Sephardic Leek Patties
Leek Patties: Sephardic-Style Jewish Fritters
During the holiday season, do you have a favourite recipe that you or someone in your family make every year? I am fortunate to be from a family of rich heritage and cultures with amazing food that I not only love to eat but also create myself for friends when I entertain. I always enjoy putting my own twist on some recipes yet have reverence for tradtitions and flavours that remind me of my childhood.
Since I mentioned earlier that I will be sharing more recipes inspired from my multi-cultural heritage, these are another one of my favourites, and very simple to make.
I'd love to hear about some of your family traditions around food during the festive season. What is it that you love to indulge in or make for the holidays?
These are traditional patties served in Sephardi cuisine, similar, but not to be confused with latkes (potato pancakes in Ashkenazi cuisine), both are delicious. Also called Keftes de Prasa, depending on where you are from and how your family makes them, these can also be prepared with the addition of meat (usually lamb for us) instead. You will find them round (how I make them), oval, and even made with mashed potatoes.
From Spain, Greece, all over the Middle East, and straight to Egypt, these patties are enjoyed in Sephardi cuisine. Growing up, we ate them throughout the year, but they are generally enjoyed during Pesach (Passover) and Rosh Hashanah. Being part Egyptian, I also wanted to bring you these easy to make patties that we make during our Sephardic Hanukkah celebrations that anyone can enjoy!
Sephardic Jewish leek fritters are flavourful leek patties made mainly with leeks, egg, and matzah (matzo) meal. In my family, we use garlic, onion, and garnish them with chives. We eat them during our Hanukkah celebrations because it's a perfect addition since it's fried.
Over the years, my mum made them without meat, due to the large amount of meat to veggie options we had on the table for people we were entertaining and partaking in celebrations. So, it was decided that we enjoyed them just as good simply with potato and leeks. This recipe also works well for vegetarian eaters.
The key is to make sure to really squeeze the liquid from the leeks, onion and potato well, this ensures that you get the crispiness on the patties, yet have a soft and creamy-like middle. Follow the directions and you will surely get amazing patties.
I will have plenty of other holiday shares for the Advent season and New Year’s celebrations coming soon.
Wishing you a festive holiday season filled with joy, good company, and delicious food!
Equipment & Tools:
Leek patties with potato, garlic, onion, and matzah meal. Make these delicious Sephardi-style leek patties for your festive Hanukkah table. Serve alone or with a drizzle of lemon and sour cream.
Equipment:
- Mixing bowl, medium to large
- Box grater
- Kitchen paper towels
- Kitchen cloth or mesh bag for squeezing excess liquids
- Ice cream circular scooper or large melon scooper
- Cast-iron 10-inch (25 cm) skillet
- Slotted spatula or fillet spatula
This recipe makes 4 to 6 servings (about 10 to 12 patties), I made 10 patties medium-sized.
- 4 leeks, lightgreen and white parts (washed well)
- 1 large russet potato (or 2 medium potatoes)
- 1 small to medium onion, finely chopped (yellow or white)
- 2 large cloves garlic (minced)
- 3 heaping tablespoons matzah meal (or plain breadcrumbs)
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 cup (60g) schmaltz (chicken fat) (or duck fat *See FAQs)
- vegetable oil for frying
- 1 lemon (sliced in wedges, to serve)
- 1 tablespoon chopped chives (for garnish)
- finishing salt or flaky salt (optional for garnish)
- Prep:
- Generously line a small to medium baking tray with kitchen paper towels or a kitchen cloth. Set aside.
- Cut the leaves from the leeks, and thinly slice the leeks (the light green and white parts). Then, soak them in a medium mixing bowl of cold water, allowing the dirt to fall at the bottom. Use your fingers to stir or swirl the water and leeks a bit. Then, place the leeks on kitchen paper towels to drain. Set aside. Save the bowl, we will use it in the next step, but discard the bowl of water.
- Making the Patties:
- Fill the mixing bowl with fresh cold water. Set aside.
- Peel the large potato with a peeler, then with a box grater shred the potato (use the medium to large grate, as the scale of the grated potatoes should look like shredded cheese). As you grate the potatoes in small batches, immediately add them to the mixing bowl of cold water. This will keep the potatoes from browning.
- Flatly lay out a kitchen towel on a working surface. With clean hands, remove the shredded potatoes from the water one handful at a time, squeezing excess water out by placing your hands together tightly, then place the potatoes in the middle of the kitchen towel.
- Add the leeks, and finely chopped onions on top of the potatoes. Then, roll the kitchen towel up (like a burrito or log) and twist and squeeze out any excess liquid, making sure the ends of the towel are closed. Make sure you have squeezed as much liquid as you can. This will take 1 to 3 minutes.
- In a seperate large mixing bowl, transfer all the contents from the kitchen towel to the bowl, making sure to get all of the potatoes, leeks and onions.
- Add the minced garlic, matzah meal, salt, and black pepper to the mixing bowl. Use a silicone spatula (or gloved hands) to blend until incorporated.
- Add the large eggs to the mixing bowl, and mix well until the mixture is evenly incorporated and becomes thick enough to scoop out.
- In a 10-inch cast-iron pan/skillet, over medium-high heat, add vegetable oil (filled about 1/4" high in the pan). Add 2 tablespoons of schmaltz or duck fat to the pan. Check the temperature by adding a speck of mixture to the pan, if it sizzles the pan is ready. Do not exceed 350°F/180°C for these patties. Just have patience!
- Use a 2 to 3-inch (5 to 7 cm) large ice cream scooper, and carefully scoop out the mixture one at a time into the hot oil. Repeat scooping out the mixture until you have a few patties spaced out in the pan. Do not overcrowd the pan. You should be able to fit 3 to 5 patties at a time comfortably. Use the spatula to lightly press the patties down to slightly flatten. Cook around 2 minutes, then flip the patties over and cook a further 1.5 to 2 minutes or until the edges are crisp and the patties are golden brown. Remove each patty from the pan onto the lined baking tray. Immediately sprinkle a little flaked salt on top.
- Before starting the second batch, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of duck fat or schmaltz, then proceed as previous step with frying the remaining patties until the mixture is gone. Switch off the heat and remove the patties from the pan.
- After sprinkling the patties with a little salt, drizzle the juice of a lemon wedge over all of the patties. Garnish with chopped chives. Serve with slice of lemon or sour cream. Enjoy!
These are best enjoyed the same day of making them, of course. However, the cooked patties can be stored in the refrigerator within 3 or 4 days in a closed container with a lid.
I would not recommend freezing them, but if you do, freeze the cooked cooled patties by wrapping in aluminium foil, or layer the patties individually with baking parchment in a container closed with a lid. They can be stored for up to 10 months. Reheat them in the air fryer frozen.
