Article Discussion: Gremchelich and Easter Eggs Recipes for a Dutch Seder

Well, Dutch are all about the fried foods so you can make lots of hanukkah appropriate recipes, but I have to say, there's actually a lot of overlap! For example, the latke is instead called a Kartoffelpletter and is made with mashed potatoes instead of grated potatoes.

My grandfather basically just took last night's mashed potatoes (using some that have sat overnight is actually better because some of the moisture is gone and because they are cooled they stay together better) added a little bit of flour, Salt and pepper, and an egg or two and some chopped onions. Make sure the texture stays together like a patty but isn't so dry that it's brittle. They shouldn't be more than 1/2-1 inch thick. Then he fried them in some oil just like a latke. Here is a supposedly authentic recipe, but obviously when it comes to "recipes from the old country" it always varies from family to family.

Makes 16 to 18

2½ pounds potatoes
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups rye flour
2½ cups white flour
3 egg whites -- beaten frothy
Cook the potatoes in their jackets. Peel. Add salt and mash while warm. Work the flours into the mashed potatoes, a little at atime with egg whites. Knead the dough well.

Roll on a lightly floured board into thin round cakes.

Bake on both sides on a greased griddle over low heat until done. Watch them closely to keep them from burning.

Serve with melted butter and honey, or a cognac sauce.

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Another tasty fried Danish delicacy is the lowly pancake! My favorite types are the sour cream and the sourdough, but that's just MY pallate. I think it makes the flavor a bit more grown up compared to the typical Bisquick fare. Obviously for kashrut, you'd be serving the sour cream variety with a vegetarian meal. :-) Anytime I went to my great grandmother's house we were sure that most breakfasts would include a nearly unlimited supply of pancakes.

our-Cream Pancakes - Surfløde Vafler

Serves 6

¼ cup butter
1 cup flour -- sifted
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs -- separated
1 cup sour cream
1 cup buttermilk
Melt the butter.

Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, cardamom, salt; set aside.

Beat the egg yolks until lemon colored and fluffy. Add melted butter slowly. Add the sour cream and buttermilk and beat until well blended. Add to the dry ingredients and mix until smooth.

Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold into the batter.

Sour-Dough Pancakes - Surdejgspandekager

Makes ~18 4-inch pancakes

¼ package dry yeast
¼ cup warm water
1 cup flour
3 eggs
1 cup milk (use water or milk substitute to make Parve)
2 cups sour dough starter
1 tablespoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
¼ cup sugar
1¾ cups flour
SOUR-DOUGH STARTER

Dissolve yeast in the lukewarm water (about 100 degrees). Put the dissolved yeast in a good-sized bowl and add enough flour (¾ to 1 cup) to make a thin, runny batter. Place in a small crock and cover lightly with a tea towel.

Put in a warm place to sour. Each day for 5 days add ½ cup lukewarm water and just enough flour to keep the batter the same consistency as when you first mixed it. When the batter is sour to the taste it is ready to use for making pancakes. This should be in about 5 days but may take a little longer.

To make it easy to have these pancakes whenever you want them, without waiting 5 days for the starter to sour, set aside a small quantity of the starter each time you make pancakes. Add ½ cup lukewarm water to it and just enough flour for the runny batter mentioned above. Leave it in a warm place overnight, then store in your refrigerator until you wish to make potatoes. Add enough flour and water when you begin to make the pancakes to provide a sufficient quantity of starter for the number of cakes you wish to make.

SOUR-DOUGH PANCAKES

Beat the eggs until light with the milk and the sour-dough starter.

Sift together the baking soda, baking powder, salt, sugar and flour. Combine the two mixtures and blend well.

Bake on a greased griddle or in an oiled skillet, browning on both sides. (if you wish to use an unoiled skillet or griddle, add ¼ cup of melted butter to the batter.) If you like very thin pancakes, add a little more milk to the batter.

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Finally, there's the apple fritter which you can serve along side the traditional Ashkenazi Jelly Doughnuts. There are SOOOOOOO many recipes for this I feel bad endorsing just one, though I HIGHLY recommend soaking the apples in some cognac or brandy prior to frying them in dough. It adds another dimension to the tastiness!

Cognac Apple Fritters

Serves 6 to 8

4 apples
4 tablespoons cognac
1 egg -- separated
½ cup milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoons baking powder
Powdered sugar
Peel, core and slice apples and place in a bowl. Pour cognac over them and cover tightly.

Beat the egg yolk and mix with the milk and sugar. Mix well.

Sift the flour into the egg-yolk mixture and add the salt and baking powder. Stir well.

Beat egg white until stiff. Fold into above mixture.

Dip the apple slices in the batter and fry in deep fat heated to 365 degrees for 2 to 4 minutes, or until golden brown on both sides. Dust with powdered sugar while warm.

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