Potato Latkes Recipe with Smoked Salmon (or Trout), Caviar, Sour Cream and Dill

Potato Latkes Recipe with Smoked Salmon, Caviar, Sour Cream and Dill.

Potato Latkes Recipe with Smoked Salmon (or Trout), Caviar, Sour Cream and Dill

This potato latkes recipe with smoked salmon, caviar, sour cream and fresh dill makes the potato fritters or crispy potato pancakes traditionally eaten during the Jewish holiday, Hanukkah. Only this is my non-Jewish, Orthodox-Christian, Russian-Ukrainian grandmother’s recipe for potato latkes, which she simply called potato fritters. Whatever you want to call them, they’re addictively delicious. Serve with smoked salmon or the more sustainable smoked trout.

Prep Time15

Cook Time30

Total Time45

Course: Appetiser, Main Course

Cuisine: Jewish, Russian, Ukrainian

Servings: portions

Calories: 54kcal

Author: Lara Dunston

Equipment

1 oven tray
wire rack
Box Grater
1 large frying pan
1 fish slice
1 Slotted Spoon
1 Serving Plate

Ingredients

500 g Russet potatoes around 2-3 large potatoes, cleaned, cut into quarters
250 g onion brown or yellow onion, 1 large onion or 2 medium sized onions, peeled, cut into quarters
60 g plain flour all purpose flour in the US; half a cup
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
½ tsp ground paprika
½ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper
canola oil or sunflower oil or neutral cooking oil for shallow frying
200 g smoked salmon sustainable or smoked trout
300 g sour cream
50 g lumpfish caviar red or black, or salmon roe if you prefer
4 spring onions scallions, diagonally sliced
1 cup fresh dill sprigs only

Instructions

Turn the oven on and set to low heat, around 70–80°C (158-176°F), to keep the latkes warm as you’ll be cooking them in batches. Line a couple of oven trays (baking sheets) with baking paper/foil and top with wire racks to lay the latkes on, so the heat circulates around them to keep them crisp.
Grate the potatoes and onion, coarse or fine, using a box grater or shred them in a food processor. After grating you should have around 725 g potato and onion.
Push the grated potato and onion through a sieve over a bowl or wrap the grated potato and onion in a clean cotton tea towel and squeeze it over a sink to extract as much liquid as you can. Leave for 10 minutes, then squeeze the liquid out again.
Transfer the grated potato-onion mixture to a big dry bowl. Combine the flour and baking powder then tip that, and the eggs, spices, salt, and pepper into the same bowl and thoroughly combine with the potato-onion mixture.
To a large sized frying pan over medium heat, pour in the oil to a depth of around half a centimetre (no more) and heat. Note: to make sure the oil is hot enough, slide a teaspoon of the mixture into the pan; when it’s ready it should sizzle and start to brown; remove it, blow on it to cool it down, taste it to check the seasoning and adjust if you like.
Working quickly, use a large tablespoon to scoop out the potato mixture, slide it into the pan, and use the back of the spoon to push the mixture in and shape it into a roughly shaped disc if it spreads too much. Note: if it does spread too much, it has too much liquid in it, so take the pan off the heat and add a little flour and combine before proceeding.
Repeat, working in a clockwise direction around the edge of pan, working your way to the centre, leaving around 3cm between each dollop of potato-onion mixture, until you have filled the pan, cooking the latkes in batches until you’ve used up the mixture.
Fry the rounds of potato-onion mixture for 3-5 minutes until the latkes are crispy and brown around the edges, which means the undersides should be brown. Lift the first one a little to check; for crispy exteriors and soft interiors, you want golden-brown latkes; for extra crunch, cook until deep brown, taking care not to burn them.
Returning to that first latke, and working in a clockwise direction again, use a fish slice to turn the latkes over and fry the other side for another 3-4 minutes until brown.
Use the fish slice or slotted spoon to transfer the latkes to a large plate lined with absorbent kitchen paper to soak up any excess oil, then use tongs to lay them on the wire rack on the oven tray and slide that into the oven to keep the latkes warm.
Repeat, cooking in batches until you’ve finished the potato-onion mixture. Add more oil to the pan as needed between batches, but make sure it heats up before adding the potato-onion mixture to the pan.
When ready to eat, distribute the latkes between plates, lay some smoked salmon or smoked trout on top, spoon on a dollop of sour cream then a dollop of caviar or fish roe, sprinkle on fresh dill sprigs and sliced spring onions (scallions), and serve immediately. Or, transfer the latkes and smoked fish to a platter, along with dishes of sour cream and herbs for DIY latkes, and let guests assemble their own latkes.

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