If you like your potato latkes crispy and crunchy and golden brown but you hate the smell and mess of frying in your house (and also want to avoid some of the holiday season fat), I’ve got a solution:
Potato Latke Kugels
It’s the same stuff as regular potato latkes. Really: mostly potato shreds, onions, eggs and salt.
But instead of frying individual latkes, you stuff the mixture into muffin tins and bake them at a high temperature. Every surface crunches as you bite. And there’s a little bit of a soft interior.
There’s a bonus too. Unlike fried latkes, which get soft and soggy as they cool, these don’t.
You can make a basic version of these. I’ve added peas and mushrooms, just so I can say there’s some veggies in there.
Btw, if all you want is super crunch, and no soft middle at all, bake the potato mixture in a jelly roll pan (see instructions).
Potato Latke Kugels with Mushrooms and Peas
1/3 cup vegetable oil or melted chicken or goose fat
2 cups sliced mushrooms
3 large russet potatoes
1 medium onion
2 large eggs
1/4 cup matzo meal, breadcrumbs or potato starch
1 cup thawed frozen peas
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Using some of the vegetable oil, lightly grease 12 muffin tins. Heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and cook for 5-6 minutes or until crispy and no liquid remains in the pan. Set aside. Peel the potatoes and shred them by hand or with the fine shredding blade in a food processor. Place in a bowl. Grate the onion into the potato shreds. Stir in the eggs, matzo meal and remaining oil and incorporate them completely. Add the mushrooms and peas and mix. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Place mounds of the potato mixture into the muffin tins. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until browned and crispy. (Can make this in a 9”x13” pan or in a jelly roll pan; bake until golden) Makes 12