The big mistake in Latke making in America is consistency of the ingredients. You know the big square greater, I’m sure many of you do, well, in America, for some reason people use the big whole side, No-No and again No. Wrong. Very wrong. As the matter of fact, it is the small size holes, the so-called cheese greater that was called Potato Greater in Russia. And obviously, latkes come from Russia/Ukraine so we do claim the rights for the recipe. So that is the side to use.
Now, after you grate potato and onion (not chopped) on the small hole side of the greater (do not worry about draining the liquid) add eggs and flour. Let’s say 4 medium potatoes
1 very small onion, preferably sweet one. Don’t forget that originally, onion was used to prevent potato from getting dark; some people may like the added flavor though.
2 eggs
½ cup of flour
Salt and pepper to taste.
The very important step in making latkes is the use of baking powder or baking soda. I Use the latter. About ¾ to 1 tspoon of baking soda in the big spoon, add some vinegar until the reaction stops, oh about a table spoon of vinegar. Now mix everything well and fry. A note about flour, when you fry the pancakes they should rise, that’s the soda working, however if you do not have enough flour they, the pancakes will not rise. So make just couple and see what is going on. Also, taste, you may want to add some salt or pepper.
All right, now that I said all of that A very Happy Chanuka!