Rice & Cheese Latkes

Parve, Vegetarian, Yeast Free

Serves 6 as an accompaniment or 4 or as a meal with vegetable

This recipe celebrates many of the Chanukah traditions cooking in oil to remind us of the temple lamp, pancakes are quick just as the pre-battle food eaten by the Macabees was, Cheese for Judith and Holofernes and to tie it into the Sephardi tradition, I am using a rice based recipe - potatoes only arrived in Europe in the early 1600s

Mixture of olive and sunflower oil for frying
350g (12oz) cooked risotto rice* (175g (6oz) rice before cooking cooked in 350ml (12fl oz) water
100g (4oz) grated cheese
3 medium eggs, separated
2-3 tbsps rice flour
Seasoning
150g(6oz) onion or leek or combination

Beat egg whites till stiff, reserve. Finely chop the onion or leek. Mix leek, egg yolks, cheese, rice and seasoning together.

Fold in the egg whites a few spoonfuls at a time to make a semi-stiff batter which should just drop off a spoon - if it is too thin add a little more rice flour.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok and fry in small batches till golden brown (not as brown as potato latkes). You can see they do need a deep pan for frying.

* if you use long grain or basmati rice you will probably need to add an extra tbsp of rice flour

Gluten Free Rice & Cheese Latkes