Happy last night of Chanukah! It’s not too late to make some latkes…

Feeling sad because you haven’t had any potato pancakes this Chanukah? Never fear, I come bearing a recipe for the best latkes ever. My goal when making latkes is to replicate my mom’s perfect latkes– crispy on the outside, golden brown, and a little soft on the inside. This is harder to accomplish than you might imagine. Latkes are finnicky– throw them in the frying pan, and they might fall apart, or burn on the outside, or get so crunchy that you might as well just be eating potato chips.

I won’t lie and say these are super-easy: they’re time-consuming and you have to watch them carefully on the stove to get the right done-ness. But I will say that they are quite delicious. This recipe is from the wonderful Mollie Katzen, of Moosewood Restaurant fame.

The three times I’ve made them, I’ve been cooking for a group and I’ve doubled or tripled the recipe. Recipe after the jump.

Potato Latkes

(recipe makes about 10-12 medium size latkes– enough for 2-3 people as a main dish, or for more as a side)

Ingredients

2 large potatoes
1 medium onion
2 eggs
¼ cup all-purpose flour (I usually use a little more)
½ teaspoon salt
Black pepper– as much or as little as you want
Oil for frying
Optional toppings: apple sauce, sour cream. .

Directions

1. Peel the potatoes, then grate them. This is easier if you have a food processor, but I grate them with a hand grater, which takes a while but is equally effective.

2. Boil water in a medium saucepan. Once all the potatoes are grated, put them in the saucepan, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook for about 3 min. Drain potatoes in a colander and rinse them with cold water, then drain as much liquid from them as you can. Put the grated potatoes in a bowl.

3. Grate the onion– again, easiest to do it with a food processor, but can also be done by hand.

4. Add grated onion to potatoes, mix together. Add eggs, flour, salt, and pepper. Mix.

5. Heat about 1/2 inch of oil in a skillet over medium heat. If you’re making lots of latkes, it helps to get two skillets going at once. Mollie Katzen says “When it is hot enough to sizzle a bread crumb on contact, spoon in the batter.” I use one medium spoonful per latke, and press down on each one in the skillet to make it thin (pressing down with the spoon also helps hold the pancake together). Kind of like with regular pancakes, keep an eye on your latkes until you see they’re just starting to brown on the edges, then flip. You can always flip them over again if they seem underdone.

6. Once latkes are cooked on both sides, drain the finished ones on paper towels before transferring them to a plate or a pan. Serve with your choice of toppings.

One great thing about latkes is that while they’re very yummy hot off the pan, they’re also great reheated– just put them in a baking pan or on a cookie sheet, and stick them in the oven at 350 to warm them up before you serve them. Don’t stack them on top of each other, though– they’ll get soggy.

Depending on how many latkes you want to make and how big your skillet(s) is/are, it will take a number of shifts to cook them all. But it’s worth it, because they are yummy. Plus, when else do you get to claim you’re being virtuous by eating fried foods? Do it for the Maccabees, guys.