Just in time for Hanukkah, the In Praise of Veg author shares her crispy, golden latkes recipe, in celebration of all things fried

Alice Zaslavsky describes her parsnip and potato latkes as “like an edible plate”, but the lacy, crunchy, deep-golden latkes are wonderful even on their own. Once topped with creme fraiche, dill, finely sliced pickled beet or smoked salmon (and roe, if you’re feeling very fancy), they’re more than worthy of a little reverence.

Eating oily, fried foods is a tradition when it comes to celebrating Hanukkah, which begins on 28 November in 2021. Zaslavsky explains: “The reason we cook a lot of oily foods for Hanukkah is because we’re symbolising the [lamp] oil. It was supposed to only last an afternoon and it lasted for eight days, which are the eight days of Hanukkah. So we eat fried doughnuts, we eat fried latkes.