CHANUKKA [1, 2, 3, and 4]

I originally put four recipes for Chanukka on my blog at the end of November, but due to the peculiarity of archiving, that post has dropped outta sight.

And here we are, frighteningly close to both Nittle-nacht and Chanukka, and you're probably wondering "now where DID I see that recipe for Apricot Cheese-cake with a layer of Chocolate Fudge..... I know! It was probably that blog, you know, Bog Of The Hills Beachballs or something. That Dutchman. Whatever. It looked so EASY, too.".

I'm flattered that you should think so, but sorry, this isn't it.
What you saw here were four oily recipes: Oliebollen, Appelflappen, Latkes, Bemuelos.


So first I'll give the recipes, then I'll gibber on a bit about the meaning of the holiday (and just scroll down if you're not going to do any cooking yourself, but are tootling down to Santa Cruz with a friend to join him and his family for Chanukka, and you just need to know what it's all about).

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OLIEBOLLEN

4 (four) Cups white flour.
1.75 (one and three quarters) Cups warm (scalded) milk.
3 (three) TBS Sugar.
3 (three) Eggs.
1 (one) TBS oil.
1 (one) Tsp. Salt.
1 (one) TBS active yeast.
1.5 (one point five) cups chopped raisins.
A few drops vanilla essence, a little fresh orange or lemon zest.
Plus oil for deep-frying and powdered sugar for dusting.


Proof the yeast in the milk, with one tablespoon of the sugar dissolved therein (meaning: stir sugar and yeast into the warm milk, and let the yeast foam up and become all nice and active again).

Mix all other ingredients, and add the yeasted milk gradually after it has foamed. Mix well. Cover with a damp cloth, put in a warm place, and let the batter sit two hours or more till doubled in size.

Heat the oil for frying to 375 - 400 degrees. Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the hot oil (use a second spoon to push the batter off the first). Fry golden, remove from oil when done, drain on papertowels, and dust with powdered sugar.


Note I: A teaspoon of cinnamon can be added to the batter, or to the powdered sugar.
Note II: If the milk is too hot for you to put your finger into, it is too hot for the yeast. Better wait a moment - you don't want to kill the yeast, do you?
Note III: Leave plenty of space in the deep-fryer or the cauldron - there is nothing worse than hot oil splashing up or boiling over.

[By the way, oliebollen are often sold from temporary stands outside train-stations and at busy intersections in many towns, from the beginning of November all the way through March. There's nothing quite like burying your snoot in a brown paper bag of warm balls, getting the powdered sugar down the front of your raincoat, while sheltering from the cold sleet, just outside the station.

Oliebollen are also eaten on new year's eve, along with some other things that I'm not too sure of. With coffee and Genever - no Dutch celebration is complete without coffee and a shot of Genever.]



APPLE BEIGNETTES (APPELFLAPPEN)

Use the same batter as above, minus the raisins. Instead, make the batter a little looser, dip sliced crisp apples in the batter, and fry golden. Dredge with powdered sugar. Serve hot.


LATKES
One and a half pounds of potato (about four regular baking potatoes), peeled.
One large onion, peeled.
Half a dozen sprigs parsley, very finely minced.
Two eggs.
Salt, pepper.
Two TBS flour (preferably potato flour, but regular will do).


Grate potatoes and onions with a quick hand, squeeze out excess moisture in a sieve or doubled cheese-cloth, and mix all ingredients together.

Heat some oil in a frypan, spoon in a couple of mounds of the latke batter, and flatten with a spatula or the back of the spoon. Fry crispy on one side, turn over and do the other. Drain on papertowels on a heated plate.

Do not make the latkes too thick - they will not cook through before turning too dark.
Do not make latkes too large - they will not hold together well.
Do not use olive oil - it has too low a burning temperature.
If the potato mixture gets soggy (which of course it will!), it is a good idea to squeeze it out - containing it within a cheese-cloth for this very purpose is not a bad idea.


