I love potatoes, I am sure you have figured that out by now. I remember way back in the archives of my memory, the first time I tasted potato rosti, or hash browns as they are now more widely known, thanks to a certain American fast food company. I would have been maybe eight or nine and had gone to Colac with my family to the home of a friend of my Dad’s family farm. The farmer’s wife (I can’t remember her name) was making these grated potato things and the smell of them just set the three of us siblings drooling. I remember eating them, crisp and delicious with a good shake of salt, straight off the plate as she was taking them out of the pan, a golden childhood food memory.
If you have not had home made hash browns before and you want them to taste like fast food, this is not the recipe for you. I would advise you in that case to invest in a deep fryer and buy your hash browns in the freezer section at the supermarket or do a run through the drive through. BUT, if you are looking for a much healthier version of this family favourite, break out your grater and read on.
Ingredients
Makes eight
3 medium sized starchy potatoes (I have used desiree, skin on)
2 eggs
1 tablespoon tapioca starch (or plain flour if you can eat that)
pinch salt
2 teaspoon dried chives
oil for frying (I used a mild olive oil)
Grate your potatoes and pop into a colander over a large bowl, get your hands in and squeeze, squeeze, squeeze as much moisture out as you can, some people squeeze these out in a tea towel, I don’t, I think that is overkill and the less washing I make, the happier I am.
From this -
I got this -
You can drink that if you want, it is full of insoluble starch. I myself would rather go drink out of the horse’s water trough, but it is up to you.
Tip that out, rinse the bowl and pop all of your ingredients in with your grated potato and give it all a good stir around to combine.
Heat your pan to a medium heat, you really want a pan that things don’t stick to for this. I have a fair few frying pans and they have been tempered over time to reduce sticking, but really, this old rectangular pan that I got from Aldi a few years ago, that shows its age and is quite battered is the best thing I have to cook things in minimal oil and not have them stick. So heat the pan up to a medium heat, I used four out of a heat range of nine (this really is the trick for good rosti, you want to brown them on the outside, but not have the pan so hot that they are still raw in the middle when the outside is crisp), a good rule of thumb if you are using a smudge of mild olive oil, like I am, is that if the olive oil is smoking, your pan is too hot for this and it needs to be turned down a couple of clicks.
When the opan is hot, place heaped tablespoons of mixture and press them out until they are about a half inch thick.
Cook until they are quite golden on the bottom, flip them over and cook the other side.
Pile them onto a tray and into a warm oven while you do the other four.
Sprinkle with a little more salt if you wish to and serve hot. As you can see, I have paired them with a poached egg and some baby spinach and pepper for a nice, light breakfast. Mr T also had two ham steaks with his. I hope you enjoy this trip to my childhood, Xxm.