Latkes, step by step

Latkes make the perfect breakfast, light lunch or savoury snack – enjoy them as is or with your favourite tasty toppings.

Latkes

1 Get the ingredients ready You’ll need four medium-sized Mediterranean potatoes (about 350g), an egg, a small onion, a bunch of dill or your favourite soft herb, about 50ml flour, salt and pepper and melted butter* for frying.

Why melt the butter?

Latkes fried in butter are delicious but because ordinary butter has a fairly low smoke point, it tends to brown very quickly in the pan.

One way to increase the smoke point is to add a dash of oil to the butter. Alternatively, the butter can be clarified; this allows the water it contains to evaporate and separates the milk solids from the butterfat, producing better results at a higher temperature.

Make your own by melting a chunk of butter (unsalted butter is preferable) in a measuring cup in the microwave and then skimming off any milky foam on top. The rest will separate into clear butterfat and milk solids – the latter will settle at the bottom. Use the top clarified butter for frying.

2 Peel the potatoes and onion; grate coarsely in a mixing bowl lined with cheesecloth or a clean tea towel.

Tip

Replace one of the potatoes with the same amount of grated sweet potato, baby marrow or even pumpkin as a variation.

4 Place the dried vegetables in a clean mixing bowl and add the herbs, egg, flour, salt and pepper to taste. Mix to form a thick batter.

3 Using the cloth, squeeze out all the moisture from the vegetables – this improves the texture of the latkes when they are fried.

5 Fry spoonfuls of the potato mixture in the butter in a non-stick pan until golden brown and crispy on both sides. It is essential to control the heat and not let the latkes burn before they’re cooked through – smaller spoonfuls of the potato mixture work better. The batter makes about 12 latkes.