Procrastination is at its tastiest as a Bwog staffer introduces you to the ultimate way to eat a potato.

Hi Friends! Happy Last Day of Chanukah!

This is my Nana’s recipe of Latkes, a traditional Ashkenazi Jewish Chanukah dish. Latkes are often compared to hashbrowns, but they are so, so much better. Like many Ashkenazi foods, it has very few ingredients, there wasn’t much variety in eastern European shtetels, but it must be done just right. I learned how to make this family recipe last year in my slow process to learn my grandparent’s recipes. We’ve been in a pod with my grandparents since March and I decided it was high time that we start frying up some Latkes.

The ratio you’re going for here is 2:1:1 potato, onions, and eggs, so feel free to make this recipe bigger or smaller if your heart desires.

Recipe:

10 Potatoes—use the largest Yukon Gold or Idaho potatoes you can find. My nana insists that the Yukon Gold potatoes are a “lighter taste.”

5 large yellow onions  

5 XL eggs 

Salt—my grandmother just showed me a handful but I would say it’s about 2 tablespoons

(two of these)

Plain Breadcrumbs—again, she showed me an an amount in her hands—I would say about 3 tablespoons 

Directions:

  1. Grate peeled potatoes into a large pot but leave one potato over for after the onions. You must grate it with the super small annoying grating size, not the tiny one, but the small one. It matters.
  2. Remove some of the potato water using a FINE SIEVE (my grandma put this in all caps when I asked her to write down the recipe)
  3. Peel and grate onions on the same small part of the grater and add them to the pot
  4. Discard the potato water 
  5. Add salt 
  6. Beat the eggs in a bowl and stir them into the potato pot
  7. Grate that last potato and add it to your mixture, letting the breadcrumb egg onion potato mixture sit for 2-3 minutes 
  8. Heat vegetable or canola oil in a pan at medium heat, or several pans if you want to work quicker 
  9. Add large spoonfuls of the mixture into the pans, frying them until they look a little cooked on the top and can easily move around the pan, then flip. Repeat with all of your “batter,” the same way you would with pancakes
  10.  When finished, place the latkes on a plate covered in paper towels each time you finish one, and use the paper towels to drain the latkes of excess oil 

Serve with sour cream like my polish nana, or applesauce like my German Opa.

The best way to eat a potato via Bwog Archives