To potato or not to potato

by Xenia Semenova

First, I would love to introduce you to an easy recipe from my childhood called pastry potato. 

Fun fact – you will not use any potato. You need cookies, which can be the cheapest ones, usually the kind that kids have for lunch, or Maria-style cookies, or even dried pound cake. You need to crush it. I use a food processor. If you don’t have one, just put everything in a Ziplock bag, close it, and roll your tumbler over it. You need equal parts of cookies and condensed milk. If you take 250 grams of cookies you take 250 grams of condensed milk, add 70 grams of cocoa powder, and use 1 tablespoon vanilla extract or rum. You can decorate it by rolling in shredded coconut, sprinkles, or nuts. Mix it all and make little balls. I put it into the freezer for 15 min and it’s ready. Bonne Apettite ! 

And something more exotic for some dinner, I would love to share with you shredded fried potatoes or Tǔdòu sī 

I love this cool traditional Chinese dish, and it is a shame that in the Western world, Chinese restaurants do not share it. While living in China it was my almost daily enjoyment! 

It is so easy to cook it! You just need big potatoes. Take two huge potatoes, peel them, shred them, leave them covered in water for one hour to let the starch go out, and then just rinse them. Prepare a frying pan, put garlic and some dried chili pepper on a little bit of oil to make an aroma ambiance. Just add all the potatoes and stir-fry the ingredients together. Add a tablespoon of vinegar and a teaspoon of sugar or even a little bit of maple syrup. It will be even a little bit Canadian style. You fry it for just some 7-10 min. You don’t need to make it golden brown; potatoes need to look white and yellowish, it doesn’t need to be very cooked or raw, just in between. For more flavors, you can add some soya sauce, just add a tablespoon, not too much because it is salty, and Chinese cuisine doesn’t require extra salt at all. And that is it! And it will Haoshida!