Chanukah Recipes
Chanukah is not just a ploy to keep kids lingering around the candles and enjoying a family meal?
Not at all! We need food!!!
Originally a typical Chanukah menu was not planned by diet advisers as it includes everything sweet and fattening; potato pancakes, fried, of course in lots of oil, cream, strawberry-jam-filled doughnuts covered in powdered sugar, fried apple fritters, cheese-filled doughnuts fried in oil and dipped in honey and whatever your heart and belly desires. We tried to bring you more moderate recipes but of course frying in oil is to remind us of the miracles and the freedom that we‘re all celebrating and help make your holiday a fun and tasty one.
Remember; You don‘t have to wait for Chanukah to make some of these traditional Chanukah recipes.
Zucchini Potato Latkes
Because of the miracle of the oil in the story of Chanukah, it‘s traditional to eat something oil-fried for the holiday.
This Zucchini Potato Latkes is a delicious version of the common latkes it features zucchini in addition to the potatoes that your family and guests will appreciate.
Ingredients:
2 pounds zucchini
2 large potatoes
1 medium onion
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup flour
Some parsley or dill if you like
Salt & pepper to taste
Oil for frying
Preparation:
Peel and grate the zucchini. Peel the potatoes and grate into the zucchini. Grate the onion and add to the zucchini mixture. Squeeze out the liquid! Add the eggs than the flour. Season to taste and blend well.
Bake in deep oil
Serve hot with sour cream.
Potato Latkes
Everybody in the family loves potato latkes, or as we call them in Hebrew levivot. Comes Chanukah there is the perfect excuse to enjoy them. As a matter of fact with slight variation you can have the Passover too. Ingredients
4 medium peeled and grated potatoes
2 egg
1/4 cup flour
½ teaspoon salt
vegetable oil for frying
Preparation
Put the grated potato in a sieve to get rid of excess water and mix
with the beaten egg and flour.
Heat the oil, than
drop spoon size of the mixture into hot vegetable oil until brown on both sides.
Serve with applesauce or Sauer crème or preserves.
To vary add finely chopped green onions and pepper to taste. Serve with grated parmesan or Sauer crème or exchange potatoes with sweet potatoes for sweet variation.
Sufganiot - Jelly Doughnuts
The primary expression of Chanukah is the oil that lights the Menorah. Expressed in food, it has been a custom to eat deep-fried food, like Sufganiot Israeli Jelly Doughnuts, or Latkes Potato Pancakes. Our Jelly Doughnuts recipe will help you in your Chanukah preparations. Ingredients
2 envelopes active dry yeast
1/4 cup sugar
4 cups flour
2 large whole eggs + 2egg yolks
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoons salt
3/4 cup lukewarm water
5 cups oil, for deep frying, more may be necessary
1/4 cup strawberry jam, dolche de leche or chocolate crème.
Powder sugar, sifted, for sprinkling
Preparation
Pour 1/2 cup water into a small bowl. Sprinkle yeast on top & add 1 tsp sugar. Let stand 15 minutes.
Sieve flour into large bowl. Make a well in center. Add remaining sugar, eggs, yolks, butter, remaining water & salt. Mix well.
Add yeast and knead by hand. Add little water or flour if needed.
Oil dough from all sides and cover with a towel.
Let the dough rise in a warm place until it doubles in volume.
Sprinkle your working surface with flour and roll out your dough.
Use glass to cut dough in rounds. Put 1/2 teaspoons of jam (Or other filling) on center of a round, than put a second on top sealing the two pieces together. Repeat with remaining dough cover with towel and let rise for 30 minutes.
To deep fry the doughnuts heat oil and check temperature by putting a small piece of dough into the oil.
Than fry the doughnuts 3-4 at a time, until golden brown.Put the doughnuts on paper towels to get rid of excess oil
The jam will be boiling hot at that point so wait a few minutes with serving
Sprinkle with confectioners‘ sugar.