Serve with homemade applesauce: peel and slice some crisp apples, put in an enamel pan with a dash of calvados, a squeeze of lemon, a little sugar, and a pinch of spice. Cook on low till the apples can be broken up with a fork.

Or serve with Dilled Sour Cream: mix half a cup sour cream, one tablespoon finely snipped fresh dill, a few drops lemon juice, and a pinch of salt.

Drained yoghurt can be substituted for the sour cream.

Blackstrap molasses or Dutch appel stroop (thick stroppy apple syrup) are, though odd, also good. For homemade appel stroop simmer down some concentrated apple juice (some sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice optionally added) till thick and gluggy.



BEMUELOS (BEMUELITOS, SFGANIOT)

Two and a half cups flour.
Three quarter cups warm milk.
Quarter cup cane sugar.
Two TBS butter (softened).
Two TBS yeast (two packages).
Two egg yolks.
Half Tsp each: Ground cinnamon, mace (or nutmeg).
Generous pinch salt.
Tangy apricot preserves for filling, oil for frying, fine granulated sugar for rolling.


Proof yeast (let the yeast re-activate and foam up) in the warm milk with the sugar dissolved therein. Knead all ingredients to an elastic dough. Cover with a damp cloth, let rest a few hours till doubled in volume, or leave it overnight in the refrigerator.

Roll the dough out as a thick rope, which then cut into two dozen pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, make a pit in each ball, and insert a teaspoon of tangy apricot preserves into each pit. Pinch-pull the dough together over the filling to seal. Cover and let rise again for half an hour in a warm place.

Fry in hot oil (375 - 400 degrees Fahrenheit) till brown, turn onto papertowels to drain, roll in fine granulated sugar (it has to have that slightly gritty mouth-feel, which is why we don't use powdered sugar) and serve warm.


PS. Regarding measures, please note that the American measuring cup contains sixteen tablespoons (TBS), and that each tablespoon (TBS) is equal to three teaspoons (Tsp.).

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And now click on this link to hear a Chanukka melody: http://www.geocities.com/storagecellar/White_Chnukke.mp3

as sung by the one, the only, the Lipman (http://lipmans.blogspot.com/).

And be courteous, thank him for it, here: http://lipmans.blogspot.com/2005/12/white-chnukke.html

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In case you're in the dark about the meaning of Chanukka, chasvesholom, or your friends are (much more likely), here's a relatively simple explanation, which please feel free to copy-paste into msword and print out.


THE FEAST OF LIGHTS

Chanukka (which means dedication), also called the feast of lights, celebrates the rededication of the temple after the defeat of the Syrio-Greek forces by Judah the hammer twenty one centuries ago.
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The significance is predominantly one of religious freedom as opposed to the officially commanded practises of the Graeco-Syrian state cult, which consisted of idolatrous statue worship and obscene rites servicing the pantheon.

[Note that the Maccabees were not fighting for the principle of religious freedom as such - they fought AGAINST the religious domination that had been imposed on them. They themselves were not particularly tolerant of heterodoxy, and would probably have had some harsh words to say about what we believe.]

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The aspect of rededication (and re-purification) refers to the temple specifically, and Israel in general.
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Like many Jewish celebrations, Chanukka subtextually honours the practices which define each Jew's relationship with the master of the universe - a relationship which is mostly defined by the observance of the 613 Mitzvot (commandments - the covenant between G_d and Israel must be seen as a contract between two parties, with obligations and conditions on both sides - for the Jews, these are the commandments which set them apart as a people).

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But it is also a celebration of the rejection of Mediterranean traditions of cultic mixture and fusion, and the unclean practises associated with polytheism and the state-religions of Israel's neighbors.

Israel remained stubbornly true to its creed, and thus its reason for existence - doing otherwise would have been denial of all that is fundamental to the Jewish sense of nationhood, peoplehood, culture, identitity, pride.

