Apart from “I had a little dreidel” and the menorah, Hanukkah doesn’t provide as many great traditions or songs as Christmas does. Let me admit it upfront: I’m Jewish, but I love Christmas. It took coming to college to realize how great decorating a tree was (my mom never let us have a “Hanukkah bush”), how heartwarming Frank Sinatra’s Christmas album is, and I still can’t wait to make eggnog and popcorn strings. Yet, arguably the best part of the holiday season lies within an oil filled skillet.
Every year on the first night of Hanukkah the smells of frying onions, garlic and potatoes drifts through my house reminding me why it really is so important to have a holiday honoring that damn miracle oil. Latkes are the Hanukkah miracle reproduced in deep-fried edible form.
In my house, latkes are my dad’s terrain. Every year he breaks out his food processor, the pounds of potatoes dug up from our garden, and a basketful of onions and garlic. He makes enough latkes to last us for dinner and lunch the next few days so we can make our friends envious in the cafeteria. One year my mom tried to make latkes with only a few tablespoons of oil and ended up with floppy brown pancakes. As my dad says, there is no such thing as a low-fat latke. Embrace the oil, grate the potatoes and recreate the Hanukkah miracle in your own kitchen.
This is my dad’s recipe that I wrote down when I was a freshman and tried to replicate his latkes in the Butts’ kitchen. As you know if you have ever been to a Hanukkah party and sampled the many different varieties of latkes, everyone has their own formula for making the potato pancakes. These ones are pretty garlicky and crispy. It takes a few times to get the consistency of the latkes right so they aren’t too runny or too fat, but once you get the hang of it you can make a whole plateful that will satisfy all your Hanukkah cravings.
Ingredients
3 lb Potatoes
1 lb Onions
– This should be a 3:1 ratio, so if you don’t have a scale try to eyeball it.
Several cloves Garlic
Salt
Pepper
Flour
2 eggs
Vegetable oil
-Wash potatoes and grate them. This can either be done with a food processor or a hand cheese grater for us college kids without kitchen appliances.
-Salt the potatoes adequately (they should be covered) and let them sit for 15 minutes. Squeeze out the excess water.
-Dice the onions or grate the onions and squeeze the water out. Sauté the onions and add the diced garlic.
-Mix the potatoes and the onions. Stir in the two eggs. Add pepper. Add 1/2 cup of flour so it sticks together, but not too much.
-Put oil in a pan on medium high. Let the oil get hot. Form potato balls, about a small handful, and place in the plan and flatten with a spatula. Flip them over when they are brownish on the bottom.
-Place them on sheets of paper towel to soak up extra oil.
-Eat with applesauce or sour cream!