When you're making an Irish breakfast or an Ulster Fry, there are some side dishes that are absolutely indispensable... but (when you're not in Ireland, and sometimes even when you are) often very hard to get your hands on. The one that's probably most difficult to find is potato bread, or arán pratai in Irish.

It's not a bread in the classic sense -- meaning that it doesn't come in loaves, sliced or otherwise. Potato bread -- also known as potato cake and potato farl and even fadge, depending on which part of the island you're in -- is a griddle bread, never baked in an oven, only on a griddle or in a frying pan. The "farl" name is a clue that it's usually cut into triangles, as "farl" is a name for any triangular piece of baking.

It's relatively rare to see potato bread eaten by itself, though sometimes people might toast it or just butter it and eat it as a quick snack. Mostly, though, potato cake winds up in the frying pan along with the other ingredients of the Ulster fry or Irish breakfast, and gets fried in butter along with everything else.

In Ireland, both north and south, the big supermarket chains usually carry potato bread, and so do smaller local stores. But somehow it always seems that just when you want it most, you can't find the stuff. At such times, there's nothing to do but make some yourself. Fortunately it's not hard to do at all, and it's fairly fast, too.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound / about 3 cups of potatoes, peeled, cooked, and still hot
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour

It's important to make the potato cakes while the potatoes are still hot: this makes sure you'll have a light and tasty result.

Rice or mash the potatoes very well until there are no lumps. (Ricing is really the best way to go with these, as it helps keep the texture of the potato cakes light.) In a bowl, mix the potatoes well with the salt; then add the melted butter and mix well again. Finally add the flour, working in enough to make a light and pliable dough.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a roughly oblong shape, about 9 inches long and four inches wide, and about 1/4 inch thick. Trim the edges until you have a neat rectangle: then cut again so that you have four or six triangles. (You can cut them into even smaller triangles if you like.)

Heat a dry griddle or frying pan until medium-hot. Then bake the farl triangles until golden brown on each side. Usually this takes about five minutes on each side.

Put the finished farls aside on a plate covered with a dishtowel / tea towel and continue baking them until they're all done. Then flip the towel over them to cover them. The little bit of steam that comes off them will help keep them soft.

Then make your Irish breakfast or Ulster fry, frying the farls up in the butter or oil that you're using for the rest of the dish. If you have more potato bread than you can use, it freezes very well: just put it in a Tupperware or similar plastic container first.