Carrot Latke Recipe
Hooray for Chanukkah, festival of lights, and excuse to eat latkes!
Traditionally, latkes are made from potatoes, which are a starchy, fast-burning carbohydrate. This essentially means that after you eat potatoes, they essentially turn into candy and dramatically raise your blood sugar. Although potatoes do carry some nutrients, it really isn’t much when compared to the nutritional value of other vegetables. For this reason, many clinical nutrition sources don’t even consider potatoes to be vegetables – they’re categorized as “starches” instead.
Something that can help dampen the blood sugar spike that comes after eating starches is to pair them with a little fat and protein. One way to do this is to eat latkes with plain, whole fat yogurt or sour cream (as opposed to apple sauce). The natural fat and protein in these foods help stabilize your blood sugar and soften the blow of the the “crash” that comes after eating starchy carbs. (Dipping starches in apple sauce is just asking for more blood sugar chaos.)
You may also find yourself getting creative with your latke recipes this year. You’ve got eight nights, so you can take a few of those to experiment with different recipes, right? Of course right. (I hope you heard Yente’s voice in your head just now.)
Here’s a Dr.Z-approved recipe to get you started.
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Gluten-Free Carrot Scallion Latkes
Ingredients:
- 3 cups shredded carrots
- 3 scallions, finely chopped
- 3 eggs, whisked
- ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ½ teaspoon coconut flour
- Coconut oil for frying
Directions:
- In a large bowl combine carrots, scallions and eggs
- Stir salt and coconut flour into carrot mixture
- In a large skillet heat oil
- Scoop large tablespoonfuls of batter onto skillet
- Fry patties on each side over medium heat until browned and crispy
- Transfer latkes to a paper towel lined plate
- Repeat process until all of the batter is used up
- Serve with applesauce and sour cream (or yogurt)
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Recipe adapted from ElanasPantry.com
Image courtesy of ElanasPantry.com