Potato Cakes with Ginger Rice

It's a good idea to read through all the instructions before you begin, so you can roughly plan your timing.

First, let's prepare the potato cakes. They involve two main stages: initially, you'll create a Pâte à Choux (a light pastry dough), and then you'll make regular mashed potatoes. Afterward, you'll combine them, shape them into disks, and fry them.

Pâte à Choux: Bring the 113 grams of water, 57 grams of butter or plant-based alternative, and the salt to a simmer. Add the flour and stir for a few minutes. Continue cooking for about another minute to reduce the water content. Remove the mixture from the heat and let it cool until it's warm, not hot. Add the single egg and the egg replacement mixture (which consists of one tablespoon of ground chia seeds and three tablespoons of water). Stir everything until it's well combined.

Mashed Potatoes: While you have downtime during the previous step, begin preparing the mashed potatoes. Boil the peeled potatoes, cut in half to speed up cooking, for about 15 minutes. Drain them well. Add about five tablespoons of water and seven tablespoons of vegetable butter alternative (or butter). Grind some pepper into the mixture. Use a masher to mash the potatoes.

Combine the Pâte à Choux and the mashed potatoes. Stir until they are evenly mixed. Using your hands, form the mixture into thin disks and flour both sides (I used corn flour for this). If you're not planning to eat all the potato cakes right away, refrigerate the extra ones.

Prepare and cook one portion of your preferred rice, mixing in some pepper. I used brown organic rice, which typically takes 45 minutes to cook.

Slice or cube the halved onion. Pour some oil (I used corn/maize oil) into a saucepan that has been preheated to medium heat. Once you add the onion, reduce the heat to medium-low. Chop the ginger and garlic (you can press the garlic hard with the edge of your knife first for a finer chop).

After gently frying the onion for about 10 minutes, add the chopped ginger and garlic. Stir occasionally and continue to fry very gently for about five more minutes, being careful not to burn the garlic.

Once done, add all the cooked ingredients, along with the soy sauce, to the rice. Stir everything together well and keep the rice mixture on the hob for a few more minutes over very low heat. Ensure there's still some moisture in the mixture.

Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add about 8 tablespoons of your preferred frying oil (I used corn/maize oil). The oil should cover the potato cakes by about 0.5 cm / 0.2 inches, allowing them to be semi-deep-fried. Fry them for about 7 minutes on each side (adjust the time as needed). Serve the potato cakes with the rice. Bon appétit!