Enjoy this golden potato latkes recipe – a favorite Hanukkah food ofmine and my families!
If you scroll to the end, you’ll find a FREE printable coloring page based on this recipe so that if you cook it for a crowd, you can actually send the recipe home.
Latkes, or potato pancakes, are a yummy, crispy, greasy fried food that Jews dream of year round but mainly only eat on Hanukkah.
Yeah, it’s a massive calorie splurge, but totally worth it! I expect to gain back the ten post-baby pounds I lost just on latkes this Hanukkah (kidding…) Seriously, latkes are possibly my favorite food, and while we mainly make them on Hanukkah, we do make a very similar potato kugel recipe year round.
The potato kugel is baked, but of course the fried latkes are that much better…
Thereason we eat these golden potato latkes:
For those of you looking for some background into the tradition oflatkes, the excuse is simple. When the Jews regained access to the temple, they went to light the Menorah (candelabra) which was lit daily. However, there was only enough of the special olive oil, to last for one day, and it would take eight days to get more. Miraculously, the oil lit for eight days.
The resulting tradition? Eat fried foods of course! Latkes, or levivotin Hebrew are the most common variety. Latkes is the Yiddish term. In Israel, sufganiyot – or fried, often jelly-filled donuts – are even more popular.
The reason we make these with potatoes is probably simply because a lot of Ashkenazic Jewish tradition is based on what our grandparents did while living in Europe. They ate lots of potatoes as it was cheap and they didn’t have that much money…
About the Golden Potato Latkes recipe:
This recipe makes a lot of latkes.The latkes are best eaten fresh. They are high in calories (though I don’t have a good count) as they need a decent amount of oil to fry, so eat a few and share!
If you don’t want to fry so much, fry what you want and then turn the rest into kugel by baking it in loaf pans. For such a size batch, I’d usually put about a cup of oil, so do it proportionately. For example, if you fry half the batch, add half a cup oil and bake the rest.
Naturally, my grandparents would make these golden potato latkes in small quantities, grating the ingredients using a box grater… But since we’ve got all the perks of living in the generation we do, we make it in bulk, for parties, using a food processor. I simply wouldn’t be able to without!
Note: ingredient amounts vary from recipe to recipe. Even the printable version of this golden potato latkes recipe includes a different amount of eggs – simply because I’ve done it both ways in the past… it’s really not a science. My grandparents didn’t even HAVE a recipe to work with… but the idea is here for you to replicate!
Instructions:
Grate the potatoes, zucchini, and onion in a food processor.
Combine the ingredients, with the eggs and spices in a large mixing bowl. Mix well (hands work best).
Heat a few tablespoons of oil at a time.
Add your grated mush to the pan, forming circles a few inches in diameter.
Fry on one side until golden.
Flip and fry the second side.
When the second side is golden, remove and place on a (paper) towel lined plate to absorb any oil that drips.
Eat these golden potato latkes fresh and enjoy!
If you see that you’re not going to finish all of these golden potato latkes batter/mixture at once, simply remove excess liquid (a little bit of liquid is good but a lot tends to drain out) and pour it into a loaf pan or two. Bake at 400 until golden on top.
New! Get the Hanukkah coloring page packet! You can find it in my Etsy shop, or on Gumroad, or purchase it here:
Vegetable oil or canola oil is usually best, because of its high smoking point. Latkes were traditionally made with schmaltz, or chicken fat, so if you have access to it, you should certainly add it in, because it does contribute to the flavor.
Binder: Use all purpose flour or whole wheat flour instead of matzo meal. Gluten-free flour, chickpea flour, rice flour, coarse ground oat flour, corn meal or gluten-free matzo meal will work beautifully in this recipe for gluten-free latkes.
Luckily, the fix for both of these problems is the same: add some more starch — ideally in the form of matzo meal — which will soak up that extra moisture and bind the ingredients together more tightly. Flour works too, but it sticks together and makes for denser latkes.
These potato pancakes (called latkes) are meant to symbolize the miracle of Hanukkah, when the oil of the menorah in the ransacked Second Temple of Jerusalem was able to stay aflame for eight days even though there was only enough oil for one day. The symbolism comes in the form of the oil in which latkes are fried.
A: This sure sounds a lot like potatoes that have been stored too long, in too cold of an environment before cooking. When potatoes are held below 41°F for too long a period, the starches convert to sugar and it changes the cooking chemistry.
Canola oil is a great choice for high heat cooking. It has one of the highest smoke points of all commonly used vegetable oils at 468 °F (242 °C), just a couple of degrees lower than peanut oil's smoke point. Recipe courtesy of our partners at CanolaInfo. Cut potatoes into uniform length and thickness for even cooking.
Potato pancakes have a creamy, almost mashed-potato-like center, with a thin, golden, crisp exterior.Latkes, on the other hand, should have a deeply browned crust, with wispy, lacy edges. Latkes also aren't hash browns.
One acceptable substitute is almond flour. During any other time of year, crushed crackers such as saltines or oyster crackers and any breadcrumbs, including panko, can be used.
Its Modern Hebrew name, levivah (לְבִיבָה levivá), plural levivot, is a revival of a word used in the Book of Samuel to describe a dumpling made from kneaded dough, part of the story of Amnon and Tamar.
If you don't drain the moisture, they won't crisp as easily and that may be why your potato pancakes are gummy. Feel the Heat. Sufficiently heating oil in the pan prior to placing the patty in the pan is the key to a properly crispy pancake.
“Onions can help block oxidation by coating some of the potato cells” Don Odiorne VP of Foodservice said. That's why some cooks alternate adding potatoes and onion to the mixture rather than doing all the potatoes first.
"Among other rules, eating certain animals, primarily pigs and shellfish, is forbidden; meat must be ritually and humanely slaughtered; and dairy and meat aren't to be eaten at the same meal." Fish and plant foods are "neutral" (parve) and can be eaten with either meat or dairy.
"By the 14th century, there's quite a strong tradition that people eat cheese on Hanukkah and it's associated with Judith giving cheese to the enemy to make him drunk," Weingarten says.
Brisket was and is still used as a special cut of meat on Jewish holidays such as Hannukah, Shabbat, and Passover. The cut of beef was decided to be celebratory and important due to its location. Brisket is found in the cow's front breast, making it kosher for Jews to consume.
It's great for all different kinds of frying methods, but it is also a good choice for roasting vegetables or making dressing. At about 400 degrees, the smoke point of canola oil is fine for deep-frying—a lot of deep-fried foods need an oil temperature of 325 to 375 degrees.
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