Latkes cooling photo by slgckgc-flickr.com
Our cookery expert Janine Levy with some recipes that’ll make you glow at this time of year
No sooner are the high holidays over, that we start to see the first donuts appearing in the stores…. It’s CRAZY!
And the trouble with Chanukah, is that it’s all about frying in oil which totally goes against my ‘healthy eating’ principles.
If Judah Maccabi was around today, I’d have a stern word about the benefits of a low fat diet.
I’ve tried the ‘oven baked’ donuts and, to be honest …. they’re just not donuts!
Homemade fried donuts are a real labor of love – so what I do is I limit myself to one or two really good ones as a treat from a speciality bakery and I don’t waste my time or money on the flabby, synthetic ones from the supermarket.
So this year I’ve gone down a different route to give you my take on a ‘healthyish’ Chanukah!
OVEN-BAKED VEGETABLE LATKES
These colorful patties are a delicious healthy and low calorie version of fried potato latkes – you may omit the Bulgarian heese if you want to keep them Parev.
Ingredients
2 courgettes
2 sweet potatoes
2 carrots
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 eggs
½ cup grated Bulgarian cheese
(optional)
½ cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp salt
Method
1. Pre heat the oven to 180C.
2. Grate all the vegetables and squeeze
out any excess water.
3. Stir in the onion, grated cheese, salt,
flour and finally add the beaten eggs.
4. Mix this together into a paste.
5. With wetted hands, take golf ball size
pieces of the mixture and flatten onto
a greased baking tray.
6. Spray generously with oil and bake
for 25-30 mins.
"MACCABEET"SOUP
This is a delicious soup to serve at candle lighting. It’s a distant cousin from your Grandma’s borscht, and comes out a beautiful festive color.
Ingredients
3 large red beets peeled and cut into
chunks
1 diced onion
1 large potato peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 cm piece of ginger, finely grated
1 liter vegetable stock
1 can coconut milk
½ tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
Method
1. Sauté the onion, garlic and ginger in the olive oil.
2. Add the potatoes and beets and stir
for 5 minutes.
3. Then add the stock and bring to the
boil.
4. Simmer for 15 minutes until the
vegetables are tender.
5. Turn the heat off and add the coconut
milk.
6. Allow to cool a little and blend with
an immersion blender.
7. Serve with homemade croutons.
CROUTONS
Ingredients
1 stale baguette
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp coarse rock salt
Method
1. Rip the baguette into bite size pieces.
2. Drizzle with oil and salt and bake for
8-10 mins on a cookie sheet at 200C.
Keep an eye on the croutons – they cook really quickly.
BALSAMIC ROASTED STRAWBERRIES
I still can’t quite get used to strawberries being a winter fruit! Usually by Chanukah time they are just about coming down to a reasonable price to enjoy them, on their own or as this delicious compote.
Ingredients
800g strawberries
75 ml balsamic vinegar
50g brown sugar
Mint leaves
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 190C.
2. Wash and halve the strawberries.
3. Sprinkle with sugar.
4. Pour over the balsamic vinegar.
5. Roast in a glass/ceramic dish for
45 minutes.
6. Decorate with fresh mint.
7. Serve with ice cream/scones
or bruschetta.