Jewish Museum London is now delivering our learning programmes and collections displays in the community & around the UK. Come and visit us at Swiss Cottage Library from 7 March to 4 April.

Oil-Vey! Potato Latkes

Two small potato latkes (pancakes) with herb garnish on a plate with a dollop of sour cream

We’ve already got a blog post on Hanukah but as a quick reminder, Hanukah, also known as the Festival of Lights, celebrates the rededication (to God) of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

The festival celebrates two miracles but, in particular, celebrates the miracle of lighting the temple’s menorah lamp for eight days using only a day’s supply of oil. For this reason, food traditionally eaten during this festival is fried in oil!

Here’s a delicious recipe for potato latkes, dubbed here as ‘Lauren’s Latkes’. Lauren is one of our duty managers as part of the Visitor Experience team.

Lauren’s Latkes

Ingredients

5 medium-sized potatoes
1 onion
2 eggs
salt and pepper (for seasoning)
oil (olive, vegetable or rapeseed)

Instructions

  1. Shred the potatoes then squeeze the shreds to remove excess moisture
  2. Mix the potato shreds with beaten eggs and diced onion. Use a potato-egg ratio of 5:2 (unless you prefer a different ratio!)
  3. Add your seasoning to the mix
  4. Preheat your frying pan and oil to a medium heat (careful not to burn it!)
  5. Create ‘flat balls’ of your mix and place them into the pan. Flatten with a spatula for an even ‘squish’
  6. Flip to make sure each side is golden-brown (it takes about 2 minutes on each side)
  7. Remove the latke and place on kitchen paper town to absorb excess oil
  8. Serve it up!