Hanukkah Recipes: Latkes and Cranberry Apple Sauce

Hanukkah is a holiday which celebrates the Jews in the old temple hunkering down during a war with enough oil to last only one night.  But...  the oil lasted in their candelabra for eight nights, which was a miracle.  

It wasn't typically a major holiday until fairly recently, when the Christmas hype and marketing caused people to overestimate its importance and start giving mounds of gifts.  Passover, in the spring, is a much more important holiday, as are Rosh Hashannah (the New Year, celebrated in the fall) and Yom Kippur (ten days after Rosh Hashannah).  

Families typically celebrate Hanukkah, also transliterated into being spelled as Chanukah or Chanukkah, by lighting the candles of the menorah at sundown, adding an extra candle for each night until the slots are all full.  While the menorah is being lit, the family says two prayers (a special one is added on the first night to mark how special it is to be together and start Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights).  The menorah is a special Hanukkah candelabra that is handed down through the generations, and kids in school often make them, so many times families have more than one.  The candles, also specially made for the holiday, are allowed to burn until they are finished, and the menorah was historically placed in the street-facing window to spread the light of the holiday.  

The commercialization of December has added gifts to Hanukkah.  Families used to give gelt, or money, and play games like dreidel and sing songs.  They eat latkes, cooked in oil to again remember the oil that lasted for eight nights.  In Israel they eat donuts for the same reason.  Nowadays families will either give a gift each night, or choose one night to exchange gifts or give the children more than one gift on one night.  Families have different traditions based on what their lineage is (Askenazi or Sephardic), and this is true of many Jewish holidays, especially with the traditional foods, which differ by region.  What is traditionally eaten by Jews whose ancestors are Russian is different than those with Spanish ancestry. 

My great-great grandparents came from Russia and Poland, which makes me Askenazi.  They emigrated to Ellis Island in the middle of the 19th Century.  Growing up, we celebrated Hanukkah with Latkes and Cranberry-Apple sauce, which was my mom's change on the typical apple sauce eaten with latkes.  Others prefer sour cream on their latkes, and I often serve them with dripped yogurt instead.   The menu for Hanukkah isn't really fixed, since it is so many nights, but there is often one night chosen to be celebrated more than the others.  In addition to serving latkes, often a brisket or roasted chicken is eaten, or chicken soup.

Traditional Potato Latkes (almost my Mom's recipe)

Growing up, we got to eat these exactly once per year, on one of the eight nights of Hanukkah.  It was a much-anticipated evening, since making them is so small feat.  I skip the potato peeling as an adult, and it shaves off a lot of the prep time.  We also like to have two skillets working at a time.  My home, however, smells like latkes for a week after making them~ just like it did when I was young. 

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

3 cups potatoes, grated and drained (we use the food processor)

2 T onion, grated

1/4 t. pepper

2 T flour (can substitute white flour with whole wheat, rice, or coconut flour without noticing)

1 t. baking powder

coconut or olive oil for frying

Mix ingredients in large bowl.  Cut open a stack of brown paper bags.  Heat oil about 1/4" deep in skillet.

Place mixture in to hot oil by tablespoonful and flatten.  Fry both sides. Take out onto cut open brown grocery bags, or layer in a Pyrex with the paper in between and keep warm in the oven at 200 degrees.

Serve with applesauce, cranberry-apple sauce, sour cream, or dripped yogurt (cultured cream cheese).  Best served HOT.  Recipe can easily be scaled up or down.

Egg-Free, Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Latkes

My husband and I started making these nearly a decade ago, when I stopped eating potatoes and vegetable oils like canola oil.  I have included an egg-free version, so you can see that substitute binders like flaxseeds and chia work just as well as eggs.  

3 eggs (3 T flaxseed meal or chia seeds soaked in 1/2 cup water for at least 10 minutes if egg-free)
3 cups sweet or regular potatoes (or a mix), grated and drained (food processor)
2 T grated onion
1 t salt
1/4 t pepper
2 T flour (rice or coconut flour if gluten free)
1 t baking powder
olive oil for frying

Mix ingredients in large bowl.  Cut open a stack of brown paper bags.  Heat oil about 1/4" deep in skillet.


Place mixture in to hot oil by tablespoonful and flatten.  Fry both sides. Take out onto cut open brown grocery bags, or layer in a Pyrex with the paper in between and keep warm in the oven at 200 degrees.

Serve with applesauce, cranberry-apple sauce, sour cream, or dripped yogurt (cultured cream cheese).  Best served HOT.  Recipe can easily be scaled up or down.

Cranberry Apple Sauce

Boil a bag of cranberries and three cut, cored, and (optionally) skinned apples with a cup of homemade chicken stock and a cinnamon stick. Lower to a simmer for 15 minutes.  Mash with a potato masher if you prefer a different consistency.

Cultured Cream Cheese

Cultured cream cheese is just a fancy way of saying dripped yogurt, or even Greek Yogurt.  This is delicious on crackers or bread, or even as a dip for veggies.

To make it, place your colander into a bowl.  Line it with a cloth (cheesecloth or similar~ even a light dish towel or cloth napkin would work).

Dump a quart or two of full-fat organic yogurt into the colander.  Place in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Save the liquid~ it is called whey and is useful for fermenting or it is high in probiotics and you could eat it plain or in a smoothie.

Chicken Stock

Using heads and feet make a thicker stock.  We usually use a carcass from a roasted chicken, and add a third of a pound of chicken heads, a third of a pound of chicken feet, and a few chicken necks.  We get all of our meat from our local meat club CSA Marin Sun Farms.  Their chickens are pastured on the heels of the cows, which is as good as it gets for chickens.

1. Fill a stock pot with filtered water, the bones, a quartered onion with its peel, 3 roughly chopped carrots, the greens and middles of a head of celery, and a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar.
2. Bring it to a boil.
3. Skim off any foam.
4. Lower to a low simmer, and simmer, covered, for 12 to 24 hours.
5. Strain and store.  We like to use canning jars and put the lids on while hot so they sort of "can" themselves.  Many recommend to use stock within a week, but we feel like this gives us a bit more time with it.  We store it refrigerated and use it as often as possible-- often in place of water in cooking or just to drink as a beverage with meals.

As long as you are making this, you may as well go ahead and make some chicken soup!  Good ol' Jewish Penicillin.  

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