My favorite Chanuka recipe

Happy Chanuka everyone!

Chanuka is a fun, yet peaceful holiday. I'm not ripping my kitchen apart to make it kosher-for-Passover, not cooking up a storm to feed 3-14 people for 6 festive meals in 3 days (most holidays, except Yom Kippur), not building a hut on my back porch (Sukkos), and not making 40-60 little gift package of food to deliver to friends and family and still cooking up a storm for a festive meal (Purim).

No, it's me and my husband, peacefully gazing at the Chanuka menora/chanukiya lights. I take a break while my husband serves supper, and I prepare for one slightly informal Chanuka party that I host anually for my family. We don't do the whole gift thing, but I sometimes buy a small gift for my nieces and nephew that do come to the party.

There are tons of regular potato latkes out there. I won't bother you with them. Just do a search for "latke" and be prepared to go through lots and lots of results.

What I would like to share with you is a recipe that I found shortly after I got married, which was featured in the local paper's Living section. I think it's originally from a famous Jewish author's cookbook, but I've seen it in many other websites as well.

My sisters, husband and I like food with a little kick. So to give my Chanuka menu a little variation, I usually add Curried Sweet Potato Latkes to the menu.

Ingredients
1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder (if you're not sure you want it that spicy, use less)
2 teaspoons curry powder (if you're not sure you want it that spicy, use 1 teaspoon)
1 teaspoon cumin
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk (approximately) (use soy milk if serving at a meat meal)
Peanut oil for frying (I use grapeseed oil - high burn point, not so oily tasting)

Direction
1. Grate the sweet potatoes coarsely, or just use your food processor. In a separate bowl mix the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, cayenne pepper, curry powder, cumin, and salt and pepper.

2. Add the eggs and just enough milk to the dry ingredients to make a stiff batter. Add the potatoes and mix. The batter should be moist but not runny; if too stiff, add more milk.

3. Heat 1/4 inch of peanut oil in a frying pan until it is barely smoking. Drop in the batter by tablespoons and flatten. Fry over medium-high heat several minutes on each side until golden. Drain on paper towels and serve.

Good with sour cream.

Feel free to double or triple the recipe as you want. I don't remember how much it makes - when I make them this weekend, I'll add the estimate.

Enjoy!