Traditional Potato Latkes Food

TRADITIONAL HANUKKAH POTATO LATKES

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Line a platter or plate with paper towels and set aside.
• Peel the potatoes. Place them in a bowl and add enough cold water to cover them, so they won't turn brown. When ready to prepare the latkes, drain the potatoes.
• Place potatoes and onions in a food processor fitted with a knife blade (also known as the s-blade). Pulse until smooth. Drain the mixture well.
• Pour the potato mixture into a large bowl. Add the beaten eggs, salt, and pepper, and mix well.
• Add enough flour so that the mixture holds together.
• Pour the oil into a large, deep frying pan for shallow frying. Heat the oil over medium-high heat.
• Carefully drop 1/4 cup of the potato mixture into the hot oil. Flatten the pancake slightly so the center will cook. Repeat with additional batter, taking care not to crowd the pan.
• Fry for several minutes on each side until golden brown and cooked through.
• Transfer to the paper towel-lined platter to drain, and continue frying the remaining latke batter in batches. Serve immediately with applesauce or sour cream if desired.

POTATO LATKES I

Steps:

• Place the potatoes in a cheesecloth and wring, extracting as much moisture as possible.
• In a medium bowl stir the potatoes, onion, eggs, flour and salt together.
• In a large heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat, heat the oil until hot. Place large spoonfuls of the potato mixture into the hot oil, pressing down on them to form 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick patties. Brown on one side, turn and brown on the other. Let drain on paper towels. Serve hot!

TRADITIONAL POTATO LATKES

Steps:

• Turn out the shredded potatoes into a large bowl.
• If you have an exhaust fan in your kitchen, turn it on and place the food processor underneath it--the smell from the processed onion will be very strong.
• Place the matzo in the food processor and pulse until you have a range of sizes, from 1/4-inch to nearly flour. Dump this onto the potatoes.
• Put the food processor back together and place the onion and the salt and pepper in the bowl. Process until nearly liquid, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
• Add the eggs to the food processor and process until completely incorporated and the mixture turns almost white. Dump this onto the potatoes.
• Put on a pair of disposable gloves and mix everything together by hand. (If you don't use gloves, the onion smell will cling to your hands for a very long time.)
• Form the mixture into latkes: Take enough to fill the palm of your hand, then press your hands together hard, palm-to-palm, squeezing until some liquid comes out. You should end up with a disc that's thicker in the middle, like a flying saucer. Turn the disc around in your hands while patting the sides to firm it up. Give the latke one last squeeze--it's ready for the fryer. (When I make them, my latkes average 3 ounces each.)
• In a deep-fat fryer or heavy medium pot, heat several inches of oil to 375 degrees F.
• In batches, gently put the latkes into the hot oil and leave them alone to fry until golden brown, turning only once, about 4 minutes. The perfect latke will be golden brown and crispy on the outside, soft and white and warm on the inside. You can expect some shreds of potato to come loose; just scoop them out when the latkes are done. If a latke falls apart while frying, it's a sign you have to squeeze harder!
• Using tongs, remove the latkes from the oil; there is no need to drain. Serve hot, with a generous dollop of sour cream or apple sauce for dipping.

POTATO LATKES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 250°F.
• Peel potatoes and coarsely grate by hand, transferring to a large bowl of cold water as grated. Soak potatoes 1 to 2 minutes after last batch is added to water, then drain well in a colander.
• Spread grated potatoes and onion on a kitchen towel and roll up jelly-roll style. Twist towel tightly to wring out as much liquid as possible. Transfer potato mixture to a bowl and stir in egg and salt.
• Heat 1/4 cup oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Working in batches of 4 latkes, spoon 2 tablespoons potato mixture per latke into skillet, spreading into 3-inch rounds with a fork. Reduce heat to moderate and cook until undersides are browned, about 5 minutes. Turn latkes over and cook until undersides are browned, about 5 minutes more. Transfer to paper towels to drain and season with salt. Add more oil to skillet as needed. Keep latkes warm on a wire rack set in a shallow baking pan in oven.

