Hanukkah, oh Hanukkah, it’s time for day three of the Smart Bitches Hanukkah Festival!
Today’s prize is pretty awesome. But first, I’ve been asked for the Sweet Potato Latke recipe I mentioned yesterday. Ahoy, here it is, and the giveaway is below the fold. It’s a good thing to hold with one hand, while eating latkes with the other hand.
Sweet Potato Latkes
Makes about 24 latkes. Adapted from Taste of Home Magazine.
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp sugar (I used Splenda bc I’m out of sugar. Worked fine.)
2 heaping tsp curry powder (MORE SPICE BABY YEAH)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp brown sugar
1 heaping tsp ground cumin
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (like hotter with slow burn as you take another bite? Add more.)
1/4 tsp pepper
scant 1/4 tsp dry mustard
scant 1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs beaten (Kinky!)
1/2 cup milk or Lactaid or milkish product of your choice.
4 cups grated peeled sweet potatoes
oil for frying
Mix the dry ingredients (flour through mustard). Stir in eggs and milk until blended. Add sweet potatoes and fold with a spatula or your fingers to coat thoroughly. Keep scooping from the bottom of the bowl to make sure there is equal potato/goo distribution. The goo contains the flavor!
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. I used enough vegetable oil that it was probably between 1/3 and 1/2 inch deep in the skillet.
Drop heaping tablespoonfuls into oil. Let set for about 30 seconds, then press gently with the back of a spoon to flatten out. In my big honking skillet I could fry about 6 or 7 at a time.
Fry for 3-4 minutes per side until golden brown. Add more oil if you need it.
Drain on rack covered with paper towels. Try to avoid eating while they’re piping hot (ow. Good luck with that).
NOTES:
I tried making bigger than heaping-tablespoon size, and they were soggy in the middle, so keep to the smaller size for browned, crispy latkes with chewy centers. The batter will get soggy at the bottom so stir every now and again to mix the potatoes with the wet stuff. Remember: the goo contains the flavor!
We’re serving with honey mustard, chipotle mayo, drizzled honey and whatever else I think will taste good.
Happy Hanukkah!
And now: Ahoy! Contest the third!
On the Third Night of Hanukkah, Smart Bitches Gave to Me: A Generation Two Kindle, and a $25 gift certificate to Amazon!
Just leave a comment below, and tell me your favorite traditional holiday food (Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice, Kwanzaa – Eid is over, but is there traditional food for Hijra? – and you’re entered to win. Comments close in 24 hours, but fear not, there’s another book – paper or digital – giveaway coming soon. Because Hanukkah lasts for eight crazy nights, and I have more latkes to eat. NOM.
Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Reading!
Growing up, I was not the biggest fan of latkes, which made my friends so happy because my mom – hands down – made the best latkes, and I’d bring piles to school for them to eat. But now I’ve really grown to love them. (Of course it’s when she no longer makes them – or a lot of them – each year.)
I love my dad’s church window cookie bars (chocolate, coconut, cherries…yum!) and his homemade orange cream fudge. My mom makes Christmas dinner and dad makes the dessert 🙂
At martial arts lessons last night, one of Diva’s friends was telling me that he got an iPad for Hanukkah the previous night. A freaking IPAD! “And who knows what I’ll get tomorrow?” I told him not to tell Diva about it, or we’ll have to go through the whole Why Can’t We Be Jewish AND Christian At The Same Time thing again. It started when she was three and realized what a kickass playground the local synagogue’s daycare center boasted.
Last year I would have said pretty much any dessert but this year I am wheat, gluten and dairy free so it’s a little tougher. I am really excited about roasted butternut squash this year. So that’s my choice.
At martial arts last night, one of Diva’s classmates was telling me he got an iPad for the first night of Hanukkah. I begged him not to tell Diva because I don’t want to go through the whole But WHY Can’t We Be Jewish and Christian At The Same Time? thing again.
The only food tradition we had around the holidays when I grew up was the very special Pillsbury orange iced buns (I know they are called something else but can’t remember the proper name) that we made every Christmas morning.
But, I really want to make both the latkes mentioned above and the Christmas window cookies – those sound particularly tasty.
Yep, I’ll be baking tomorrow now that I have the craving. I wonder if I can find that window cookie recipe online?
leftse- it’s a Norwegian potato bread that tastes great topped with anything, from just a little butter and salt to pizza stuff.
I have to pick just one favorite holiday food? But this is when I traditionally gain my yearly 10 lbs! Okay, maybe it’s not a “holiday” food for everyone else, but in my family, one of our MANY traditional cookies were Russian Teaballs. So simple, yet when done right, they literally melt in your mouth. Uhmmmnomnom… Maybe I’ll break my pact and make some just for myself this weekend…
Cream green beans.. I know they sound gross but they are delicious. They have apple cider vinegar and milk, green beans and flour.
Red velvet cake, all the way!
Although last year we had a Dominican themed dinner. It was awesome.
For me it’s all about the pumpkin pie. Although lately, I’ve gotten very fond of pumpkin cheesecake too.
