It's all about Oil

With all its happy traditions of gifts and dreidels, colored candles and golden chocolate coins, Chanukah is ultimately a holiday with one simple purpose: To remind us of the miracle of the oil.

A dedicated group of Jewish warriors, led by Judah the Maccabee, battled the Syrians for several years before vanquishing the attackers and liberating the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

When the Jewish soldiers went back into The Temple to purify it, they found only enough pure oil to get through a single night. A miracle occurred, and that oil ended up lasting for eight whole nights.

To remember those amazing events and miracles, Jews all over the world, to this day, eat foods fried in oil to celebrate Chanukah.

Cooks throughout the Diaspora have used ingredients that were inexpensive and easy to obtain. Today, for Chanukah, the Israelis make their doughnuts, Italian Jews fry chicken and those of East European descent prepare "latkes," the famous potato pancakes.

A basic latke is little more than grated potatoes, grated onions, some flour or matzoh meal, a few beaten eggs and a bit of salt and pepper, mixed together well and fried in vegetable oil.

Latkes are delicious enough to do duty as a main course, or they can be served as a side dish. At dairy meals, it is common to serve them with sour cream. At meat meals, where dairy ingredients are prohibited, latkes are served with applesauce.

There are also other versions of vegetable pancakes that require frying in oil, and some of these versions make a nice change from the traditional.


	Sweet Potato Pancakes This recipe may be made with coconut milk, a non-dairy product, to keep the dish "parve," meaning that it contains neither milk nor meat; thus, it may be eaten with either. For use at dairy meals only–no meat permitted–cow's milk may be used instead of coconut. (The spices may be tweaked, with additions or substitutions of ground ginger and ground nutmeg.) 1- 1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 2 teaspoons white sugar 1 teaspoon brown sugar 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground cloves 2 eggs plus one extra yolk, well-beaten 1/2 cup coconut (non-dairy) "milk" 1/2 cup vegetable oil, more as necessary Grate the sweet potatoes, either with a hand grater or in a food processor, and place the pieces in a colander to drain for about 10 minutes. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and cloves. Stir the "coconut milk" well. Make a well in the center of the mixture, and pour in the well-beaten eggs and the coconut milk. Stir until all of the dry ingredients have been absorbed. Then, stir in the sweet potatoes and beat well. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Drop the potato mixture by spoonfuls into the oil, and flatten each pancake with the back of the spoon. Fry until golden on both sides, flipping each pancake only once. If these seem to be browning too fast, or if the oil starts smoking, reduce the heat to medium. Add more oil as necessary. Serve at once. Serves 8.


	Zucchini Pancakes This recipe was given to me years ago by a Turkish co-worker. It has become a favorite in my house. It contains cheese, a milk product, so it can be used only with dairy meals. The cheese acts as a binder, instead of the more conventionally used flour. If these pancakes are to be served with a meat meal, flour must be substituted for the cheese here. As my co-worker had suggested, I serve this with a dipping sauce made of plain yogurt, grated raw onion and fresh dill. For a meat meal, with no dairy ingredients permitted, serve with tomato sauce instead. The Parmesan cheese can be purchased pre-grated, in brands with hechshers that are "Cholov Yisroel" as well. The pre-grated cheese is sturdier than freshly grated, and it will not melt in the hot oil, just so long as the oil does not get so hot that it is smoking. Since this cheese is quite salty, no additional salt should be added to the batter. 2 pounds zucchini, washed, trimmed and coarsely grated 2 tablespoons salt, approximately, for sprinkling 1small onion, minced 4 eggs, well-beaten 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 2 cups vegetable oil, approximately, for frying Grate the zucchini with a hand grater or in a food processor. Place the grated zucchini in a colander. Sprinkle with some salt and let stand about 30 minutes, to drain. After this time, with paper towels, squeeze the zucchini pieces between your hands to remove any liquid, and then set aside on the towels. Combine the zucchini, minced onion, eggs, Parmesan cheese and pepper in a medium bowl. Mix well. Cover the bottom of large nonstick skillet with about 1/2 cup of oil. Heat the skillet over medium-high heat until the oil is shimmering from the heat. Working in batches, drop the zucchini mixture into the skillet by heaping tablespoonfuls. Fry until pancakes are golden brown and cooked through, about 3 minutes per side. Serve at once. Serves 8-10.