Festivals | Chanukah

From chef Dori Even's table

Chanukah - the holiday of lights, Jewish might, and a whole lot of Latkes.

Chanukah, as we were taught in school, is celebrated every year for eight days during the month of kislev, in memory of the victory of the Maccabee`s who though considered the underdog, managed by sheer bravery, and cunning, to beat the super power of old- the Greek. The second thing we celebrate in Chanukah, is the miracle of the oil jar, which was found in the temple after the Greeks were chased out of Jerusalem, containing barely enough oil to light the Menorah for one day, but miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days. To help us remember the oil jar miracle, it is the custom to eat fried foods in Chanukah.

That custom is common to all the various Jewish cuisines I know.

The combination of tales of miracles, Jewish super heroes (Yehuda & his brothers), Chanukah games in the comfort of my grandma's house with the rain pouring outside, the splendor of lights, and the smell of frying doughnuts, made Chanukah my favorite time of year when I was a child, and with a glass of good wine, warm slippers, and a severe case of autumn nostalgia, it might still very well be my favorite time of year.

Chanukah recipes

Latkes

Ingredients:-

Five medium potatoes
Three table spoons flour or mazza meal
One tea spoon salt
One quarter tea spoon ground black pepper
One or two eggs (depending on size of eggs and of potatoes)
One diced small onion, or chopped chives, or chopped spring onion (optional)
Frying oil

Preparation:-

1.peel potatoes and grate in coarse grater (or the largest hole grating disk of your food processor).
2.squeeze the grated potatoes by hand and strain the access water.
3.pour all the ingredients ( not the oil!!) in to a mixing bowl and mix well.
4.heat the oil in a skillet or a frying Penn ( oil should be about 1/3 of an inch deep)
5. put nice dollops of the mix in the oil with a spoon, and slow fry on a small or medium flame (3-5 minutes on each side) until crisp- golden/ light brown.
6.place ready latkes for a short while on absorbing paper.

Serve hot with sour cream and apple sauce.

Chefs tip: for an exotic version use sweet potato instead of the regular,
And substitute the chives with chopped cilantro.

Quick doughnuts

Ingredients:-

Three glasses (250 cc) flour
One table spoon baking powder
Two spoons sugar
Two eggs
Two 200 ml cups cultured milk ( eshel/ lebben)
Frying oil

Preparation:-

1.Mix all the ingredients(except the oil) in a mixing bowl until you get a smooth batter with no lumps
2.heat the oil in a cooking pot (oil should be at least two inch deep).
3.using a spoon, gently pour dollops of batter into the oil creating nice size doughnuts, fry all sides until golden- brown.
4.take ready doughnuts out of the oil, shake gently, and place on a plate covered with absorbing paper, and let cool down.
5.sprinkle with icing sugar and serve

chefs tip:- if you have the right kind of injector it`s great to serve doughnuts
filled with jam, dulce` de leche, chocolate, nuttela, or whipped cream.

Apple sauce

Ingredients :-

Two kilograms of granny smith apples, pealed, cored and cut to quarters
Juice of one lemon
2 cinnamon sticks
Half a cup cider or apple juice
Brown sugar, golden syrup, corn syrup, or maple syrup for sweetening

Preparation :-

Place the apples, lemon juice, and cinnamon sticks in a heavy cooking pot, add the cider, and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat for about twenty minutes stirring every few minutes, so nothing sticks to the bottom.
When apples are soft remove the cinnamon sticks, and let cool down a bit.
Pour content of the pot into food processor with a steal blade, and run until smooth.
Add sugar or syrup to adjust sweetness, serve cold.

Sfenge

Moroccan orange flavored doughnut rings. This is quite a labor intensive recipe, but the results are definitely worth it!

Ingredients

2 teaspoons dried yeast, or 1 cube instant yeast
half a cup or a little more fresh squeezed orange juice, warmed up
4 spoons sugar
3 1/3 glasses of flour
grated zest from 1 orange
2 eggs lightly whisked
4 1/2 spoons peanut oil ( any veg. Oil will do)
frying oil
icing sugar

Preparation

Place the yeast in a mixing bowl with 4 spoons of orange juice, a teaspoon of the sugar, and two spoons of flour, and mix well.
Let it wait for 25 minutes, for the yeast to raise.
( if using instant yeast, you can skip the wait ).
In a large bowl mix the rest of the flour, with the orange zest, the eggs, and 4 spoons of the peanut oil. Add the yeast mix, and mix well.
Gradually incorporate the orange juice, until you get soft dough, which easily gathers into a ball. Knead the dough by hand for about 15 minutes, until it is flexible and does not stick to your hands. Place the rest of the peanut oil in a bowl, and roll the dough in it until it is oiled on all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let it sit for an hour and a half, in a warm place, until the dough doubles in volume.
Beat the dough to flatten it, and roll it to a 1 cm. high leaf.
Cut the dough into circles(8 cm. In diameter). Make a hole, using your finger, in the center of each circle, and pull from all sides to create a ring. Place the rings on a lightly oiled baking tray, and let them sit for half an hour, for final raising.
Heat the oil to medium- low heat, and fry the rings on all side, turning them over & over. When golden brown, take out of the oil and lay on absorbing paper.
Serve hot sprinkled with icing sugar, or deep in sugar syrup.

* the original recipe was taken from THE JEWISH COOKBOOK-EAST & WEST
by Claudia Roden.

Roesti Potato Pancakes - the Suisse take on the old latke.

Ingredients

· 2 lb Yukon Gold potatoes baked or boiled
· 2 flat tsp salt
· 8 tablespoons butter high fat content preferred.

Preparation

1. Bake potatoes and let them cool
2. When cool, peel them and shred them on a hand grater using the largest opening. You can also use the shredder blade on a food processor. Don't press hard. Sprinkle with salt.
3. Melt 1/2 the butter in a non stick pan. Add half the potatoes, and stir well to coat the potatoes with butter. Separate the potatoes into 4 portions, and press with a spatula while they cook so they will stick together. Set heat to medium. When the potatoes are crisp on one side, turn them over, and cook until crisp on the other side. It is not a big thing if they don't stay together in perfect pancakes. What is important is that they are thin and buttery and very crisp.