Ingredients
Potato base
- 2 kgfloury potatoes, peeled
- 2large onions, finely chopped
- 2eggs
- 2 tbspplain flour or semolina
- 150 mlwhole milk or single cream
- 2 tspsalt
- 1 tspblack pepper
- ½ tspcaraway seed (optional)
- 2 tbspdill or marjoram, chopped
Fat and meat
- 300 gpork belly or streaky salt pork, skin off, in 1 cm dice
- 100 gsmoked sausage, diced (optional)
- 20 gbutter, for the dish
To serve
- 300 gsmetana or sour cream
- 2 tbspspring onion, sliced
Directions
- Render the diced pork belly in a heavy frying pan over medium heat for 10 minutes until the cubes are crisp and a good pool of fat has run out.
- Lift out two thirds of the cubes and reserve. Add the onions to the fat left in the pan and fry 10–12 minutes until deep golden and sweet.
- Grate the potatoes on the fine side of a box grater into a large bowl. Do not wring them out — babka wants the potato juice and starch.
- Stir in the fried onions with their fat, the reserved crisp pork, the sausage if using, the eggs, flour, milk, salt, pepper, caraway and herbs. The mixture should be loose, like a heavy batter.
- Butter a deep cast-iron pot or ceramic dish generously and pour the mixture in; it should come no more than three quarters up the side, as it rises a little.
- Scatter the remaining crisp pork over the top and cover with a lid or foil.
- Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 50 minutes covered, then uncover and bake a further 25–30 minutes until the top is deep brown and blistered and a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean and hot.
- Rest 20 minutes before cutting — babka is fragile straight from the oven and firms as it cools. Cut into thick wedges and serve with cold smetana and spring onion.
Technique
- Babka here means a baked dish in a round pot, not a sweet bread; the Belarusian version is a peasant dish built on the country’s staple crop.
- The rendered pork fat carries the whole flavour, so do not drain it away — it is the cooking fat, the seasoning and the reason the crust browns properly.
- A clay pot in a wood oven is the traditional vessel and gives a thicker, darker crust; a heavy cast-iron casserole is the honest home equivalent.
- Do not rinse or drain the grated potato. The starch and juice set the babka; without them it bakes dry and crumbly.
Substitutions
- No pork belly: use 200 g of smoked bacon lardons plus 2 tbsp of butter, though the texture is drier.
- For a lighter version, replace half the potato with grated courgette, squeezed dry, as is sometimes done in summer.
Variations
- Mushroom babka, layered with fried wild mushrooms and onion instead of the meat, eaten during fasting periods.
- Some cooks part-boil half the potatoes and mash them into the grated raw half, giving a softer, more even crumb.
History
Grated potato baked with bacon and onion into a dense cake, a staple once potatoes had spread through Belarusian farms.
Frequently asked questions
What is Potato babka?
Potato babka is a main from Belarus: grated potato baked with pork belly and onions. Grated potato baked with bacon and onion into a dense cake, a staple once potatoes had spread through Belarusian farms.
How long does Potato babka take to make?
Potato babka takes 30 min of preparation and 1 hr 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Potato babka?
Yes, within limits. No pork belly: use 200 g of smoked bacon lardons plus 2 tbsp of butter, though the texture is drier. For a lighter version, replace half the potato with grated courgette, squeezed dry, as is sometimes done in summer.
What is the most important thing to get right in Potato babka?
Grate the potatoes on the fine side of a box grater into a large bowl. Do not wring them out — babka wants the potato juice and starch.
