Eastern Europe has also a potato-heavy diet since the tuber was introduced via Germany (king Frederick the Great of Prussia was instrumental to its popularity). In Poland, one of the main potato-dish is “plenze” (also called “placki”), a kind of potato pancake that can be either sweet (sprinkled with sugar and topped with jam or applesauce) or savory (with meat sauce, goulash, sour cream, cheese…)
Grate the peeled potatoes and onions, using the small holes. Remove the water coming from the potato with a spoon.
Add to the flour, egg, cream to the mixed potato and onions, creating a sort of batter. If you make the savory version of the pancake, add the garlic, salt and pepper. For the sweet version, just add a pinch of salt and one teaspoon of sugar. From the excess water, removed the liquid and take the starch at the bottom, add it to the batter.
Heat up the pan with oil or lard, take a spoonful of batter (you can make several of them in one pan, just ùake sure they don’t touch each other), gently press to make it flatter and fry on both sides
Serve with cheese, sour cream or with sugar and jam, for a sweet version.