You want applesauce with that? Totally lovable Latkes

Latkes. Yum. Love them. Here are my recipes for both plain potato pancakes and curried sweet potato latkes. You'll love them. Honest!

CURRIED SWEET POTATO LATKES

For those of you who would like a change from the traditional, here is a recipe for curried sweet potato latkes from Joan Nathan, author of Jewish Cooking in America, The Jewish Holiday Cookbook and The Flavor of Jerusalem.

1 lb sweet potatoes, peeled and grated coarsely
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. cumin
salt and freshly ground pepper
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
peanut oil for frying

In a bowl separate from the grated sweet potatoes, mix the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, cayenne pepper, curry powder, cumin, salt, and pepper.

Add the eggs and just enough milk to the dry ingredients to make a stiff batter. add the potatoes and mix. The batter should be moist, but not runny; if too stiff, add more milk.

Heat 1/4 inch of peanut oil in a frying pan until it is barely smoking. Drop in the batter by tablespoons and flatten. Fry over medium-high heat several minutes on each side until golden. Drain on paper towels and serve.

Yield: 16 3-inch pancakes.

By the way, I made this with parve soy milk to have with a fleishig (meat) meal. I also used "Egg Beaters," and it turned out fine. Also, I didn't have curry powder, so I used tumeric, allspice, and fenugreek, and it tasted fine.

We didn't wait to put them on a serving plate with applesauce. On the other hand, I don't think they would go too well with applesauce. Perhaps a Major Grey's chutney, or some other Indian sauce.

LATKES

Source: New York Cooking by Molly O'Neill

2 1/2 pounds Idaho baking potatoes, unpeeled
1 large yellow onion, quartered
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup matzoh meal
4 to 5 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 to 3 cups olive oil
1 large jar (16 ounces) applesauce

1. Pick up the potatoes and admire their heft, their pure starchiness. Then scrub them with a brush.

2. Place the onion in a food processor. Pulse the blade a few times until the onion is diced into crunchy bits. Remove the blade and scrape the onion bits into a small bowl. Return the food processor bowl to the machine. No need to wash it yet.

3. Cut the potatoes lengthwise to fit in the food processor feed tube. Find the medium-coarse food processor shredding disk, which you've never used. Put it into the machine and turn it on. Begin feeding the potato slices into the machine.

4. When the potatoes are shredded, put them in a colander over a large bowl. Dump in the onion bits and mix everything around with your hands, squeezing the potato moisture out as you work. Let the mixture drip for a few minutes while you put on a recording of Kitty Carlisle singing "Beat Out That Rhythm on a Drum."

5. Pour out the potato liquid from the bowl, but leave the starch that clings to the bowl. This is good for you. Dump in the shredded potato and onion mix. Add the eggs, the matzoh meal, the parsley, the salt, and the pepper. Stir the mixture eagerly. Then let it sit for about 10 minutes.

6. In a large cast-iron skillet, pour in 1/4 inch of oil. Over high heat, get the oil very hot, but don't set off the smoke detector. Using a 1/4 cup measure or a long-handled serving spoon, start spooning the batter into the skillet. Flatten each with a metal spatula to a diameter of 4 to 5 inches. Do not try to make the latkes uniformly round. Reduce heat to medium and cook the latkes until golden brown on one side. Then turn over and fry them some more. When crispy on the outside and moist inside, about 5 minutes per side, remove and place on several thicknesses of paper towels. Keep doing this until you run out of batter.

7. Serve the latkes immediately with applesauce and sour cream.

Makes about 16 latkes, which is all you should eat the first night. By the end of Hanukah, you should be able to eat twice that many.