A Light Menu Hanukkah, The Festival Of Light, Features Fried Favorites Like Latkes

You’ve got to love a holiday that celebrates fried food.

Hanukkah, which began at sundown Tuesday, is the Jewish festival of light. Light is represented by oil. And oil means fried foods - primarily, the potato pancakes called latkes.

Like many traditional Jewish foods, latkes are simple, but steeped in religious significance.

According to the Hanukkah story, a band of Jewish patriots called the Maccabees revolted in 165 B.C. and took their temple back from Antiochus and the Syrian-Greek army. When the priests repurified the temple, there was only enough oil to burn the sacred lamp for a day. Miraculously, the lamp kept burning for eight days, until they had prepared enough purified oil to refill it.

Today, to commemorate the occasion, Jews light candles on eight successive days and eat foods fried in oil like latkes (pronounced LAHT-kuhs), customarily served with applesauce or sour cream.

People tell stories about their childhood latkes. Hockey puck latkes. Limp latkes. Cold latkes. Latkes flavored with the scraped knuckles that go along with grating potatoes.

A small army of cooks prepares dozens of crisp, hot latkes each year for the Hanukkah party at Temple Beth Shalom in Spokane. “They swallow every one we make,” says Ethel Grossman, one of the temple’s senior cooks.

But latkes are a food for many cultures, says Joan Nathan, author of six books on Jewish cooking including the award-winning “Jewish Cooking in America” (Random House, 1994), which will become a 26-part PBS series next fall.

“It didn’t originate with Jews, latkes,” says Nathan. “It was a Ukrainian dish. Everybody’s got potato pancakes; German cooks make them all the time. The French have them - croquettes. It’s just one way of cooking potatoes.”

And latkes don’t even have to be potatoes. Look through current cookbooks and you’ll find that pretty much anything that can be pureed or grated has been fried in oil and called a latke: Sweet potato latkes. White bean and zucchini latkes. Dill chicken latkes. Salmon latkes.

It’s tempting to dismiss all those latke latecomers as so much trendy designer food. But remember: The point of the latke tradition isn’t potatoes. It’s the oil.

“Everyone has a winter solstice holiday,” says Nathan. “Hanukkah originally was the end of the olive oil harvest in ancient Israel. Olive oil in ancient Israel was not only what you lighted with but what you cooked with. So it was essential, and Hanukkah celebrated that as the festival of light.”

The whole Maccabean story got attached to the winter holiday the way that Jesus’ birthday got attached to the winter holiday in European cultures, she says.

In some Jewish traditions, latkes aren’t made of grated vegetables. To the Ashkenazi, Jews of European descent, dairy foods are part of Hanukkah. Back to legend: The Assyrians laid siege on Bethulia, outside Jerusalem. A young widow, Judith, went to the Assyrian general, Holofernes, and fed him salty cheese to make him thirsty. Then she gave him wine, and when he was drunk she cut off his head.

So, cheese was good, and the Ashkenazis made their latkes from cheese.

Nathan had never heard of cheese latkes as a child. “It’s sort of a forgotten tradition,” she says. “It’s been refound these days because there are so many Jewish cookbooks out there. So, many things are being discovered.”

There are a few tricks to making good potato latkes. There’s always a big argument whether potatoes grated by hand make better latkes than those put through a food processor, although most people agree the difference is minor.

“I think the best ones are made in a heavy cast-iron pan,” Grossman says. “Everybody has their own pet idea what kind of pan to use, how much oil, whether to pre-fry the onions.”

Some cooks thicken the potato-onion-egg mixture with matzo meal, some with flour; others, preferring a lighter texture, skip both.

One modern twist gets votes from most everybody who tries it: Yukon Gold potatoes. The buttery flavor lifts a latke past the ordinary. Russets, or baking potatoes, are a second choice. Never use red potatoes, says Nathan; they’re too gummy.

The real key, she says, is potato starch. You grate the potatoes, drain them in a sieve over a bowl and pour off the water that collects. The potato starch left in the bottom of the bowl is stirred back into the grated potatoes for texture and flavor.

“That’s the essence of potato,” Nathan says.

The bottom line is oil, and plenty of it.

“You really grease up the whole house, but it’s OK,” says Grossman. “It’s only once a year.”

Traditional Crispy Latkes

From “Jewish Cooking in America,” by Joan Nathan (Random House, 1994). Pressing them out with a spatula makes these latkes very thin and delicate.

2 pounds russet or Yukon Gold potatoes

1 medium onion, peeled and quartered

1/2 cup chopped green onions, white and green parts

1 large egg, beaten

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Vegetable oil for frying

Peel potatoes and put in cold water. Using hand grater or food processor with shredding blade, coarsely grate potatoes and onion. Place in fine-mesh strainer over bowl and squeeze out the liquid. Let potato starch settle to bottom, then carefully pour off water, saving white potato starch in bottom of bowl. Place potato mixture in a bowl and stir in potato starch. Stir in green onions, egg, salt and pepper.

Heat griddle or nonstick skillet and coat with thin film of vegetable oil. Using about 2 tablespoons potato mixture for each latke, place in skillet, flatten quickly with spatula and fry a few minutes until golden. Turn and brown other side. Remove to paper towels to drain. Serve immediately.

