I feel like a horrible secular Jew and a horrible non-secular vegan. It’s the middle of Hannukah and I haven’t posted a latkes recipes yet. Well, better late than never. These are in Veganomicon and are the most irresistible fried potato concoction there is. Serve with apple sauce, if you’ve got VwaV the roasted applesauce in there is great with these. But any apple sauce will do, really.
Potato Latkes
Makes about 18
2 1/2 pounds starchy white potatoes, peeled (russets, idaho, et al)
1 small yellow onion, peeled
1/4 cup potato or corn starch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cups matzoh meal
Lots of vegetable oil
If using a food processor:
Use the grating blade to shredd the potatoes and the onion.
If shredding by hand, use a grater to shred all the potatoes. Dice the onion as finely as possible.
Have ready brown paper shopping bags or paper towels for draining the oil from the latkes. You may also want to have the oven on at 200 F to keep the latkes warm until you’re ready to serve. If serving immediately then just have a baking pan covered with tin foil ready to keep the finished ones warm after they’ve been drained.
In a large mixing bowl, using a wooden spoon or your hands (I use my hands, it’s faster) mix the potatoes and onions with the potato starch until the potatoes have released some moisture and the sornstarch is dissolved, about 2 minutes.
Add the salt and pepper to combine. Add the matzoh meal and mix well. Set aside for about 10 minutes. The mixture should get liquid-y but sticky.
In the meantime, preheat a large preferable cast iron but definitely non-stick skillet over medium heat, a little bit on the high side. Add about 1/4 inch layer of vegetable oil to the pan. The oil is hot enough when you throw a bit of batter in and bubbles rapidly form around it. If it immediately smokes then the heat is too high and you should lower it a bit. If the bubbles are really lazy then give it a few more minutes or turn the heat up a bit.
With wet hands (so that the mixture doesn’t stick) roll into small golf ball sized balls. Flatten into thin round patties. I do about 4 to six at a time. Fry on one side for about 4 minutes, until golden brown. Flip over and fry for another 3 minutes.
Transfer to the paper towels and proceed with the remaining latkes. Once latkes have drained on both sides, place in a baking pan to keep warm.
wow, yummy! I’ve never had these, but they look delicious. are they ENTIRELY crispy like a chip or are they soft in the middle? Are these like a hash brown?!?!?!?
Soft in the middle, not unlike a hashbrown.
I made these from Vcon the other night, and they were excellent – just the right texture, etc. And they reheated quite well the following day. Next time, I will increase the amount of onion, but that’s just my personal taste.
I like latkes but don’t make them nearly enough. I love them topped with tons of green onions. Vegan ones are superior. :p
that tofu666 guy really should update his blog more often…
these are so awesome. i made them the other night and lit a makeshift chanukkiah made of tea lights with one on top of a cup turned upside down.
No vegans at my Hanukkah party this year, but I am definitely looking forward to experimenting with these in the future! Any other options for binding such as tofu, avocado, etc?
Made these from Veganomicon for my Jewish boyfriend the other night (if I didn’t observe Hannukah nothing would have happened in our house.) Pronounced “really awesome” and better than his mom’s and – better than the from-a-packet ones!!! Latkes have now moved well up his list of ways he likes to eat fried potatoes.
Hi Isa, what’s matzoh meal? Forgive my ignorance…Hannukah is unheard of in Singapore…and if I don’t have matzoh meal can I somehow make it myself?
Rebecca…I have never tried tofu or avocado as a binder, and I think either would be a little bit gross. These are perfect, trust me!
melissa…matzoh is a flatbread. You can use cracker crumbs if you can’t find matzohs.
Thank you so much for (in VCON) legitimizing my family’s pronunciation of the word as “lat-key”. I can’t tell you how many looks I get from people when I say it this way after moving to California. I guess “lat-key” must a Midwestern Jew thing.
re: other binders. I veganize my latkes using chickpea flour with excellent results.
I made the Autumn Latkes for a hannukah party a few days ago, and they were so good! And beautiful! I ate so many latkes that night that I felt like one big potato (root vegetable!), so I hesitate to make any more latkes this go around. But I want to make these!!!
Thanks Isa! What crackers would you recommend? I’m thinking plain saltines.
Do you think panko would be absorbent enough to sub for the meal?
thanks for posting the recipe. every year, i look forward to the night when i make latkes, thereby endangering my household because i cannot fry anything without setting off the smoke alarm.
next year, we’re goin’ baked, baybay. i don’t know how, but i have to figure it out.
ahh, Isa, those latkes look PERFECT – and the roasted-applesauce from VwaV sounds like a much better accompaniment than “regular” applesauce. thanks for the serving idea!
oh and even though last night was, well, the last night of Hanukkah, I still want to wish you a Happy Hanukkah, and a wonderful holiday season!! :0)
melissa..saltines sound like a good bet.
mel…I make daikon latkes and use panko in those so I think panko is a great choice.