CLASSIC POTATO LATKES

Steps:

• Using a food processor with a coarse grating disc, grate the potatoes and onion. Transfer the mixture to a clean dishtowel and squeeze and wring out as much of the liquid as possible.
• Working quickly, transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Add the eggs, flour, salt, baking powder and pepper, and mix until the flour is absorbed.
• In a medium heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat, pour in about 1/4 inch of the oil. Once the oil is hot (a drop of batter placed in the pan should sizzle), use a heaping tablespoon to drop the batter into the hot pan, cooking in batches. Use a spatula to flatten and shape the drops into discs. When the edges of the latkes are brown and crispy, about 5 minutes, flip. Cook until the second side is deeply browned, about another 5 minutes. Transfer the latkes to a paper towel-lined plate to drain and sprinkle with salt while still warm. Repeat with the remaining batter.

CLASSIC POTATO LATKES

Steps:

• Coarsley grate the potatoes and onion into a large bowl, or use a food processor with a coarse grating blade. Leave the mixture to rest for about 15 mins so the liquid releases from the onions and potatoes. Carefully drain off the liquid for about 30 mins until the mixture is dry, then put in a cheese cloth and squeeze out the remaining liquid.
• Add the eggs, flour, 1 tsp sea salt and pepper, and mix well. Pour the oil into the pan so that it is 2-3cm deep. Set over a medium heat for a few minutes until it ripples.
• Carefully spoon in the mixture to the size you want - 2 tbsp for large latkes or 1 tbsp for small. Fry them in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan, and cook on each side until browned for 2 mins. Remove to a plate lined with kitchen paper, then season with a sprinkling of salt. Serve with the soured cream and smoked salmon, finished with a sprinkling of chives, or just apple sauce - both are traditional.

SWEET POTATO LATKES (PAREVE)

Steps:

• Peel and grate sweet potatoes and remove any excess moisture.
• Beat eggs and add one at a time, mixing well. See Note at end of instructions.
• Add matzoth meal or flour and baking powder.
• Add spices and mix well.
• Heat oil until hot and put large spoonful for each pancake.
• Cook until brown and flip.
• NOTE: For fluffier pancakes, separate eggs.
• Add egg yolks into the potatoes.
• Then, beat the egg whites until stiff.
• Fold in egg whites after all other ingredients have been mixed inches.

TEN TOPPINGS FOR POTATO PANCAKES OR LATKES

Steps:

• Prepare your favorite latkes and top with your choice of toppings.

CLASSIC POTATO PANCAKES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 200°F. Place 2 nonstick baking sheets in oven.
• Using box grater or food processor fitted with grating disc, coarsely grate onion and place in colander set in sink. Coarsely grate potatoes, add to colander, and set aside to drain.
• In large mixing bowl, lightly beat eggs, then whisk in flour.
• Press potatoes and onion to extract as much liquid as possible, then add to egg/flour mixture. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Using wooden spoon or hands, mix well, but do not overwork.
• In heavy-bottomed, 12-inch skillet over moderately high heat, heat 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter until hot but not smoking. Drop 4 scant 1/4-cup portions of potato mixture into pan and flatten with spatula to form four 3-inch pancakes.
• Fry until bottoms are golden-brown, 4 to 5 minutes, then turn over and fry until golden-brown and crisp, an additional 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain; season immediately with salt and pepper. Keep warm on baking sheets in oven while making remaining pancakes.
• Using paper towels, carefully wipe out pan. Add 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter and fry 4 more pancakes. Repeat with remaining batter, wiping out pan and adding 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter before each batch.
• Serve pancakes hot with applesauce and/or sour cream.

TRADITIONAL POTATO LATKES

Steps:

• Over a large bowl of cold water, grate potatoes into long strips, using the largest holes of a box grater. Transfer grated potatoes from water into another bowl. Pour off water from first bowl, reserving sediment. Add sediment to potatoes.
• Add eggs, onion, and scallion greens. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well by hand.
• Fill a large heavy-bottomed frying pan with 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch of oil until very hot, about 385 degrees.
• Drop 1 heaping tablespoonful of potato mixture into the pan. Cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes; the pan should hold five or six latkes per batch. Turn latkes over, and cook on the other side until golden brown, about another 3 minutes.
• Latkes can be transferred to a baking sheet and kept warm in a 200 degrees.oven for up to a half hour before serving.