I’m back with some latkes for Chanukah! I couldn’t neglect the blog for this holiday – one of my favorite foodie holidays! Each year, I love coming up with fun, new twists on the traditional latke. From carrot ginger to corned beef and cabbage, I always have fun with this holiday treat. And this year, Chanukah coincides with Christmas, giving us Christmukkah. Did I spell it right? Just like Hanukkah, it has a bunch of different spellings. Anyhow, it’s time to have some fun.
This latke recipe that I’m sharing with you came about when I was eyeing the fennel at the local vegetable market. I love fennel, but I was thinking about how I could do something other than my standard of roasting it. And then I thought about Chanukah and latkes. I didn’t think it would stand up on it’s own as a latke, but I figured that if I combined it with a more starchy veggie, it could work. A regular potato is too plain in flavor, so I looked to the sweet potato and thought that the flavor combo could work. The sweet with the anise flavor.
I shredded up a couple of sweet potatoes with two fennel bulbs, along with some onion and garlic. I squeezed out whatever liquid I could get out of it. I mixed everything in a bowl with some egg, flour, salt and pepper. Then I fried the latke patties in some canola oil – draining them when they were crisp on both sides. You do have to be careful when frying, because these latkes go from nicely crisp to very burnt very quickly.
I’m so happy with the way these latkes turned out though. It’s a nice change from the standard potato pancake. I served these latkes with the traditional sour cream, but these would also be great with creme fraiche or maybe a horseradish sauce. Have fun with it! Enjoy!
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 2 fennel bulbs
- 1 onion
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 2 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. ground black pepper
- 3 eggs
- 4 tbsp. all purpose flour or gluten free flour
- additional salt and pepper to taste
- canola oil for frying
- Shred all of the veggie in your food processor with a grating disc, or shred by hand
- Squeeze out as much liquid as possible
- Mix everything together in a large bowl with the salt, pepper, eggs and flour
- Heat a large fry pan on medium high. Add oil to pan.
- Form mixture into small thin patties and fry in oil. About two minutes per side, until evenly brown and crispy.
- Drain on a cooling rack or on paper towels.
- Serve with sour cream or other topping.
- Enjoy!
About Hindy Garfinkel
