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Vegetable Latkes w/Green Tomato Marmalade and Raita (D/M/P, TNT)
Source: Jill Conklin, chef de cuisine at AquaViva and winner of a latke cookoff at the James Beard House in New York.
Yield: 25

Green Tomato Marmalade:
5 ounces green tomatoes
1 medium peeled Granny Smith apple, chopped
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup semisweet white wine
2 sage leaves

Sour Cream Mint Raita:
1 tablespoon minced white onion
1 medium seeded cucumber, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
Juice of 1/2 small lemon
1/4 cup fresh sour cream
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint

Latkes:
3 large Idaho potatoes
1 medium white onion
2 medium zucchini
2 medium carrots
1 medium sweet red pepper
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup matzo meal or ground matzo
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
3 tablespoons schmaltz (chicken fat) for frying or use vegetable oil or Nyafat
3 tablespoons vegetable oil for frying
Fresh mint or chives for garnish

Make Green Tomato Marmalade:
Peel tomatoes; de-seed as much as possible and chop roughly. In small saucepan, combine tomatoes, apple, sugar and wine. Simmer mixture over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until marmalade is smooth and thick. After it cools, add sage leaves.

Refrigerate. May be made up to 1 week ahead. Makes about 1/2 cup.

Make Sour Cream Mint Raita:
In a small mixing bowl, combine onion, cucumber, salt and pepper. Add lemon juice, sour cream and mint.

Refrigerate. May be made 1 day ahead. Makes about 1/3 cup.

Make Latkes:
Grate potatoes alternating with onion (this helps prevent browning). As you grate, place potatoes and onions in fine mesh strainer set over bowl. Reserve potato liquid that drains into bowl. Grate zucchini and carrots. Grate red pepper, flesh side first, until skin is reached, then discard skin. Squeeze excess liquid from pepper. Combine grated vegetables.

Carefully pour off water from potato liquid. Remaining in bowl should be a thick potato starch that has settled to the bottom of the bowl. Add this starch to grated vegetable mixture. Add eggs, matzo meal, salt, pepper, nutmeg and parsley, blending well. Set aside.

In a 12" skillet, melt 1 tablespoon mock chicken fat (nyafat)--the recipe called for real chicken fat, but that wouldn't work if you were serving these with the accompanying raita--with 1 tablespoon oil. When fat has melted and is hot, fry latkes in batches (1 tablespoon of batter will make a 2" latke).

Gently spread potato mixture with the back of a spoon, making each latke about 2" wide. Fry 2 to 3 minutes on first side, gently turn and cook 3 to 4 minutes more. Keep heat at medium while frying, adding more fat as needed. Drain latkes on paper towels. Season with a light sprinkle of salt and pepper.

To serve: Spread 1/2 teaspoon of marmalade evenly over each warm latke and top with a small dollop of sour cream raita. Garnish with fresh mint or chive.

Poster's Notes: We always make traditional latkes for Chanukah, but we also like to try new recipes. This one, which won the James Beard House Latke Cookoff, looks like the one we'll try this year--given the time of year, we'll have to use hard red tomatoes for the marmalade.

Posted by Nancy Berry

Nutritional Info Per Serving: N/A