Deep Fried Apple Rings
Appropriate for Chanukah and always a treat on cold days are those apple rings. Serve it with hot apple cider or wine and everything will disappear from the plate before you realize. Here the recipe for the most delicious Deep fried apple rings. Isn‘t it a lovely recipe for Chanukah? Ingredients
I egg
1/4 cup fluids (use apple juice, cider, white wine or beer)
1/2 cup self rising flour
4-5 apples peeled and sliced into rings about 1/4 inch thick
2 spoonful of powdered sugar
Oil for deep frying
Preparation
Beat together the egg with the fluids. Add flour and sugar and mix well to a smooth batter. Heat the oil. Now dip each ring into the batter and fry in deep oil until golden on both sides. Remove and drain on paper towel.
Serve warm with jelly and or whipped cream.
Moroccan Doughnuts
Kids wait for Sfinge, Moroccan Hanukkah Doughnuts, all year long. My Mechuteneste who is of Moroccan descent told me her recipe for the most tasty sfinges. Ingredients
2 envelopes active dry yeast
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup warm water
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 lightly beaten eggs
Grated orange rind of 1 orange and 2 spoonful of Arrack
1/4 cup melted margarine or butter
1 cup warm water & 1 cup orange juice (give or take a little)
oil for deep-frying
warm syrup honey for dipping
Preparation
Dissolve yeast and sugar in 1/2 cup warm water. Let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes. Pour into a large bowl and gradually stir in flour and salt. Stir in eggs, orange rind and the fat. Stir in just enough water and juice to make soft and elastic dough. Knead well on a lightly floured surface until dough is elastic, smooth and shiny. Roll into a ball, place in an oiled bowl and cover with a damp towel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled (1 1/2 to 2 hours).
Oil your hands. Divide dough into 20 balls about 2 inches in diameter. Take a ball of dough, make a hole in center and pull it out to make a doughnut shape
In a deep saucepan, heat 3 inches oil and deep-fry over medium-low heat so that they do not brown too quickly and turn a few at a time until doughnuts are puffed and golden. Using a skimmer transfer the sfinges to paper towels to drain. While still hot, dip in warm honey. Serve warm.
Romanian Cheese Dumplings
My mother in law who made Aliyah from Bucharest used to prepare these dumplings called Papanasi as a wintry dessert. These cottage cheese dumplings are one of my favorite desserts.Ingredients:
4cups fresh cottage cheese
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 and cup flour
oil for frying
sour cream and cherry jam for serving
Preparation:
Mix the cheese with the sugar and baking powder. Add the flour and mix. It should be easy to handle but not too sticky.
Make small balls of dough and make a hole in the middle.
Fry in deep oil until brown.
Serve with sour cream and jam.
Hot Wine Punch
Hot wine punch or as we used to call it at home, Gluehwine, is a German Austrian winter drink made of wine and fruit. After walking around in the cold it is supposed to make you glow with warmth again. It is very aromatic and when you come in the smell works wonders. Serving it Chanukah nights while the candles are lit will add to the festivity. Since you drink this wine warm, the alcohol goes to your head extra quick! This can of course be served in an alcohol free version, especially when you‘d like to serve it with kids around. In this case use some cranberry juice instead of the wine.
Ingredients
1bottle of sweet red wine
3/4 cup water that you may exchange with apple or orange juice
3/4 cup white sugar
1 cinnamon stick and 5-6 whole cloves
If you like you can add 1 anise star
1 unpeeled orange thinly sliced for decoration
Preparation
In a saucepan, combine the water, sugar and cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer. Add the cloves into the outside of the orange peel, and place peel in the simmering water. Continue simmering for 30 minutes, until thick and syrupy.
Pour in the wine and heat until steaming but not simmering. Remove the clove-studded orange halves. If you like it strong, add a little brandy or Grande Marnier after taking off the fire. Serve hot in mugs or glasses that have been preheated in warm water to prevent cold glasses from breaking.
