Sweet Potato Latkes

I made this variation on latkes early this month. I really, really liked them, though the Engineer still prefers regular potato latkes. I had a little trouble with the consistency, so I added an egg (I’ve written the instructions below with that extra egg), but feel free to adjust the egg/flour ratio as you need. I’ll also move to say that the rosemary is not optional; in my opinion, that’s what really makes the dish. It serves about 6 people as a side (in my case, they were a side to regular latkes). Enjoy!

2 medium sweet potatoes
1 large onion, more or less finely chopped
3 eggs, beaten
6 Tbsp flour or matzo meal (plus a little more if you need it)
1 tsp Kosher salt
several of grinds of your pepper mill
2 tsp fresh rosemary
extra-virgin olive oil or canola oil as needed for frying

Peel the sweet potatoes well and grate them using the grater attachment of a food processor.

In a medium bowl, combine the sweet-potato pieces, onion, eggs, flour, salt, pepper and rosemary. In a large frying pan, heat a few tablespoons of oil until the oil begins to shimmer.



Scoop some of the sweet-potato mixture out of the bowl with a soup spoon, and flatten it with your hand. Pop the flattened potato into the hot oil. It should hiss and bubble a bit; if not, wait before you put more pancakes into the oil.

It’s just fine if your latkes are a little ragged around the edges. If they don’t hold together and are hard to turn, however, you may want to add a little more flour to your batter.



Fry the pancakes a few at a time, turning each when the first side turns a golden brown. Drain the cooked latkes on paper towels; then pop them into a 250 °F oven to stay warm until you have finished cooking all the batter.