EVENTS: SUNDAY FUNDAY
THEME: ST.PATRICK’S DAY
RECIPE: IRISH POTATO FARLS/ IRISH POTATO CAKES
Irish Potato Farls also known as potato bread or cakes, are so easy to make. Egg free, rustic, so tasty, crispy on the outside and soft inside. Enjoy them on their own, with beans, eggs or a stew. With just a few ingredients a classic Irish breakfast is ready.
Irish Potato Farls are also served as a part of the famos Ulster Fry, a popular North Ireland breakfast. The meal consists of bacon, sausages, fried soda bread, potato farls, mushrooms, roasted tomato, eggs and black pudding.
Sunday Funday
Sunday Funday is a group of Food Bloggers. Every Sunday we share some fun, traditional, hearty or easy recipes to make Sunday Family Meals a bit more exciting. To join this fun group, visit the Sunday Funday Facebook Page. Request to join in.
Theme: St Patrick’s Day
Amy who blogs at Amy’s Cooking Adventures, suggested the following, “Let’s make St. Patrick’s Day recipes! Feel free to make traditional Irish cuisine or get creative and make something with leprechauns and rainbows!”
Must admit that I don’t have many recipes from the Irish Cuisine on my blog except for Barmbrack bread. Partly that is because many of the dishes are meat based. However, with many more people adapting the vegan, vegetarian diet there are now a few recipes where meat is easily substituted. While searching on the internet, I came across the recipe for Farls. First trial was a bit of a mess as the recipe I followed resulted in a very sticky unmanageable dough. I had to pat it and bake it.
Second trial forgot that I had used salted butter and added a hearty soup of salt! Yup you guessed right, the farls were salty!
Third trial was a success. Sometimes snow storms do not allow us to get out of the house as we don’t have a car. So once I ran out of bread and we needed it for brunch, like immediately. Irish Potato Farls came to the rescue as they are so so so easy to make.
What Is St.Patrick’s Day?
If it were not for this theme, I would not have really researched as to why really St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated. All I knew before the research that it is an Irish Festival, green is important and good luck symbols like four leafed clover, pot of gold, etc.
Traditionally, St.Patrick’s Day is observed as the death day of St.Patrick’s, the patron saint of Ireland. The holiday has now evolved into the celebration of Irish Culture with parades, Irish Cuisine, drinks, music, dancing and wearing of something green so that the Leprechauns don’t pinch you. This year 17th March is on a Thursday. Hopefully will celebrate it with some Irish Bailey Cream based dessert.. lets see!
To me when one mentions Ireland, it reminds me of Baileys Irish Cream which I love so much, potatoes, Guinness Stout and green pastures. It is on my list as one of the countries I would love to visit.
Check Out How Fellow Members Are Celebrating St.Patrick’s Day
- Amy’s Cooking Adventures: Irish Soda Bread & Leprechaun Traps
- A Day in the Life on the Farm: Dingle Pie
- Our Good Life: Irish Nachos
- Palatable Pastime: Bangers and Mash
- Sneha’s Recipe: Irish Scrambled Eggs With Chaffles
- Culinary Adventures with Camilla: Irish Stout Tea-Infused Truffles
- Food Lust People Love: Ham and Split Pea Soup (Instant Pot)
- Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Colcannon | Irish Mashed Potatoes with Kale
- Mayuri’s Jikoni: Irish Potato Farls
- The Mad Scientist’s Kitchen: Easy Irish Soda Bread
What Are Irish Potato Farls?
Basically, they are potato bread or rather flatbread or cakes. Either leftover potato mash or fresh mash is used along with some salt, flour and butter. That is all. As I mentioned above enjoy these buttery farls on their own, with eggs, or some stew. In Gaelic, a farl is a flatbread or cake cut into four pieces. Farl literally translates as a fourth. So one can have soda farl or potato farl.
While traditional potato farls have no other additions, these days it is easy to find so many variations. Some of the things that can be added to the dough are:
- chopped spinach
- grated cheese
- fresh herbs
- onion
- bacon
- sugar to make sweet ones
- flavoured butter
- zucchini
I’ve had the opportunity to have cheese farls at a brunch place and they are so delicious. For this recipe I have added spring onion.
Do I Add A Baking Agent?
Some recipes call for a baking agent, some don’t. I added a bit of baking powder to make the potato farls more fluffy.
Roll Or Pat?
Some knead the dough till it is a bit smooth and then using extra flour roll it out into a circle about ⅓ – ¼ inch thickness. Some pat it out using their fingers. I just patted it out on a floured board for that more rustic look.
Ingredients Required For Irish Potato Farls
Potatoes – you need potatoes that are suitable for mash. They must be powdery and not sticky at all. Here in Canada, Yukon Gold is the best for potato mash. However, I couldn’t find any so stuck to russet potatoes. In Kenya I would definitely use Meru potatoes or alika variety. Can use leftover potato mash. You need approximately 2 cups of mash.
Flour – I have used all purpose flour. Can easily be replaced with wheat flour but with the one for pastry or rotis.
Butter – I have used salted butter. Can use unsalted. If you use salted butter, add less salt.
Salt – add according to your taste
Pepper – optional. Add according to your taste. I cannot imagine a potato dish without pepper.
Spring Onion – scallion, optional. Chop the green and white part.
Baking Powder – makes the farls a bit more fluffy and soft.
Extra Flour – for rolling or patting out the dough.
Extra Butter – for cooking the farls. Some don’t use and allow the farls to cook without any fat. I prefer to use butter for that crispy outside.
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IRISH POTATO FARLS
IRISH POTATO FARLS
Ingredients
- 3 medium potatoes about 500g
- 2 tbsp butter soft
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¾ -1 tsp salt
- ¼ -½ tsp black pepper powder
- ½ cup spring onion finely chopped
- extra flour for dusting
- extra butter for shallow frying
Instructions
- Peel and chop the potatoes into chunks.
- Boil them in enough water till done.
- Drain them out into a colander. Allow all the water to drain out.
- Allow the boiled potatoes to cool a bit.
- Mash or grate the potatoes into a mixing bowl.
- Add butter and mix well.
- Add rest of the ingredients except for the extra flour and extra butter.
- Bring the ingredients into a dough. Do not knead the dough too much otherwise the farls will become chewy.
- Dust the worktop or a board with some flour.
- Divide the dough into two parts.
- Roll one part into a ball. Pat it into a circle of about ⅓ -¼ inch thickness.
- Cut the circle into quarters. Repeat with the remaining dough.
- Heat a frying pan, tawa or skillet over medium heat.
- Add a pat of butter.
- Arrange the potato quarters on the pan, as many that can fit in the pan or skillet.
- Lower the heat and allow them to cook till the are golden brown with brown specks.
- Flip the farls. Add some more butter.
- Allow the other side to become golden brown and crispy.
- Serve hot buttery potato farls with eggs, baked beans or a stew. Or enjoy them on their own.
Notes
- Use leftover potato mash if you have any.
- Use potatoes that are suitable for mash.
- Add salt and pepper according to your taste.
- Add chopped onion, cheese, bacon, fresh herbs, zucchini, etc instead of spring onion.
- Allow the potato farls to cook over low heat for that nice crispy outer layer.
- If the mixture is too soft to handle, add flour a tbsp at a time.
- Do not over knead the dough as you don't want chewy potato farls.
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