Hanukkah Food: Traditional Dishes and Recipes
When and how is it celebrated?
Hanukkah begins on 25 Kislev in the Jewish calendar and lasts eight days. In the Gregorian calendar it usually starts in December, sometimes as early as late November. The festival recalls the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem in the second century BCE. According to tradition, a small jar of pure oil kept the lamp burning for eight days. That is why one more candle is lit on the hanukkiah each evening until all eight are burning. Children play with the dreidel, a spinning top, and are given coins or chocolate money. The oil of the legend shapes the cooking, so there is plenty of deep-fried and pan-fried food.
What is on the table?
In Ashkenazi families, latkes are the best-known Hanukkah food. These fritters of grated potato are much like German Potato Pancakes with Apple Sauce and are eaten the same way, with apple sauce or sour cream. A modern variation is Sweet Potato Latkes. In Israel, sufganiyot are part of the festival: yeasted doughnuts filled with jam, related to Polish pączki and the Berliner. Moroccan Jews make Sfenj, light rings of yeast dough fried in the pan and eaten with honey or sugar. Sephardic families from Greece and Turkey know similar dough balls as bimuelos, close to Greek Loukoumades. Cheese dishes are also part of the tradition, recalling the story of Judith, and cheese-filled bourekas suit them well. For the main course, many Ashkenazi families in the USA serve slowly braised beef brisket, similar to American Beef Brisket, but cooked in a pot with onions and often tomatoes rather than in a smoker.
Tips for your own festive meal
Three courses are enough for a Hanukkah evening. Start with Spinach and Cheese Bourekas, then serve freshly fried latkes with apple sauce and sour cream. Latkes turn out crispest in a frying pan with plenty of oil. Keep them warm in the oven at 100 °C until they are all done. For dessert, sfenj or jam doughnuts work well. Tea with fresh mint goes nicely alongside.
