Chanukah De-‘Lights’

Our cookery expert Janine Levy with some recipes that'll make you glow at this time of year 

No sooner are the high holidays over, that we start to see the first donuts appearing in the stores…. It's CRAZY!

And the trouble with Chanukah, is that it's all about frying in oil which totally goes against my 'healthy eating' principles.

If Judah Maccabi was around today, I'd have a stern word about the benefits of a low fat diet.

I've tried the 'oven baked' donuts and, to be honest …. they're just not donuts!

Homemade fried donuts are a real labor of love – so what I do is I limit myself to one or two really good ones as a treat from a speciality bakery and I don't waste my time or money on the flabby, synthetic ones from the supermarket.

So this year I've gone down a different route to give you my take on a 'healthyish' Chanukah!

OVEN-BAKED VEGETABLE LATKES

These colorful patties are a delicious healthy and low calorie version of fried potato latkes – you may omit the Bulgarian cheese if you want to keep them Parev.

Ingredients

2 courgettes

2 sweet potatoes

2 carrots

1 red onion, finely chopped

2 eggs

½ cup grated Bulgarian cheese (optional)

½ cup all-purpose flour

2 tsp salt

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C.

2. Grate all the vegetables and squeeze out any excess water.

3. Stir in the onion, grated cheese, salt, flour and finally add the beaten eggs.

4. Mix this together into a paste.

5. With wetted hands, take golf ball size pieces of the mixture and flatten onto a greased baking tray.

6. Spray generously with oil and bake for 25-30 mins.

"MACCABEET"SOUP

This is a delicious soup to serve at candle lighting. It's a distant cousin from your Grandma's borscht, and comes out a beautiful festive color.

Ingredients

3 large red beets peeled and cut into chunks

1 diced onion

1 large potato peeled and chopped

2 cloves garlic

1 cm piece of ginger, finely grated

1 liter vegetable stock

1 can coconut milk

½ tsp salt

2 tbsp olive oil

Method

1. Sauté the onion, garlic and ginger in the olive oil.

2. Add the potatoes and beets and stir for 5 minutes.

3. Then add the stock and bring to the boil.

4. Simmer for 15 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

5. Turn the heat off and add the coconut milk.

6. Allow to cool a little and blend with an immersion blender.

7. Serve with homemade croutons.

CROUTONS

Ingredients

1 stale baguette

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp coarse rock salt

Method

1. Rip the baguette into bite size pieces.

2. Drizzle with oil and salt and bake for 8-10 mins on a cookie sheet at 200C.

Keep an eye on the croutons – they cook really quickly.

BALSAMIC ROASTED STRAWBERRIES

I still can't quite get used to strawberries being a winter fruit! Usually by Chanukah time they are just about coming down to a reasonable price to enjoy them, on their own or as this delicious compote.

Ingredients

800g strawberries

75 ml balsamic vinegar

50g brown sugar

Mint leaves

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190C.

2. Wash and halve the strawberries.

3. Sprinkle with sugar.

4. Pour over the balsamic vinegar.

5. Roast in a glass/ceramic dish for 45 minutes.

6. Decorate with fresh mint.

7. Serve with ice cream/scones or bruschetta.