Posts Tagged ‘Hanukkah Recipes’

Carlatkes

Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

 
I’m not always precisely on time, even when it comes to holidays.
 
So it took me until yesterday to start hunting for the menorah and thinking about Hanukkah presents and food.
 
Naturally, I wanted to make the traditional potato pancakes IMMEDIATELY. We had only one potato in the house, however.
 
So I decided to try making latkes with half potato and half carrot, creating something I call a Carlatke.
 
The experiment was a rousing success. The carrots lent a sweet touch (and of course their lovely color) to the salty pancakes. 

Here’s my new recipe. You still have a couple of nights of Hanukkah left to make them. (You could start a new tradition and make them for Christmas as well!)

 
 
Ingredients:
 
1 medium baking potato
2 large carrots
1 medium onion, more or less finely chopped
2 eggs, beaten
6 tablespoons flour or matzo meal
1 teaspoon Kosher salt (a little more if you like)
several of grinds of your pepper mill
canola or extra-virgin olive oil as needed for frying
 
Instructions:
 
Wash and trim the potato and carrots well. Peel the potato if you want to (the skin is nutritious so you don’t have to). Grate everything using either a box grater or the grater attachment of a food processor.
 
Wrap the grated vegetables in a dishtowel or paper towel while you assemble the remaining ingredients; this will make the veggies a little less wet and a little more inclined to cohere into a pancake.
 
In a medium bowl, combine the potato and carrot pieces, the onion, the eggs, the flour, and the salt and pepper. In a large frying pan, heat a couple of tablespoons of oil until the oil begins to shimmer. I prefer to use a nonstick pan as this minimizes the amount of oil needed.
 
Scoop some of the potato-and-carrot mixture out of the bowl with a soup spoon, and flatten it with your hand. Pop the flattened mixture into the hot oil. It should hiss and bubble a bit; if not, wait before you put more pancakes into the oil.
 
It’s just fine if your latkes are a little ragged around the edges. If they don’t hold together and are hard to turn, however, you may want to add a little more flour to your batter.
 
Fry the pancakes a few at a time, turning each when the first side turns a golden brown. Drain the cooked latkes on paper towels; then pop them into a 250-degree oven to stay warm until their cousins are finished cooking.
 
Serve alone or with applesauce or cranberry sauce. Makes about 12 smallish pancakes. 


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Yam-e-kes

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

yamekeweb

 
 
A few days ago, after making Samosa Latkes (yum, yum!), I promised I would post the recipe for the sweet potato latkes my family made the same evening.
 
We call them Yam-e-kes.
 
Yes, I know sweet potatoes aren’t really yams, but the name was too cute to resist!
 
Like most of my latkes (including my standard version, posted last year), these are a little messy. They’re also more than a little tasty.
 
They have a gorgeous rich color. (Unfortunately, my photograph doesn’t quite do them justice. We ate them so quickly I didn’t have time to snap another picture!)
 
I like adding rosemary to some of them, particularly when serving them with poultry. My nephew Michael, who calls rosemary leaves “those twigs,” prefers them plain.
 
So I’m making the rosemary optional.
 
Enjoy the last couple of days of Hanukkah (or Chanukah or however you want to spell it!)……..
  
sweets in bowlweb
 
Yam-e-kes
 
Ingredients:
 
2 medium sweet potatoes
1 large onion, more or less finely chopped
2 eggs, beaten
6 tablespoons flour or matzo meal (plus a little more if you need it)
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
several of grinds of your pepper mill
1 teaspoon dried (or 2 teaspoons fresh) rosemary (optional)
extra-virgin olive oil as needed for frying
 
Instructions:
 
Wash the sweet potatoes well and peel them if you want to (the skins are nutritious so you don’t have to). Grate them using the grater attachment of a food processor.
 
In a medium bowl, combine the sweet-potato pieces, onion, eggs, flour, salt, pepper, and rosemary (if you’re using it). In a large frying pan, heat a few tablespoons of oil until the oil begins to shimmer.
 
Scoop some of the sweet-potato mixture out of the bowl with a soup spoon, and flatten it with your hand. Pop the flattened potato into the hot oil. It should hiss and bubble a bit; if not, wait before you put more pancakes into the oil.
 
