What to Make & Eat This Week

Vegan Christmas and Hanukkah fare, handy roundups, plus a pair of everyday winter dishes

As promised in last week’s edition, today I’m going to share some vegan holiday recipes and link to a few useful roundups. You can enjoy these recipes whether you celebrate quietly, in grand style, or not at all!

On Christmas day, my family does the iconic “Jewish Christmas,” which consists of Chinese food (vegan in our case) and a movie, the only two kinds of businesses open on the holiday. That said, ever since The Age of Covid started, we’ve been doing this ritual at home—take-out plus a streamable movie that everyone can agree on.

Because the first night of Hanukkah falls on Christmas Day, we’ll be adding my famous vegan latkes to our quiet celebration. They don’t exactly go with Chinese take-out, but they don’t exactly not go, either, if you know what I mean.

So let’s get into it. This week there will be a big helping of holiday fare, and for those of you who are letting the holiday week go or celebrating in a different way — or just want some lighter post-holiday fare, I’ve got you covered there as well. So let’s get started, as today’s What to Make & Eat This Week edition is extra jam-packed.

• Vegan Latkes

• “Beefy” Vegan Holiday Pot Roast

• Brown and Wild Rice Stuffed Peppers

Plus, I’ll be linking you to these useful roundups:

• An Easy Vegan Hanukkah Menu

• 15+ Festive Vegan Christmas Dinner Main Dishes

• 25+ Vegan Christmas Cookies

Are you bowing out of the holidays? Lot of people do, for a myriad of reasons — you don’t adhere to either tradition; you’re traveling, you’re caregiving, you’re healing … and it’s more than OK! Enjoy these nourishing winter recipes …

• Hearty Winter Root Vegetable Soup

• Quinoa and Red Bean Salad with Mini Sweet Peppers

Whatever way you’re planning to spend this holiday week, I wish you a peace, safety, coziness, and good health. I’ll be back again next Sunday with more menus and meal plans as we say goodbye to the holidays and look forward to a New Year.

Vegan Latkes (Baked or Fried)

What I like about this latke recipe is that there’s a choice of baking them or frying. Frying is more traditional to the holiday, but I almost always opt for baking, because I don’t like how frying permeates and lingers through the whole house — and my hair!

These easy vegan latkes (potato pancakes) hold together by using cooked oatmeal or quinoa flakes instead of the customary eggs. This recipe gives you the option of baking them (my preference!) or frying in the traditional way.

Make them easy with frozen hash browns. The other big secret to their ease is starting with a good brand of frozen hash brown potatoes. This is especially handy if you don't have a machine with a grating blade and don’t feel like hassling with a hand grater.

Organic hash browns are best. My preference is Alexia® Organic Hashed Browns (seasoned). I learned that lesson once when I made this latke recipe with a generic brand of supermarket hash browns. What a waste — no flavor at all, and rather mushy, not the ideal outcome for the culinary star of Hanukkah.

But can you make this recipe with fresh potatoes? Of course. If you feel that the grating and frying of potatoes to make latkes is part and parcel of the Hanukkah ritual, feel free. You'll need a pound of potatoes, same as the weight of the hash browns. If you’re feeding a bigger crowd, you’ll need to double the recipe.

Double this recipe for a bigger portion. This makes a batch of 20 to 22 latkes; a modest individual portion would be four per serving, though some people who shall remain nameless can practically breathe in half a batch. So double the recipe if need be; it’s easy to do.

You can make these gluten-free. If you use GF oats or quinoa flakes and omit the matzo meal, these easy vegan latkes are gluten-free.

Use a good vegan sour cream. It seems like more brands are appearing regularly, and they’re all good! Some popular ones include Follow Your Heart, Forager, Kite Hill, or Wayfare. And there are others, including store labels.

What can be served with latkes? Latkes are the star of Hanukkah, but it’s nice to have other foods available. Scroll down to find An Easy Vegan Hanukkah Menu.

This recipe makes 20 to 22 latkes, so if you’re feeding more than 4 or 5 people, definitely double (or triple) the recipe, but do so in batches, otherwise it’s unwieldy.

For even more tips and the printable recipe card, see the full post.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup quick-cooking oats (oatmeal) or quinoa flakes

• 16-ounce bag frozen organic hash brown potatoes, thawed (or 1 pound organic golden or red-skinned potatoes, scrubbed well and grated)

• 1 cup grated carrot (use pre-grated carrots for ultimate ease; but cut them here and there to shorten)

• 1 small onion, quartered and very thinly sliced

• 1/4 cup safflower or other neutral vegetable oil (only if baking; omit if frying)

• 1/2 cup matzo meal (or use more oatmeal or quinoa flakes)

• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

For serving

• Applesauce

• Vegan sour cream

Instructions

1. If baking, preheat the oven to 425º F.

2. Combine the oats with 1 1/2 cup boiling water in a heatproof bowl. Stir and set aside while preparing the other ingredients.

3. Combine the potatoes, carrot, onion, and oil (if baking; omit if frying) in a large mixing bowl. Both the hash browns and pre-grated carrots can have long strands, so reach in with kitchen shears and cut here and there to shorten if so; this will help the latkes to stick together a bit better.

4. Stir in the matzo meal (or alternative) and cooked oatmeal and stir together. If need be, add a little water to make the mixture easy to stir together (about 2 tablespoons at a time) — the cooked oatmeal should be distributed evenly throughout. Season with salt and pepper.

5. For baking: Line one or two baking sheets with parchment. Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to drop the potato mixture onto the parchment (don't pack tightly!), then flatten with the bottom of the cup. If you'd like these to turn out a little crispier, you can spray them lightly with olive oil cooking spray.

6. Bake for 15 minutes, then check; if the bottoms are golden brown, flip gently to the other side. If not, let them bake for 5 minutes or so longer. This will greatly depend on how accurate your oven is, and the position of the rack (which ideally should be in the center for these, though they’ll work wherever!).

7. After flipping (you can spray lightly again if you'd like), bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, or until the second sides are golden as well.

8. For frying: Heat a generous amount of neutral high-heat oil (like safflower) in a sturdy non-stick skillet. Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to drop the potato mixture into the skillet and fry until golden brown on both sides. You'll need to do this in batches, so when each batch is done, transfer to a paper towel-lined casserole dish and cover; repeat until all are done.

9. Serve warm with applesauce and vegan sour cream.