HOW, WHY, WHEN?
Slightly over twenty three centuries ago, the Seleucid dynasty founded by one of Alexander the Great's generals after his death, ruled over Syria, Lebanon, part of Asia minor, and Israel.

In 174 BCE one of the kings of that dynasty (Antiochus IV) tried to impose unity on his empire by decreeing a common religion and a common culture for all. On his orders, torah scrolls were seized and burned, the temple in Jerusalem was taken over and the treasury looted, and idols were placed in the temple for sacrificial rituals.
The observance of three fundamental commandments was forbidden - observing the Sabbath, circumcision, and sanctification of the new moon (which is important both for determining the holy days, and for establishing the dates on which certain practices are valid - most notably testifying in court).

Israel was ordered to worship the Greek gods to show loyalty to the Seleucid regime, and to acknowledge Greek superiority. Only in the hills of Judea were there still pockets of resistance; elsewhere, the populace simmered in fury, but feared the Syrian forces. The priestly clans went into hiding, lest they be pressed to participate in idolatry and defilement.

Eventually, of course, there were rebellions. Repression always creates explosive conditions.


JUDAH THE HAMMER
A small force of partisans commanded by Judah (Yehuda) the son of Mattityahu the priest (also known as Judah the hammer, Judah the strong, or Judah Makkabi) after defeating three armies sent to destroy them, expelled the occupiers from Jerusalem, destroyed the idols, and purified and rededicated the temple.

They made a menorah to replace the one stolen by the Syrio-Greeks. But they only found one jar of pure olive oil for the lights, sufficient for only one day. [Note that pure oil for the temple was kept in jars containing a measure sufficient for only one day each, sealed with the mark of the temple priest. Hence the problem; not just any oil would do, it had to be ritually pure, made under certain conditions, and certified.]

The lights were lit anyway. Miraculously, that one bottle's worth burned for eight days, by which time they had gotten a fresh supply of pure oil.



The oily foods now served on Chanukka are to remember the miracle of oil - latkes (potato pancakes) eaten by Ashkenazim (eastern European Jews and most American Jews), sfganiot (round fritters filled with jam) eaten by Sephardim (Iberian and middle eastern Jews who follow the Spanish rites and speak Sephardic Hebrew), and sugar dusted fried fritters eaten by Dutch and Belgian Jews. South Indian Jews eat neyappam (literally: 'oil cakes').
[Sorry, I have no idea what the Italkim (Italian Jews) and Ethiopian Jews eat.]


LIGHTS
There is, of course, a symbolism in the candles - light symbolizes hope. Where there is light, there is hope, and there can be joy. Going from one candle to two candles the next night, then three, and so on, represents progression and increase - of course hope should increase, and improvement is a key element in Judaism.

One MUST make progress, one cannot remain static. If we do not increase the good in the world and our closeness to G_d, then we are actually regressing and going further away.

Light is also often taken to signify the spirit, and the soul is often explained as being like a flame. A good spirit, like a flame, inspires, encourages, attracts. So, from one (good) to two (better), then three (even better yet), and so further - increasing, progressing, growing.

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THE DREIDEL

There's this four-sided spinning top (svivon, in Hebrew), with which one traditionally plays on Chanukka. It's actually a scam for your crazy uncle Maurice, who hasn't had a job since the Dairy-Whip shut down, to cheat you out of your hard-earned gelt. Every female relative you had when you were a child kept giving you another one - they probably had a thing for Maurice, or something.

The four characters on the sides are abbreviations for the phrase 'a great miracle happened here' (according to most accepted accounts), but much more importantly and more believably, they mean this: Nun (nisht - zilch, nada); Gimel (gontz - all, ergo jackpot, take all); Hei (halb - half the jackpot); Shin (shtelln - add another greenback to the pot).
A great miracle has happened if you don’t lose a couple of hundred bucks to Maurice.


With any luck, it will keep you occupied until some potato pancakes show up.

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