It’s just fine if your yam-e-kes are a little ragged around the edges. If they don’t hold together and are hard to turn, however, you may want to add a little more flour to your batter.
 
Fry the pancakes a few at a time, turning each when the first side turns a golden brown. Drain the cooked latkes on paper towels; then pop them into a 250-degree oven to stay warm until you have finished cooking all the batter.
 
Serves 6 to 8 as a side dish.
Happy Hanukkah from my family to yours!

Happy Hanukkah from my family to yours!

 

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Latkes on Foodista

Latkes and Beyond!

Monday, December 14th, 2009
Samosa Latkes

A Samosa Latke

 
Once a year or so (usually at Hanukkah, of course!) my family loves latkes. We don’t fry a lot of food, but when a holiday is all about oil one has to indulge in a little frying.
 
We usually make the traditional latkes I chronicled in a post last year at this time. This year I thought we’d try something a little different. We actually made TWO new kinds of latkes.
 
One version, which I’ll detail in a future post (making and eating latkes can really wear a girl out), was made with sweet potatoes. We called these Yam-e-kes.
 
I got the idea for the second version from Chef Jamie Geller of Kosher.com. I had been toying with the idea of making samosas, my favorite potato-based Indian turnovers, for some time. Jamie came up with the idea of putting samosa spices into a latke.
 
Since “Sam-e-kes” sounds a little awkward I’m just using Jamie’s terminology and calling these Samosa Latkes. They represent a wonderful pairing of two cuisines I adore.
 
If you’d like to see Jamie’s version of these latkes, please visit Kosher.com’s recipes for Hanukkah (she offers other great ideas as well!). You’ll note that she has produced a relatively low-fat latke. Since we only make them once a year we kept the fat.
 
I should warn you that my nephew Michael doesn’t believe that EITHER of our experiments actually qualifies as a latke. Whatever they are, they’re pretty tasty.
 
One note: these are not particularly spicy Sam-e-kes, only flavorful ones. If you’d like more spice, feel free to add more to taste.
 
Happy Hanukkah!
 
Samosa Latkes
 
Ingredients:
 
2 large baking potatoes
1 large onion, more or less finely chopped
2 eggs, beaten
6 tablespoons flour or matzo meal (plus a little more if you need it)
2 teaspoons finely chopped ginger root
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon hot curry powder
2 cups peas, barely cooked
extra-virgin olive oil as needed for frying
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves
 
Instructions:
 
Wash the potatoes well and peel them if you want to (the skins are nutritious so you don’t have to). Grate them. This takes a really long time with a box grater so I prefer to use the grater attachment of a food processor.
 
(Do not use the main blade of a food processor as it will make the potato pieces small and wet.)
 
Wrap the potato shreds in a clean dishtowel. Carry it to the sink, and wring out as much liquid as you can. Leave the wrapped shreds in the sink to drain while you prepare the rest of the ingredients (and maybe have a cocktail or two).
 
In a medium bowl, combine the potato pieces, onion, eggs, flour, ginger, salt, and spices. Stir in the peas. In a large frying pan, heat a few tablespoons of oil until the oil begins to shimmer.
 
Scoop some of the potato mixture out of the bowl with a soup spoon, and flatten it with your hand. Pop the flattened potato into the hot oil. It should hiss and bubble a bit; if not, wait before you put more pancakes into the oil.
 
It’s just fine if your latkes are a little ragged around the edges. If they don’t hold together and are hard to turn, however, you may want to add a little more flour to your batter.
 
Fry the potato cakes a few at a time, turning each when the first side becomes golden. Drain the cooked latkes on paper towels; then pop them into a 250-degree oven to stay warm until their cousins are finished cooking.
 
When you run out of batter (or feel you have enough for your family!), sprinkle the chopped cilantro over your latkes, light the menorah, and eat. Serves 6 to 8 as a side dish.
 
 
Michael loves to light the Hanukkah candles.

Michael loves to light the Hanukkah candles.

 

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P.S. from much later…. Here I am making these on TV!