JINGifd

These
sweet
potato
latkes are
baked
instead of
fried and
filled with
flavor.

Festival of Liles

ANNABEL COHEN
,Special to; The Jewish News

great miracle is happening
this Chanukah season.
You're going to be able to
enjoy this holiday's foods
without all the fat — and guilt. Sound
impossible? Read on.
A quick look at the ingredient lists
of traditional Chanukah delicacies
reveals dietary contraband. Potato
latkes, the essential Chanukah treat, is
full of eggs and fried in copious
amounts of oil. In fact, most
Chanukah foods are fried in oil. As an
added fat bonus, rich dairy foods like
blintzes and kugel are commonly pre-
pared to serve with latkes.
Chanukah food customs have some
historical significance. After the
ancient temple in Jerusalem was
destroyed by the Hellenists of Syria,
only a one day's worth of olive oil was
found to light the temple lamps.
Extraordinarily, the oil lasted for eight .

11/28
1997

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days — the amount of time required
to procure more purified oil for the
lamps. Lighting the Chanukah meno-
rah commemorates this miracle, and
oily foods add to the festivities.
The custom of eating dairy foods
relates to the Chanukah story of
Judith. Judith saved her city by serving
its enemy-general a salty cheese which
made him thirsty. She encouraged the
foe to drink large amounts of wine.
When he fell into a drunken stupor,
Judith beheaded him. Her courage is
said to have motivated Judah the
Maccabee. Accordingly, dairy foods
have since been associated with
Chanukah.
With today's focus on healthy eat-
ing, Chanukah foods can be low-fat
and delicious. Inventive cooks have
long been lightening up potato latkes,
blintzes, and other foods with the help
of reduced-fat or light ingredients as
well as utilizing alternate cooking
methods such as baking instead of fry-
ing.

But for those who need help reduc-
ing the fat in their favorite foods, con-
sult The Low fat Jewish Cookbook by
Faye Levy (Clarkson Potter, $27).
Levy not only compiles popular fat
cutting tips into an array of interesting
recipes, but she provides colorful and
unusual updated recipes for the all the
Jewish holidays.
For Canukah, Levy includes potato
latke "muffins" and low-fat sweet
potato latkes. One of Arnerica's
favorite squashes becomes creamy
pumpkin soup with green vegetables.
Levy rounds out the holiday with
remakes of other stylish party foods
like salsa and hummus. And instead of
chocolate Chanukah gelt, Levy sug-
gests making chocolate dipped dried
apricots and peaches. Even with the
chocolate, they possess a fraction of
the fat and calories of their solid
chocolate counterparts.
Levy is realistic when it comes to
breaking tradition. She suggests that
even if you feel there's nothing like the

real thing when it comes to fried
latkes, don't abandon the low-fat
notion entirely. Simply lighten up the
rest of the meal with salads and baked
fish or swap the latkes from entree to
appetizer status to eat less.
The following are some Chanukah
recipes from The Low-Fat Jewish
Cookbook as well as another that will
make this year's Festival of Lights
lighter.

LOW-FAT SWEET POTATO
LATICES
(From The Low-Fat Jewish Cookbook
by Faye Levy)
The trick to making these latkes
low in fat is to fry them only briefly
and finish cooking them in the oven.
This:way they don't absorb much oil
as they cook through. Serve these
yummy pancakes with applesauce for
a meat meal or with nonfat sour
cream for a dairy dinner.
1 3/4 pounds orange-fleshed sweet pota-
toes, peeled

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