Cooking up the good life

The contrasts of living in the Southern Hemisphere are highlighted right now as we approach the heart of the holiday season.  It is pretty tough to try to get into the mood of roasting chestnuts and lighting candles when the air conditioner is running on high and our skin is peeling from the sunburn (I know, it’s rough).  Additionally, while I am used to planning lovely warming meals like squash soup and roasted potatoes, instead I am scarfing down unbelievably sweet melons and nectarines and craving things like fresh salsa, and cold Torrontés.  By all accounts back home, this isn’t exactly a typical December and most of our winter loving friends are lamenting the lack of snow.  However, I am still trying to create an ambiance of traditional family celebration and nothing says that better than latkes and sufganiyot.

Latkes, or potato pancakes are the most traditional Chanukah food there is.  Potatoes are grated and combined with onion, flour and egg and then fried to create the ultimate crispy, crunchy, starchy delight.  To make it even better it is traditionally served with sour cream and applesauce.  My kids are pretty content to call that dinner.  I am not far behind, but I usually add a salad for my daily serving of  greens.  Jews have an incredible knack for developing yummy, and relatively unhealthy food traditions in the name of commemorating some important event.  In this case, it is traditional to eat fried foods on Chanukah as a way of celebrating one day’s worth of  oil that unexpectedly kept the reclaimed temple’s lamp burning for 8 days. Besides latkes, another favorite fried treat is sufganiyot-jelly donuts! Initially,  I was lukewarm to this tradition but since discovering the joy of making them from scratch, I have come to enjoy them immensely.

As I prepared the dough this year, I contemplated the numerous fruit options around me that could serve as filling.  While I do enjoy fruit desserts, suffice it to say that every year I wonder how sufganiyot would taste filled with warm dark chocolate.  Then, it  occurred to me that we are living in the land of dulce de leche. The creamy milk caramel that is enjoyed in everything from cookies to ice cream and is as easy to find in Argentina as cheese in Minnesota.  Everyone was thrilled with my idea, and it did not disappoint!  Rolling, cutting and filling the dough is also a fun project for kids. These may have been the best sufganiyot ever

Sufganiyot:

1 cup lukewarm water

1 T. yeast

1 T salt