Return to Main Recipes Page/Return to Home Page
Latkes:
Minty Cucumber Yogurt Sauce:
Make Latkes:
Shred the potatoes and onion together in a food processor fitted with the shredding disk. Squeeze the potato/onion mixture between several changes of paper towels to release as much liquid as possible.
Add the potato/onion mixture to the egg mixture, and combine well. Stir in the flour.
Pour enough oil into a large, heavy skillet to cover the bottom, and heat it over medium-high heat. When the oil is quite hot but not smoking, add a scant 1/4 cup batter per latke and flatten them with a fork. Fry only as many latkes as will fit in the skillet without crowding. Cook on one side until crisp and brown, 2 to 3 minutes.
Turn over and cook until the other side is crisp and brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the latkes to paper towels to drain. Keep the latkes warm while frying the remainder.
Make Minty Cucumber Yogurt Sauce and Assembly:
Combine the yogurt, garlic, olive oil, dried mint leaves, cumin seeds, and salt to taste in a bowl, and whisk until smooth and creamy.
Pat the cucumbers dry, and combine them with the yogurt sauce. Taste and adjust the salt. Cover, and chill for at least 1 hour. Garnish with fresh mint leaves.
Use to top latkes.
Poster's Notes:
Note: To taste the potato mixture, or any mixture containing raw eggs, microwave a tablespoon or so until cooked, 5 to 15 seconds, depending on the size and strength of your microwave; then taste
Posted by Judy Bart Kancigor
Nutritional Info Per Serving: N/A
1/2 cup chopped unsalted cashews or peanuts
1/4 cup chopped mint or flat-leaf parsley, or a combination
1/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped jalapeno pepper, seeded and deveined
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons kosher (coarse) salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 large eggs, beaten
2 large baking potatoes (12 ounces each), cut into wedges
1 medium-size onion, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
Vegetable oil, for frying
1 English (hothouse) cucumber
Kosher (coarse) salt
2 cups plain yogurt
1 to 2 teaspoons crushed garlic
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons crushed dried mint leaves
1 teaspoon toasted cumin seeds
Fresh mint leaves, for garnish
Combine the cashews, mint, bell pepper, jalapeno, ginger, salt, curry powder, and eggs in a large bowl, and mix well. Set it aside.
Grate the cucumber coarsely into a colander. Sprinkle generously with salt, and allow to stand for 15 to 20 minutes. Then rinse off the salt and let drain.
I don't often adapt recipes from novels, but Sharon Boorstin's fun romp "Cookin' for Love" sent me straight to the kitchen. Heroine Miriam's thoughts seldom stray from food, and when she awakens from a dream about Grandma's latkes to find her Malaysian cleaver-toting captor frying curried onions, it's an "aha" moment of the kitchen kind. Cashews! Ginger! This is a latke with pizzazz!