Kids in the Kitchen....FOR CHANUKA!

 As food is such an important part of life and holiday celebrations, include your child in the fun.

· Young children can peel the potatoes (or other vegetables) using a peeler. They can grate the potatoes using a hand held safety grater (available at gourmet cooking stores).

· Your child can pour in the eggs and measure other ingredients into the mixing bowl. Allow him to mix.

· Explain to your child that only an adult can use appliances such as the food processor or blender. Allow your child to HELP with placing food in blender, but STRICT supervision is neccessary.

· Reiterate to your child that he cannot come near the stove or oven. You may want to put masking tape on the floor to mark off a safety zone.

· You child can decorate the donuts, blot out the oil from the latkes, etc. 

If cooking oil catches fire, turn off the gas or electric. Do not 

throw water on it; that will cause the oil to splatter.  

 

Oil played a significant role in the Chanukah story—the small jug of oil that miraculously provided fuel for the Temple Menorah for eight days. It is a Jewish tradition to eat foods that reflect the significance of a holiday – such as matzah on Passover, and apple dipped in honey on Rosh Hashanah – and Chanukah is no exception. For at least the last thousand years, Jews have traditionally eaten oily foods on Chanukah.

Among the most popular Chanukah dishes are potato latkes (pancakes) and sufganiot (deep-fried doughnuts)

Latkes (potato pancakes)

Ingredients:

4 medium Idaho potatoes

6 tablespoons canola oil or olive oil

3 eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons matzoh meal

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon coarse black pepper

Applesauce or sour cream (optional)

Yields: 8 servings

Peel and grate the potatoes. Add eggs, matzoh meal, salt and pepper and mix well. Drop 6 to 8 spoonfuls of mixture into hot oil. Using the back of a spoon, pat down each latke to flatten it. Put as many as you can in the skillet without crowding. Fry 3 to 4 minutes on each side, until golden and crisp around the edges; repeat procedure until finished with all the batter. Blot excess oil with paper towels.
Serve warm with applesauce or sour cream, if desired.

Tips:

· Avoid the discoloration of the potatoes. When peeled potatoes are exposed to air, "oxidation turns the potatoes gray. So get everything else ready (line up your equipment and prep your other ingredients) before you start peeling, slicing and shredding the potatoes.
If you peel the potatoes before making latkes, put them in water between peeling and shredding to prevent oxidizing and discoloring.
Onions can help block oxidation by coating some of the potato cells. Alternate adding potatoes and onion to the mixture rather than doing all the potatoes first.

· Avoid soggy latkes. Squeeze out the water from the potato/ onion mixture before adding the rest of the ingredients.

· Get the oil to the right heat. Drop a few drop of water into the oil; if it sizzles, it’s hot enough. If the oil is not hot enough, it will take longer to fry and get more oily. Make sure there is enough oil in the pan (about 1/2 the height of the latke).

· Don’t crowd the pan. Allow space around each latke. A crowded pan lowers the heat of the oil and takes longer to cook, thus making the latke more oily.

· The latkes are ready to turn over when the edges are golden brown (about 3-4 minutes) . 

· Allow the oil to drain on a paper towel. Place newspaper or paper towel under a cooling rack and then paper towels on the rack. In this way, the oil can drain  and not be absorbed back into the latkes. 

· To keep the latkes crisp, after draining the oil, place the latkes into a baking sheet and put back into the oven to keep warm and crisp.

 

Most importantly....ENJOY THE PROCESS ;-)