sweet potato latkes with vegan sour cream

i know i’ve been going all out with christmas cookies this month, but the time has come to celebrate the other delicacies of the season.  and though i’m not jewish i can appreciate a good latke when i taste one. here, i toyed around with the recipe to come up with a not-so-traditional version of a holiday classic.

traditional latkes, while delicious, can be somewhat dull – i substituted beautifully colored sweet potatoes for the standard russet, spiced it up with some indian flavors and used a little blended silken tofu as both an egg replacer and a main ingredient in some tasty – and believable – vegan sour cream.

sweet potato latkes with vegan sour cream
1 block of silken tofu
1 lb sweet potatoes
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 c whole wheat flour
1/4 c chopped white onion
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp salt, divided
the juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp olive oil + some for frying
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

blend the silken tofu in a blender and set aside.

grate the sweet potatoes into a large bowl.  i usually choose to leave the skins on but feel free to remove them before this step.

once you’ve finished grating all of the sweet potatoes, use a straining bag or cheese cloth to squeeze all of the liquid out of the pulp.  this will help the final latke be crunchy and hold together rather than greasy and fall apart.  definitely save the liquid, it is delicious with some apple juice!

mix the dried sweet potato pulp with 1/4 c of the blended tofu, the flour, onion, garlic, brown sugar, cumin, coriander and 1/2 tsp of salt.

 

roll the latke mixture into balls and place on a chopping board.  this helps get each of them roughly the same size.

 

smash them flat and even with a fork.

before you fry them up add the other 1/2 tsp of salt, lemon juice, 2 tbsp olive oil and 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar to the blender and mix with the remaining tofu to make the sour cream.  store it in the fridge to thicken.

then fry the latkes in a frying pan in olive oil over medium heat.  i used about 1 tbsp for every 2 i cooked.  cook until they are starting to brown, which is about 2-3 minutes each side.  you can keep them warm on a plate in the oven at 250F until ready to serve them.

lastly, serve with the sour cream and some apple sauce.  enjoy with friends and family!

yields about 20 latkes