motion until you have a pancake some 1 or 2 millimeters thick.

Then bake on an ungreased frying pan, hot plate, or, like my grandma did, directly on her wood burning stove (šporák). Bake each side for few minutes, until they look done – they’ll get dark spots. Grease one side with oil (olej).

Fill with sauerkraut (kyslá kapusta) and roll into a pancake. Or, fold over and over again to make a little sachet.

I also convinced my grandma to try them filled with raspberry jam (malinový lekvár) and topped with poppy seeds with sugar (mak s cukrom), the way I had them in Bratislava on New Years. They are delicious like that, although my grandma wasn’t quite sold: Chutia ako palacinky (They taste like crepes) she said. Yes, the traditional way is to eat them with sauerkraut or cabbage.

You can also eat them plain. They are great like that as a light snack with tea or coffee. Lokše are typically eaten on Christmas after the traditional helping of kapustnica and fried carp. Lokše are also eaten on Good Friday.

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Potato Pancakes (Zemiakové Placky)

Ingredients: 3 large potatoes, one egg, salt, marjoram, black pepper, half a small onion, 1-2 cloves of garlic, 1 spoon of flour, oil
Prep Time: 30 minutes

Fried potato pancakes (vyprážané zemiakové placky, also called haruľa) are quite popular in Slovakia. They are made out of potato dough just like lokshe, but are made out of uncooked potatoes and are fried in oil. Potato pancakes are usually eaten as a snack, but you can serve them as a side with soups and some meals. They are very similar to Jewish latkes, but they have few additional spices. Potato pancakes are very easy to make and are super delicious. Try them today!

Using a fine food grater, shred 2 or 3 large peeled potatoes. Then take a strainer and press it down on the potato shreddings. Turn the pot over and drain out as much water as possible. You can also take a wooden spoon and press out more water. Then repeat with the strainer.

Next shred half of a small onion and 1 or 2 cloves of garlic.

Add one egg, salt, marjoram, ground black pepper, onion and garlic.

Also add one tablespoon of flour. Mix together.

Heat up oil. Then add about two tablespoons of potato mixture per pancake. Be careful here, because if water is left in the mixture, the oil will splatter out. Use the back side of the spoon to flatten out the pancake. Fry each side for about 4 minutes, until the pancakes get nicely dark brown. It helps to use two spatulas when flipping the pancakes.

I like to place my finished pancakes on a paper towel and then fold the ends over to soak up the oil. Serve warm. The pancakes should be crunchy on the outside and nice and juicy on the inside. Serve with milk. At least that’s how I like to eat them. Enjoy! Then learn how to make langoš, fried dough snack sold by street vendors throughout Slovakia and the Czech republic.

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Fried Cheese (Vyprážaný syr)

Ingredients: cheese, egg, flour, bread crumbs, potato, oil, salt, tomato, cucumber, canned pears

Prep time: 20 minutes

If you are looking for something heart-healthy, move on and skip this recipe. Otherwise, let’s fry some cheese! Fried cheese is quite popular. You will likely find this dish offered in most restaurants. Street food vendors also often sell fried cheese sandwiches. These are especially popular in Prague, on the Wenceslas Square (Václavské náměstí). They are kind of like a hamburger, but instead of a beef patty, you get a slice of fried cheese. Just a note of warning. You will be dealing with hot oil and sticky cheese. This could be a bad combination, so be careful when flipping the cheese so you don’t get hurt.

Potatoes take longer, so start by making french fries (hranolky). Peel potatoes, cut them into slices, and fry in salted oil.

Next, heat oil in another frying pan, and then prepare the cheese. My local supermarket had a mysterious shortage of block cheese today, and so I used pre-sliced Provolone. But normally you would want to take the cheese (Provolone and Muenster work well), and cut it into half-inch thick slices. Sidenote: as commented below, Edam is the cheese used in Slovakia

Arrange three bowls in a row. Put flour in the first, well-mixed egg in the second, and plain bread crumbs in the third.  Coat the cheese slice in flour, …

… in egg, …

… and in bread crumbs. Fry, carefully flipping once the cheese starts melting (about two minutes). I use two spatulas to flip the cheese. Fry the second half for a shorter time, not even a minute.

Garnish with tomato and cucumber. Serve with tartar sauce. Sliced canned pears go well with this dish. Enjoy!

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