Latkes

If it's December, it must be time for me to republish my UnPotato Latke recipe! The original calls for Ketatoes, no longer available. But Dixie Diners Instant Mashers, a similar product available from Carb Smart, Netrition, and other low carb etailers, will work just the same. The Atkins bake mix can be swapped out for rice protein powder.

My pal Barbo Gold told me, when I first came up with these, that they were good enough to make me a Latke Maven. Which ain't bad for a girl as goyish as me.

UnPotato Latkes

1 cup shredded cauliflower
1 cup shredded turnip
1 teaspoon salt, or Vege-Sal
3 eggs
1/4 cup Ketatoes mix, original flavor
1/4 cup Atkins bake mix
1 medium onion, grated
1/2 teaspoon pepper

1. You'll want to shred your cauliflower and turnip on the shredding blade of your food processor. Combine the two in a bowl, and sprinkle the salt over the two, stirring as you do so, so the salt is well distributed. Let the salted cauliflower and turnip sit for at least an hour, and two won't hurt.

2. Okay, come back to your shredded cauliflower and turnip, and dump them into a strainer. Using clean hands, squeeze all the moisture you can out of them. Put them back in the bowl.

3. Grate your onion, and add it to the cauliflower and turnip. Now add onion, then the eggs, Ketatoes mix, Atkins bake mix, and pepper. Using a whisk or a fork, stir everything together until it's all well-combined. The mixture will be quite thick.

4. Put your large, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium high heat. Give it a squirt of non-stick cooking spray first, if you like. Then pour in oil -- I used olive oil, but use what you like -- to a depth of about 1/2". Let it heat until a tiny bit of the latke mixture sizzles when dropped in. Then spoon in the batter, about 2 tablespoons per latke. Fry until well-browned on both sides -- maybe 5 minutes per side.

5. Serve with sour cream, if you like -- I understand that's traditional -- or with a low carb preserve, or both -- but these are awfully good as-is.

I got 16 latkes, which I figure will serve 8 as a side dish. Each serving will have 8 grams of carbohydrate, with 3 grams of fiber, for a usable carb count of just 5 grams. 10 grams of protein. Hard to know exactly how many calories, because who knows how much oil they absorb? Don't stint on the oil, however. Eating foods fried in plenty of oil is a Hanukkah tradition because it commemorates the oil that miraculously burned for 8 days during the rebuilding of the temple, or so my source material tells me.