My mother’s stuffing, no contest.
our family has a recipe called ‘yellow rice’ basically it’s white rice cooked in chicken broth (the real stuff is tons better than the canned for this recipe). Once the rice is cooked and the broth is absorbed, add cubes of cheddar chesse. Stir ‘til melted. When I was nine I was shocked (and appalled) to find my grandma’s secret recipe was yellow food coloring! That year when she asked me to bring it out, I brought her the blue instead. We ended up with green yellow rice that year. Looked terrible, tasted great. We still laugh about that batch.
Coffee cake! My grandmother makes the same coffee cake every Christmas morning. She calls it Jewish coffee cake, but I know not why, especially because my family is the waspiest ever.
The favorite holiday food at my house my grandma’s rolls. Butterhorn or cinnamon, they are delicious. Now I make them, but they are still grandma’s rolls!
My family’s Christmas Eve Oyster Stew. Yum.
Mine is my grandmother making tempura shrimp. fish and veggies. Tempura pumpkin and sweet potato!
Canned Herring Roe fried in patties in bacon grease.
Perfect holiday feast: glazed ham, oyster chowder, fresh rye rolls. Sugar cookies and tea for desserts. Mmmmm…..
My favorite Christmas food is my grandma’s hand-made cabbage rolls…so GOOD!
My favorite holiday food has to be the decorated sugar cookies, because I make them with my children and whatever family member happens to be around. It doesn’t matter if I like the family member or not, the decorating makes the whole day.
Favorite holiday foods! How do I choose?
Those items I have learned to make, to keep tradition alive and feed my cravings are shortbread (grandpa’s recipe), sweet potato and apple casserole, and the family fruitcake…all that dark fruity goodness, soaked in alcohol. Mum is from jamaica and the cake comes out for Christmas and weddings. I am the only one in my generation to make it and it took me 4 years to get approval from mum, her mum, and the aunties! Best with marzipan and hard icing.
Also not to be missed: gingerbread (the cake).
So many carbs…sigh. Where’s that treadmill again?
For me it’s mango jam. Now that might not sound like a Christmas kind of thing to the rest of you but here in Queensland, Australia, December is high mango season and you can buy a tray of 24 for $10. I have a fantastic recipe for mango and ginger jam and every year I make about 50 jars of it, put ribbons around them and give them away to friends and family.
And every February they come around begging for more and I tell them to sod off because mango season is ending and I’m not sharing the couple of jars I have left for myself.
Though I’m going to have to try those latkes – already been to the shops today but I could stop by again tomorrow for sweet potatoes – think I alreayd have everything else.
spamword down27 – yes, my mango jam is already down by at least 27 jars and it’s a long time till Christmas. Think I’d better stop and get another tray and some more fresh gigner tomorrow too.
Not surprising for a person of Asian descent, my favorite traditional holiday food is a noodle dish with a soy-based sauce that has lots of vegetables and strips of mushrooms and chicken and shrimp and…it’s difficult to explain, but so easy to love!
It may sound corny but my fav food on Christmas is the sweet taste of my true loves lips after he has eaten at least 5 of my Christmas cookies.
Rickety Uncles!! my Meme made them every year. They’re like rice krispie squares but with corn flakes and chocolate and sometimes even cherries. She would do all the melting and my sist3er and I would stir everything together. It was hard work and out arms would ache afterward. All worth it to get some face time with meme.
We are a small family (me, husband, son) and have always lived far from extended family. Three years ago i decided cooking a big Christmas dinner for 3 made me hate the day. So we now eat chinese on Christmas day. No dishes to wash and i get my fill of lo mein.
I’m not sure how traditional this is, but my sister and I say it isn’t a holiday meal without the deviled eggs. I like ‘em spicy so I use grey poupon mustard. Yum!
This is utterly untraditional, but my favorite is the breakfast pudding that my mom and I make Christmas eve and heat up in the morning for presents. Yum!
My favorite is lamb. Especially crow rack with stuffig in the center. I love it especially because my Mom would make it for when we just had a laid-back holiday at home, instead of the huge hustle-and-bustle one.
I admit, I am not Jewish, but I grew up in a town with a large Jewish population so my favorite winter holiday food has nothing to do with Divali, but Hanukah. I am a huge fan of potato latkes. For the longest time, they were the only way I would eat potatos.
My favorite holiday food is turkey… I can never get enough of it, I love the holiday season
My favorite holiday treat? Sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies…um cookies! 🙂
It’s a toss up between the homemade cookies, and my homemade stuffing, I can pig out equally on both. And I love to eat the stuffing cold from the fridge, with some ketchup. That’s right, ketchup. Go ahead and say ew, but don’t knock it till you tried it!! 🙂
it’s a toss-up between the sweet potatoes one aunt does for thanksgiving, with pineapple, dried cranberries, brown sugar and nuts, and the prime rib my other aunt does for christmas; i don’t know what she seasons that beef with, but it comes out delicious and melt-in-your-mouth perfect!
Peanut butter chews made by my mom!
I have two, my chicken dressing and sweet potato casserole with brown sugar/pecan topping!
Potatoes. ANY way you can make ‘em. Never met a spud I didn’t love.
As a person with a Czech background, for Christmas we always eat duck with dumplings a sauerkraut. I look forward to the hearty and yet comforting food.
As a person with a Czech background, for Christmas we always eat duck with dumplings a sauerkraut. I look forward to the hearty and yet comforting food.