Are you anti-food miscegenation in your kitchen?
Because the corn muffins were so good the last time, I made them again using whole wheat flour. But I substituted about 2 tbsp of oil with extra applesauce.
My corn muffins turned out too dry…I didn’t bake them too long…I have no idea what went wrong.
Thanks anyway, the recipe makes good muffins I’m sure!
I made these for my Hanukkah party!!! Actually I made mine with cilantro in it. Herbs make latkes sooo much better. Everything I made was vegan actually (and it was almost everything there) I also made the roasted applesauce, the autumn latkes, the sour cilantro cream, chile cornmeal crusted tofu, green pumpkin seed mole sauce, veg chili, and i think that’s it, but i really can’t remember. O wait the jicama salad. Sorry I don’t have pix!! No one else there was even vegetarian, but they all ate everything. Our family friends son who’s 13 said to me before he left, “That chili was really good, even if it didn’t have meat in it”
Keep blogging,really like the flow in your blog posts!.
You have numerous nice points here. I done a research on the subject and discovered nearly all peoples will agree with your blog.
smoke alarms are always great investment if you want to avoid having your home burned to the ground ~
Looking to make these this year. Could these be baked instead of fried? Thanks!
If you want your latkes to be really crispy, then you have to squeeze some water out of the potatoes. To do that, wrap the shredded potatoes in a plain cotton (not terrycloth!) tea towel, and squeeze and twist as hard as you can, as long as you can.
These are very crispy! You actually shouldn’t squeeze the water out of these, you need it so that it binds with the starch.
I also use sweet potato to make latkes. It is the one time of year I hand grate the potatoes.
These are great! I forgot to buy the onion at the store so threw in some minced garlic and they were excellent! Also, couldn’t find maztoh so used crackers ground up and it was nice! Yum Yum thank you!!
I made some beet latkes and I love them..
Mmmmmmm! We made these with the horseradish-dill sour cream from Veganomicon tonight! These are fantastic latkes, they stay together so well, cook nicely, and taste delicious! I’m impressed! Thanks Isa!
Since our family freaks out because we are vegan we made these and the roasted applesauce and brought them to dinner. They were so delish! Even the family raved about them. Take that non-vegan family members! Thanks Isa.
So easy, so tasty! Thanks for the recipe. Three loves (me, husband, and six year old) and one wouldn’t even try them (2 year old, no idea why not, but more for us…)
This recipe just saved my butt. I had to come up with something for one of those stupid “bring something from your ethnicity” potlucks. Thank goodness for vegan Jews!
I’ve been making this recipe for years. You’re the only other vegan Jew I know of (who posts recipes) and you’re my favorite vegan chef!
p.s. What happened to the Matzoh ball soup recipe? It’s GONE!!! *cries* I was going to make it again and it’s not there. I’m a sad panda.
I’ve made these fried several times, fantastic, and lately I’ve been baking them. I just spread olive oil over them on a cookie sheet, then bake until they are crispy! This is my favorite latke recipe! It is too good to save only for Chanukah, I make them throughout the whole year!
Could you bake these instead for an oil-free option?
Made vegan latkes for the girls tonight. Call me crazy, but I think they actually turn out better this way! All the same, the little one loved them. My picky girl was not impressed. What am I going to do with her??? I refuse to serve cheese and white foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner…sigh.
Making these tonight for the family.
In looking at the recipe, I noticed that you did not squeeze out the liquid form the shredded potatoes, which I have always had to do, making traditional latkas. Please clarify. It would be nice not to have to do that.
I made these tonight for Hanukkah. They were fabulous. Perfectly crispy, no squeezing. I even got to use all the old stale matzoh from Passover. As another poster mentioned, I might add more onion next time because I really love onions, but these were great as is.
I’m going to be making these for my son’s kindergarten class tomorrow and want to prepare ahead as much as possible while also having them ‘help.’ (Ya know, since splattering oil is so fun for 5 year olds). Is there anything I can make any of this ahead of time? Can I grate all the potatoes/onions or will they turn a funky color? Thank you for any help or suggestions!
Made the Autumn Latkes in Veganomicon today to help work through 10 CSA beets (!!), subbing in a bit of coconut flour for sweetness to try to entice my kids. I think I added too much fennel for their liking, which means more for me! Thanks for such a great recipe–they’re beautiful, all jewel-looking!