Chanukah Recipes
Can Be Low-Cholesterol
LESLYE MICHLIN BORDEN
Special to The Jewish News
It's a special time of the week when families
gather, traditions are renewed and there's
plenty of time to relax and enjoy the rich,
delicious taste of Maxwell House® Coffee.
GENERAL
FOODS
1988 General Foods Corporation
SUPERIOR
FISH C
(
r
Cooked, Peeled
and Cleaned
-
r
T
A large variety of Fresh Apple-
wood Smoked Seafood, including
Smoked Salmon, Sable,
Whitefish, Chubs, etc.
Featuring
vva ~ a'a cis
0
F-
11 Mile
Expires 12/10/88
CELEBRATE
WITH HOLIDAY
SEAFOOD
PARTY TRAYS
FRESH
OYSTERS
are in from Chesepeake Bay
1/2 pints • pints • quarts
CREAMY SMOKED
FISH SPREAD
container
$8.95.).
.49 lb. wimps
Expires 12/10/88
Expires 12/10/88
s2. 25 8 az.
NORWEGIAN
SALMON
7
$ 16.45 lb. Weems
L
Fresh Fillets
(26-30 ct.)
Reg. Price $7.99 lb.
Reg. Price $16.95 lb.
FLOWN IN DIRECT
1
Shell On
COCKTAIL
SHRIMP
COCKTAIL
SHRIMP
(21-25 ct.) with tail on
L
JUST ADD SEAFOOD TO MAKE
YOUR HOLIDAYS TASTEFULLY UNIQUE
Featuring 1/2 pint stewers
1
at $3.65
J
1
SUPERIOR FISH CO.
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96
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1988
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Saturday 8-1
0 it has become an
important focus of
Chanukah, since it
was the miracle of the oil
lasting eight nights rather
than one that we recall on the
holiday.
For homemakers, this
celebration translates into
preparing foods with oil.
Thus, potato latkes (pan-
cakes) and donuts fried in oil
are considered traditional for
the holiday meal. For people
on low-cholesterol diets and
others who want to limit the
amount of fat they consume,
this holiday has many ob-
vious pitfalls.
Generally fried foods and
foods high in oil or fat content
are forbidden to them. What
can a person do who wants
both to celebrate in the tradi-
tional manner and keep to
the requirements of a low-fat
diet?
First, plan the menu
carefully. Don't consider hav-
ing latkes at the same meal
as donuts. If you simply must
have jelly donuts for dessert,
as they do in Israel, then
prepare the rest of your meal
so that it is very low in fat
and oil. This way, you can
keep the total fat consump-
tion in the meal around 20
percent, an amount recom-
mended by the National In-
stitute of Health. Serve the
latkes on another one of the
eight nights.
Since the donuts have milk
in them, a dairy meal is ap-
propriate. Chanukah does
have a dairy tradition that
remembers the story of
Judith. This dairy tradition
emphasizes serving cheese, as
Judith did.
Modern nutritionists rec-
ommend avoiding cheese
because it is so high in
saturated fat, the kind of fat
that increases cholesterol
levels in the blood. Instead,
serve baked fish fillets. A
31/2-ounce portion of sea bass
contains only 2.5 grams of fat
and 53 milligrams of
cholesterol compared to the
same portion of feta cheese
which contains 21 grams of
fat and 75 milligrams of
cholesterol.
Imagine the comparison to
cheeses higher in fat like
American, Muenster, Jack
and Cheddar. Other tasty fish
low in fat and cholesterol in-
clude haddock, cod, perch, red
snapper and halibut.
Fish like salmon or sword-
fish are not advised for this
meal because they have a
higher fat content. Dress up
the fish with garnishes of
colorful red onions and
tangerines. These underline
your festive mood.
Serve the fish with a baked
potato, topped with nonfat
yogurt instead of sour cream,
and certainly no butter or
even margarine. Steamed
vegetables sprinkled with
lemon juice and a marinated
cucumber salad are the
perfect companions for a din-
ner topped by fried donuts.
But in frying the donuts,
you must be careful. Oil in
itself is not harmful. But the
kind must be carefully
selected. Select an oil high in
polyunsaturated fats such as
safflower, corn, soybean,
sesame or sunflower. Olive oil
is a healthful oil with mo-
nounsaturated fat.
The Chanukah story shows
that even the Maccabees
knew olive oil was good.
However, olive oil is general-
ly considered a little too tas-
ty for frying foods like donuts.
For this, safflower oil is best,
not only for taste but also
because it has the highest
polyunsaturated fat content
and the lowest saturated fat
content of any other oil. It has
twice the polyunsaturates as
corn oil.
If you want to know what
the content of the oil you buy
is, you must read the label.
Make sure your oil contains
no coconut or palm oil, as
many "all vegetable shorten-
ings" recommended for frying
do.
If you decide making your
own donuts is too much mess
or trouble, bware of purchas-
Continued on Page 98