Peel the potatoes and hold them in a bowl of cold water to keep them from browning.

Using the grater on your food processor or a hand held grater or box grater, grate the potatoes and the two onion halves into a large bowl.

This is the most important part: draining and squeezing out as much liquid from the onion/potato mixture. Transfer the potatoes and onion to a fine-mesh strainer and squeeze out all the water. Press down on the mixture to remove that excess liquid. Add the dried mixture to a large bowl and mix in the beaten egg, flour, chives, 1 teaspoon of salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.

Heat a cast-iron skillet with a thin layer of canola oil over medium heat. Scoop about ¼ cup of the potato mixture into the pan and flatten them out with a spatula so they get crispy when frying. Fry until golden on the bottom, then gently flip and fry the other side, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt as soon as they come out of the oil.

Serve with sour cream or Greek yogurt (fat free works great).