Saturday, December 27, 2008

Recipe: Hanukkah latkes (potato pancakes) for an army

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We've been invited to yet another Hanukkah celebration tonight - how lucky for us! - and I volunteered to make the latkes. For about 30 people.

We got started early this morning. Michael washed and cut the potatoes and sweet potatoes into pieces small enough to fit down the tube of the food processor. Yes, I have to admit, I do not hand-grate my potatoes. I haven't found that it makes much of a difference to the final product, as long as I follow several key steps afterward.

So first I chopped the onions in the food processor and dumped them into two bowls (one for the regular potatoes, one for the sweet potatoes). Then I shredded the potatoes, about eight huge regular ones and 10 smaller sweet potatoes. To each bowl I added eight eggs and a cup and a half of flour, plus a few tablespoons of salt. And then it was time to fry. Which I did in two skillets, with canola oil, on medium-high heat. I'll reheat them later in the oven at the party.

The trick when frying, especially for the regular potatoes, is to scoop the mixture from the top of the bowl with a slotted spoon, so the liquid can drain off before it goes into the pan. I know a lot of people take the time to squeeze out their potatoes and onions before mixing with the other stuff, but I find that once you salt them more liquid comes out anyway. This is less crucial with the sweet potatoes, which give off less liquid in the first place, but important with the regular potatoes.

It took an hour to do the potato latkes in two pans. I'm still working on the sweet potato ones. Whoops, better go turn them.

Darn, that batch got a little too brown. I forget that the sweet potato ones burn faster. Maybe I'd better write this when I'm done!

2 comments:

Margaret Studer said...

Gee, we just call those fried potato patties. I do not use onions with the sweet potatoes. I stir cinnamon, ginger,and clove into the flour. If you make the batter thick enough, you can bake the sweet potato patties at about 400 degrees, if I remember right. You turn them over half way through.
I loved this blog entry. It made me feel as though I were standing in my kitchen watching you cook.

Erika Kerekes said...

Thanks Margaret! I love frying latkes...love this time of year.

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