Potato Friends

Potato Friends are a filled dumpling made by wrapping a thin wheat dough around a mixture of mashed potatoes, fresh herbs, fried onions, and cream cheese. The dumpling originated in Northwestern Halfling clans, but the tradition has spread to Southern clans as well.

Execution

Potato friends are always made with at least five people, both to cover all stations of the cooking process as efficiently as possible and (according to folk wisdom) to infuse the dumplings with a sense of love and togetherness. The stations are divided up according to need and ability.
First, the potatoes, onions, and herbs are chopped and prepared, as the water heats to boil the potatoes and the butter heats to fry the onions. Then, someone mashes the potatoes with the cream cheese and herbs while someone else ensures the onions are perfectly caramelized and crispy. At the same time, others mix the dough, roll it as thinly as possible, and cut it into squares or circles.
The next stage is the most crucial and carefully timed part of the recipe. Most people in the kitchen will usually be involved with either distributing the potato filling and onions onto precut dough, folding the dumplings securely, and passing them to whoever is manning the frying pan. This is typically the owner of the kitchen or the head of the family or clan. They must watch the potato friends carefully, to ensure they fry to an even golden brown without burning. 
Because of the complexity of the recipe and the speed to which the cooking process often escalates, mistakes are inevitable, particularly when non-halfling guests are invited to participate. However, as halflings believe the kitchen should be a judgment-free zone, it is tradition to cheer and applaud every time someone makes a mistake.
Potato friends are best eaten steaming hot, directly from the pan. They may be briefly placed on a plate or serving dish, but are usually devoured quickly by everyone preparing them. A common idiom in halfling culture states that "if your potato friends cool on the plate, your kitchen isn't full enough."

Components and tools

The general ingredients of the potato friend include:

• Potatoes of various varieties (opinions on which variety differ wildly between clans, with many using two or three different kinds of potatoes)
• Fresh-cut herbs, most often rosemary, dill, or chives
• Cream cheese
• Onions, finely chopped
• Butter (for frying-- though some clans fry either the onions or the final dumplings in bacon grease or goose fat, butter is by far the most traditional)
• Salt
• Eggs
• Flour
• Clean water

The cooking process requires a wide, flat surface for rolling dough and assembling dumplings, a rolling pin, a wide, flat iron skillet for frying the dumplings, a hot stove, a spatula, and enough bowls, knives, and mixing spoons to prepare all the ingredients. Tradition claims that love is the most important ingredient in a potato friend. This is, of course, impossible to prove, though any observer of the ritual seems to agree it is true.

Participants

Methods and recipes for potato friends are closely guarded outside of halfling lands. Non-halflings are welcome in the making of potato friends when invited by a halfling or halfling family, but few (if any) attempt to recreate the dumpling in their own homes, as it inevitably ends in disaster when they try.

by Karczma Kotlin

  A pan full of hot, fresh potato friends.

Related Ethnicities

• Halfling