Today marks first day of Hanukkah. By best friend Susan is Jewish and I like to mess with her when it comes to traditional food like latkes and kugel. It's been two years since I last messed with her regarding latkes, so I thought it was time to do it again. So today I took my latke recipe and went all meshugana with it. In case your best friend isn't Jewish, meshugana means crazy, nonsense, foolishness, as in Purple Potato Latkes. Yes, I made latkes with purple potatoes. Aren't they pretty?
On the morning news show they had a Jewish caterer demonstrating how to make latkes. When the subject of onions came up, she went all meshugana on the anchor woman. The specific question was whether or not laktkes should have onion in them. The lady from Bubbie's Luv said that latkes without onion are hash browns. The host disagreed. I couldn't for the life of me remember Susan's stand on latkes and onions, so I improvised. I fried little rounds of cipollini onions and stacked them between the potato pancakes. It's a win-win situation. My potato latkes have and don't have onions. And this time I remembered the applesauce!
Ingredients
- 2 medium purple potatoes (peeled)
- ¼ small white onion
- 2 TBS snipped chives
- 1 extra large egg (beaten)
- 2 TBS flour
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Sour cream for garnish
- Applesauce for garnish
- Canola oil for frying
Instructions
- Grate the potato on the largest side of a box grater. Immediately place the potatoes in a clean flour sack dishtowel. Twist until the water stops coming out of the potatoes or your hands hurt to much to continue. Place the grated potatoes in a medium sized bowl and grate the onion directly into the bowl. Add the beaten egg, flour, salt, pepper and chives. In a nonstick pan, heat a couple tablespoons oil to medium heat. Drop the potato mixture into the heated oil by rounded tablespoons and flatten slightly. Cook until they are golden brown then flip and do the same on the other side. Remove the latkes to drain on a paper towel. Serve immediately while still piping hot with applesauce and sour cream.
Can't get enough purple food? Try my Purple Carrot Cake!
