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!
My grandmother’s coconut cream pie. everything made from scratch from the crust to the meringue. Yum. Wish she was still around to make it.
We do fried cheese fondue every Xmas eve…delicious!
Norwegian Meatballs and various cookies…especially the cookies!
My favorite holiday foods would be stuffing and sweet potato pie..MMMM, getting hungry just thinking about it.
My favorite Christmas recipe is my mom’s yam and carrot casserole. Which sounds deceptively healthy if you don’t count the 3 sticks of butter and bread crumb topping!
I love trying new stuff! I give to my daughter to cook! She’s great! We tho do alot of different and new finger foods and the like for Christmas eve and too some dishes, so I must add this one! I need too to find some good sweets!
cathiecaffey @ gmail.com
I have to go with homemade banana bread pudding. It starts with a loaf of homemade banana bread and gets turned into bread pudding. It is to die for!
Love latkes,this recipe sounds good. For Christmas Eve, the Italian side goes all out with fish of all kinds, shrimp cooked three ways, whiting, scallops, calamri, flounder, crabcakes, and more, with linguini and clams. The other side goes informal later in the evening with baked ham and homemade New England clam chowder, wtih a bowl of homemade eggnog. Hard to eat the following day on Chrstmas, lol, when it’s roasts and trimmings and homemade pasta and sausage. Exras diners are always welcome with so much food.
We always had ham, mashed potatoes, pies, veggies, jellos, fruit salads, cookies. Too much food to name. LOL.
katsrus(at)gmail(dot)com
Kosher antipasto. Also kosher Sicilian lemon chicken. And maybe some Central Asian Hanukkah plov (my family is complicated). And then the after-dinner espresso. And dessert if it fits in our gullets by then.
Coming from a Hungarian family, there is always a lot of baking and cooking going on for the holidays. My friends have been very appreciative of the kiflis, to say the least.
Oddly, one the most looked-forward to dish is a veggie casserole made similar to green bean casserole, but with broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots instead of the beans. It’s the ultimate holiday comfort food around here.
My favorite holiday food is Bishop’s Bread. Thanks for the contest!!
Eggnog. Definitely eggnog. I see it in the stores and instantly feel like the holiday season is about to start. A little nutmeg (maybe a little brandy) and perfecto!
My favorite traditional holiday recipe is Butternut Squash and Apples with cinnamon and butter and it is just delicious. …Maybe this isn’t precisely traditional but I don’t like turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, or that spinach thing.
Pumpkin pie is awesome though!
My mom used to bake a Pillsbury cherry danish while we opened presents. Those disappeared years ago, but the local HS orchestra sells Butterbraids, which are now our go-to Christmas breakfast treat.
Kringla—it’s a Norwegian cookie. We make it every year!
My mom’s dressing 🙂
My mom’s almond cookies straight out of the Joy of Cooking. Doused with powdered sugar and shaped like crescent moons. Definitely.
My mom always makes the best Sweet and Sour Meatballs for Christmas Eve and we always have to make five dozen for our family of six.
My grandmother’s German Chocolate Cake. Unfortunately, she’s no longer here to make it, so it’s up to me these days. And NO canned frosting – it MUST be from scratch 🙂
I think I’d go with iced sugar cookies. They’re definitely something I only eat this time of year, but I can’t get enough of them!
My mom’s date squares! Sooo delicious! ^.
My favorite dish would have to be my Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles. They melt in your mouth and aren’t too sweet, just perfect.
All the other traditional dishes: spiral sliced smoked ham (when I ate meat), corn casserole, hot chocolate with marshmallows and frosted sugar cookies.
It’s great reading about other people’s favorite dishes. I’m definitely trying the sweet potatoe latke recipe. Thanks for sharing it!
Hugs,
Tambra
Waldorf Salad… couldn’t tell you just what all is in it besides apples.. but it’s really good.
The turkey stuffing. We do turkey for both Tgiving and Christmas day, and we use my Gramma D’s recipe for oyster stuffing/dressing. It is tremendously rich. When we were kids, we used to fight for who got the “taste test” bite, because it was toasty golden brown and fresh from the bird. Mmmm.
Christmas is all about dessert in my family. Some of the favorites include cookies, a Christmas tree cake (white cake shaped & decorated like a tree), and marbled peppermint angel food cake. Can’t wait!
My Mom makes these candies called Opera Nut Creams – I think the recipe is off the back of the sugar box and the ingredients are basically sugar and cream … delicious!
My favorite holiday food is pumpkin cookies with chocolate chips!
My grandma made them, my mom makes them and I do…but only around the holidays.
So, I love the Christmas candy, cookies and other delights but my favorite tradition is the Christmas eve tacos/burritos. Om nom nom.
If I pick a different holiday, it’s Mom’s potato salad for the 4th of July.
We used to have roast chicken and latkes for the first night of Chanukah. Now with my daughter we’ve become a little less traditional. Spaghetti and garlic bread made our holiday feast.
Hot apple cider! With cinnamon and cloves.
Christmas is all about the tamales! I wish I had time to make them every year, but even when I don’t I must eat at least a couple on my birthday (12/21).