Yield: About 2 dozen.

Nutrition information per latke: 59 calories, 2.5 grams fat (38 percent fat calories), 1 gram protein, 8 grams carbohydrate, 9 milligrams cholesterol, 6 milligrams sodium.

Sweet Cheese Latkes

Adapted from “The World of Jewish Cooking,” by Gil Marks (Simon & Schuster, 1996). Without a potato in sight, these very light, delicate pancakes have an unusual flavor from the ricotta cheese that reminded us of blintzes. Instead of sour cream, serve them with jam or syrup.

1 (15-ounce) container part-skim ricotta cheese

4 large eggs

About 1/4 cup all-purpose flour or matzo meal

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 to 2 tablespoons honey

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

Vegetable oil for frying

In food processor with steel blade, puree ricotta, eggs, flour or matzo meal, melted butter, honey, vanilla and salt until smooth.

Heat large nonstick skillet or griddle over medium heat and coat with about 2 tablespoons oil. Drop in batter by tablespoonfuls, smoothing with spoon into a small circle. When bubbles have formed all over the top, about 3 minutes, turn carefully with spatula. Continue frying until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Keep cooked pancakes warm in 200-degree oven until all pancakes are cooked. Serve immediately.

Yield: About 30 small pancakes.

Nutrition information per pancake: 60 calories, 4 grams fat (60 percent fat calories), 3 grams protein, 3 grams carbohydrate, 35 milligrams cholesterol, 73 milligrams sodium.

Curried Sweet Potato Latkes

From “Jewish Cooking in America,” by Joan Nathan (Random House, 1994). These are the best, hands down; the outside gets very crispy, the inside has an exotic, spicy flavor and the color is a lovely golden counterpart to the standard potato latke. For an Asian flavor, substitute ground ginger for the cumin.

1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

2 teaspoons curry powder

1 teaspoon cumin

Salt and pepper to taste

2 large eggs, beaten

About 1/4 cup milk

Peanut oil for frying

Grate potatoes coarsely. In bowl, mix flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, cayenne, curry powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Add eggs and just enough milk, about 2 tablespoons, to make a stiff batter. Add potatoes and mix. (Mixture should be moist, but not runny; add a little more milk if it’s too dry.)

Heat 1/4 inch of oil in skillet until barely smoking. Drop in batter by tablespoons and flatten. (Don’t make latkes too big or they won’t cook in the middle.) Fry on medium-high heat for several minutes on each side until golden. Drain on paper towels. Serve immediately.

Yield: 2 to 3 dozen.

Nutrition information per each of 24 latkes: 57 calories, 2.73 grams fat (43 percent fat calories), 1 gram protein, 7 grams carbohydrate, 18 milligrams cholesterol, 41 milligrams sodium.

Ada Shoshan’s Apple Latkes

From “The Jewish Holiday Kitchen,” by Joan Nathan (Schoken, 1988), these are more like sweet pancakes. Try mixing various types of apples for different flavor and texture.

2 eggs, beaten

1-1/2 cups orange juice, yogurt or milk

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Dash of salt

1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar

3 medium apples, peeled and cored

Vegetable oil for frying

Confectioners’ sugar

Mix eggs and orange juice in large mixing bowl. In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Coarsely grate apples and add to eggs with flour mixture.

Heat a thin layer of oil in skillet. Using 1 tablespoon batter per latke, place in skillet and cook about 2 minutes, until there are bubbles all over surface. Turn and cook about 2 minutes on other side. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and serve.

Yield: 2 to 3 dozen.

Nutrition information per each of 24 latkes: 91 calories, 2.85 grams fat (28 percent fat calories), 2 grams protein, 15 grams carbohydrate, 18 milligrams cholesterol, 32 milligrams sodium.

Fresh Salmon Latkes

From “Jewish Holiday Feasts,” by Louise Fiszer and Jeannette Ferrary (Chronicle, 1995). Fresh dill makes all the difference in these high-class latkes.

1-1/2 pounds boneless, skinless salmon fillets

1 small onion, peeled

1 stalk celery

3 sprigs parsley

2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 egg

1 egg white

1-1/2 cups dry bread crumbs, divided use

1/2 to 1 cup oil for frying

Tartar sauce

Cut salmon into chunks and place in food processor. Cut onion and celery into chunks and add to salmon with parsley, dill, salt and cayenne. Process until chopped but not pureed.

Add lemon juice, egg, egg white and 1/2 cup bread crumbs and process again, just until combined. Spread remaining 1 cup bread crumbs on plate. Using about 1/4 cup of the mixture for each latke, form into 3-inch patties and coat both sides of each with crumbs.

In large skillet over medium-high heat, heat about 1/3 cup oil. Fry latkes until golden brown, about 4 minutes per side. Add more oil between batches as needed. Drain on paper towels and keep warm in 250-degree oven until all latkes are fried. Serve immediately, with tartar sauce.

Yield: About 15.

Nutrition information per latke: 231 calories, 16.89 grams fat (66 percent fat calories), 11 grams protein, 8 grams carbohydrate, 38 milligrams cholesterol, 211 milligrams sodium.

The following fields overflowed: BYLINE = Kathleen Purvis The Charlotte Observer Food editor Rick Bonino contributed to this story.