Celebrating Hanukkah
For your Hanukkah meal, explore the miracle of oil by deep-frying more than potatoes
Jewish holiday meals are often oozing with symbolism, and Hanukkah is no exception. The festival, which begins this year at sundown on Dec. 22, celebrates ancient Jews’ victory over an oppressor and commemorates a miracle in the aftermath of battle. In the desecrated Temple in Jerusalem, enough oil to light a candelabra for only one day astonishingly burned for eight.
On holiday tables worldwide, foods fried in oil represent the marvel that occurred that week more than 2,200 years ago.
In America, perhaps the most visible of those symbolic deep-fried foods is the latke, a pancake of grated potatoes and onions, bound with egg and fried to a crisp like a hockey-puck-sized hash brown.
But a potato isn’t the only ingredient worth frying. Iraqi Jews will eat savory handheld turnovers, called sambusak, on Hanukkah. Stuffed with a cheese filling, the easy-to-make pastries can be baked. But fried in oil, the dough becomes a chewy puff that merges with the melty filling. It’s a heavenly appetizer served hot.
For a holiday main course, try Californiaraised, Israel-based cookbook author Adeena Sussman’s sesame schnitzel, a crisp chicken cutlet that’s been seasoned with dukkah, an Egyptian hazelnut and spice
blend.
In Israel, jelly doughnuts are a “major craze,” said Sussman. For a twist, skip the jelly, go smaller, and try bimuelos, doughnut-hole fritters that originated as a Hanukkah dessert among Sephardic Jews in preInquisition Spain.
Leah Koenig has a recipe for them in her book “Little Book of Jewish Sweets.” Typically topped with sugar or honey, Koenig dusts them with cardamom for a warming hint of spice — her own spin.
“I think people get really hung up on Hanukkah foods having to be a specific thing,” she said.
“But what binds everything together is the use of the oil. Use Hanukkah as a time to play and celebrate.”
BIMUELOS (CARDAMOM-SUGAR FRITTERS)
Serves 6. Note: From “Little Book of Jewish Sweets,” by Leah Koenig.
2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast ¼ cup plus
1 teaspoon sugar, divided
¾ cup warm water
3 to 4 cups flour
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
½ teaspoon kosher salt
2 large egg yolks ¼ cup milk or almond milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract Vegetable oil for frying Cardamom Sugar:
1 cup sugar
1½ teaspoons ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Stir together the yeast, 1 tsp. of the sugar, and the warm water in a large bowl, and let sit until bubbling and frothy, 5 to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk together 3 cups of the flour, the remaining ¼ cup sugar, the cardamom, and salt in a separate bowl. Stir the egg yolks, milk and vanilla into the yeast mixture. Add the flour mixture in two additions, stirring until the dough begins to come together.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead, adding up to 1 cup of flour, a little at a time, until the dough is smooth and supple, 5 to 10 minutes. (You may not need all of the flour.) The kneading can also be done in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook for 5 to 7 minutes.
Rub about 1 tsp. of vegetable oil around the large bowl; place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let the dough sit in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1½ hours.
Line a large plate with paper towels. Add oil to a medium saucepan until it’s about 1½ inches deep and set the pan over the medium heat until the temperature reaches 365 on a candy or deep-frying thermometer. Working in batches of five or six, pinch off walnut-size pieces of dough, roll each into a ball shape, and drop into the hot oil. Fry, flipping once, until puffed, golden and cooked through, 2 to 4 minutes total. Transfer with a slotted spoon to the prepared plate to drain.
Make the cardamom sugar: Stir together the sugar, cardamom and cinnamon in a large bowl. Working in batches, add the warm bimuelos to the mixture and toss to coat. Serve immediately.
Nutrition information per serving: 540 calories, 21 g fat, 170 mg sodium, 81 g carbohydrates, 4 g saturated fat, 31 g added sugars, 8 g protein, 60 mg cholesterol, 3 g dietary fiber
Exchanges per serving: 3 starch, 2½ carb, 3½ fat.