Norwegian Potato Roti: Lefse

This is my entry for Sia's Ode to Potato Event

I first came accross Lefse on the blogs on Epicurious. The article went on and on and on about the glorious joys of eating this THING, a traditional roti type bread in Norway: they eat it with lutefisk(a fish), they eat it with jam & yada yada yada. This is probably the first time I have been nagged into making something :)- that too by an article!

I was like, okay okay ill make it.

You can find comprehensive info on Lefse at Wikipedia.You can find step by step PHOTO instructions for the traditional Lefse here.

The recipe that I prefer is not really the traditional recipe for Lefse. Traditionally, Lefse recipes contain a lot of flour - in terms of proportion, around half to two third of the amount of potatoes. Ive chosen to reduce the flour to only around a tablespoon. My Lefse is all potato all the way.So they are a lot smaller than norwegian lefske.

You can adapt this recipe for fasting days by substituting the flour with some sago/ sabudana flour.

Ingredients:
5 medium sized boiling or yukon gold potatoes.Donot use baking potatoes.
2 tbsp heavy cream
2 tbsp butter, unsalted, soft.
about 1 tbsp all purpose flour, more if needed.
Salt, to taste

Method:
1. Boiling the potatoes: Peel the potatoes and halve them to have pieces pproximately the same size. Boil with plenty of water for 15 minutes, until soft but firm. The texture is very important because, the potato should not disintegrate or become too watery. If the center part of the potato is firm, but the sides are well done, go ahead and remove it from the water. Drain and reserve on a plate.
2.Grate the Potato:First cool the potatoes completely. About an hour or so. You can referigerate them and hasten the process. Grate using a grater with small holes( like a cheese grater).
3. Finish the dough: Add the cream,salt, the butter and the flour and mix very delicately. Just bring it all together into a ball.Do not knead. If you need more flour and your potato mixture is very wet , you can add more flour. Remember, the more flour you add, the less tender your lefse is going to be.
4. Roll out the Roti: Roll the Lefse out like a roti. Put on Tava and cook on both sides until you have brown spots. Spread some ghee on top, just like a normal roti.

The end texture we are aiming for is meltingly soft.

Serve with any sabji/chutney of your choice. I love it plain without anything.I was finding it very difficult to photograph it without gobbling the whole thing up :)

More power to Mr.Spudly!