Every year, Hanukkah brought two inevitabilities:
1. I would end up in my room pouting because my parents wouldn’t forgo tradition and let me open presents before dinner.
2. The garbage disposal would quit working, usually right before guests came to indulge in latkes and other Hanukkah fare.
Eventually, I outgrew trying to break tradition with the gifts-before-food wish and accepted that a family meal, resplendent with oily potato latkes and a heavy meat dish, would take place before the gift exchange. And in my home, I realized it’s so much easier to peel potatoes into a plastic bag rather than make the garbage disposal choke down the mounds of brown strips.
But, as I’ve grown older and more adventurous in my food choices, I realized that feasting on oily potato latkes was not the only way in which I could celebrate the Festival of Lights.
Hanukkah is a celebration of an unexpected victory and a miracle. Antiochus IV, a successor of Alexander the Great, began oppressing the Jews, who had assimilated into Greek culture. He prohibited the Jews from practicing their religion, massacred many and desecrated the Temple by sacrificing pigs (a non-kosher animal) on the altar.
The Maccabees, an opposition group, revolted and defeated the overwhelming forces of Antiochus.
When it came time to rededicate the Temple, there was not enough consecrated olive oil to keep the Ner Tamid, the eternal flame in the Temple, lit until more could be made. Miraculously, the oil burned for eight days.
To celebrate Hanukkah and remind us of the miracle of the oil, we eat foods fried in oil. My family hails from Eastern Europe, so traditionally we ate potato latkes (and had, among other things, a broken garbage disposal and heartburn for eight days).
But lately, as I’ve studied Jewish food and customs, the plain potato latke wasn’t doing it for me.
I was yearning for alternatives, for perhaps a clean, heartburn-free tradition to start in my own home. My Hanukkah fare would still have meaning, as it would still be fried in oil – but perhaps a new recipe would breathe new life into the holiday for me.
Sufganiyot are doughnuts served at Hanukkah time in Israel. The tasty little things permeate the house with the lovely scent of oil and sugar, and they remind me of the sweetness of the holiday season, which often I lose sight of. They fortify my connection with Israel and remind me of my family there. Plus, they’re a big hit at parties, as few people have tasted them.
After testing a few different dough recipes for the sufganiyot, I stumbled across an easy, no-fuss way to make tasty doughnuts without having to deal with unpredictable yeast.
Just as the food processor has made making latkes easier, the ready-made can of biscuit dough cuts prep time by hours for sufganiyot. Sure, I won’t be working out my arm muscles by kneading and punching dough, but the extra time I gain allows me to squeeze in a workout at the gym.
I found a recipe for easy chocolate sufganiyot that boasted a five-minute prep time. It also was a one-bowl recipe, which you have to love. The chocolate sufganiyot fried up beautifully, infusing the room with the sweet scent of chocolate, and tasted light and fluffy. With only five minutes of prep time, this will be a dessert I will make often, especially for parties where I need to impress.
I experimented with other forms of the latke. An apple latke, which performed more like a breakfast pancake than like a potato pancake, was delicious but not too sweet. Served with yogurt or cinnamon sugar, it is sure to be a hit with kids.
I loved the sweet potato pancakes, which not only turned a gorgeous color while frying, but also allowed me to prepare the batter ahead of time, without fear of the mixture turning gray, as regular potatoes are known to do. The oil and sweet potato work well together, and a maple syrup sauce with ginger and cinnamon made the latke more dessert-like. With different spicing, however, the latke could be more of an appetizer or main dish – I’m going to experiment with adding curry and other spices to it for another time.
For an updated take on the potato latke, I tried out a recipe for a zucchini-potato latke. It’s basically a traditional recipe of potato, onion, matzo meal and oil, but adds grated zucchini to the mix. I loved this recipe, as it tasted less heavy, and the zucchini added a depth to the dish that I felt the potato latke had lacked. This will become a mainstay in our house, I think. (And when the bumper crop for zucchini comes in during the summer, it’ll be perfect.)
My fiancé and his brother enjoyed the latkes and sufganiyot (I think they were more pleased that I was actually cooking), plus I suspect they missed the more traditional fare.
Coworkers, however, were more enthusiastic. After our photo shoot, I placed our leftover food out for the newspaper people to enjoy. The sufganiyot were the first to be devoured, and I received not only e-mails of thanks and compliments but also a marriage proposal (from an already married coworker).
In Judaism, there is an inherent connection between tradition, celebration and food. While we have recipes that have been handed down the family tree, there’s always opportunity to create new traditions, whether it’s opening presents before dinner, eschewing the garbage disposal for a trash can or incorporating jelly doughnuts into the Hanukkah meal.
Me? I vote for the sufganiyot-before dinner.
Staff writer Jacqueline Feldman can be reached at 303-954-1791 or jfeldman@denverpost.com.
