Mariia Korolchuk is a gender-based violence specialist for HIAS Romania. Last year, she appeared on a local cooking program, Chefi la cutite, where she spoke about her experience as a refugee from Ukraine and provided a recipe for her Ukrainian dish, dranyki.
Here’s what Korolchuk says about dranyki:
“I believe that every person has a go-to recipe when they feel that they need to transport themselves to their happy place — to experience the moments of authentic childhood memories with a comfort food that hugs you from the inside.
For me, dranyki is this dish. It is so simple to make. Most of us always have a few potatoes, cheese, and eggs in the kitchen. And what I love most about it is there is absolutely no healthy or useful component in dranyki! It is about guilty pleasure, coziness, and comfort.
When you grab one dranyk straight from the pan, nearly burning your fingers doing so, and take a bite of this fabulous hash brown, the texture and warmth immediately brings back memories. While you chew, the whole world just has to wait, and all the problems are pushed aside. At least, until the you devour the dranyk. Because right now you feel the true connection to your home, your extended family, and your country.”
The recipe:
Ingredients:
Potatoes – 8-9
White onions – 3
Garlic – 4 cloves
Black pepper – 1 tsp
Salt – 1.25 tbsp
White flour — 1.5 cups
Cheese — about 10 ounces
Eggs — 1
Mushrooms — about 10 ounces
Sunflower oil
Sour cream – 7 ounces
Butter — 1 tbsp
Scallions – 1 small bunch
Dranyki potato cakes:
Step 1. Peel the potatoes and place them along with 2 of the onions into a food processor.
Step 2. Add 1 egg, 1-2 tbsp of salt, and 1 tsp of black pepper into the mixture and stir together.
Step 3. Crush the garlic and add it to the mixture. Mix well and add the flour. You should start to see a dough forming.
Step 4. Grate the cheese and add it to the dough, making sure to mix well.
Step 5. Heat a large frying pan and grease it with vegetable oil. Place the dough in the pan with a tablespoon, forming small circles. Make sure they aren’t too thick, to ensure that they can cook evenly.
Step 6. Fry the pancakes on each side until they turn golden.
Mushroom sauce:
Step 1. Cut the of mushrooms and one medium-sized onion into thin slices.
Step 2. Place the mushrooms on a heated frying pan and add a pinch of salt. Wait for the excess water to evaporate and then take the mushrooms out.
Step 3. On the pan, greased with sunflower oil, place the chopped onion and fry until the onion becomes golden. Add a tbsp of butter. Mix in the mushrooms and stir the mixture.
Step 4. Add the sour cream to the mixture and let everything simmer for about 5 minutes. Add 2 pinches of salt, a pinch of pepper, and stir one last time.
Step 5. Serve dranyki with sour cream, chopped green onion, and the mushroom sauce dressing.
