I Fried!

I had come across Busy in Brooklyn's recipe for cheese latkes, and decided I was going to make them for a family Chanukah brunch. This was major, since Ma doesn't quite trust me with the stove ever since I melted a Tupperware lid in 1998.

My nephew can't process gluten, and I thought I had a more pleasant alternate flour in the house (like almond meal), but I was stuck with garbanzo bean flour.  

I decided to try it anyway.

I whisked the flour, eggs, and cheese together, and tasted it. It was nasty; the bean flour tasted distinctly like bean flour.  

"I have to chuck this," I said with despair to Ma, who was prepping the fish. 

"You'd be surprised what sugar can do," she said.  

I added the sugar, a dollop of vanilla sugar and a dash of vanilla extract. The next taste was somewhat improved, but not amazingly so. 

"You'd be surprised what frying can do," Ma said. 

With despair, I warmed up the pan, unwilling to put good ingredients in the garbage. 

Luke arrived, arms laden with children.  

"Oooh, cheese latkes!" He plucked one, fresh from the pan, and popped it into his mouth. I winced. 

Via pbs.org

"Man, these are good!"  

My eyes widened in shock. 

The nephew with celiac disease loved it, and kept scurrying into the kitchen for more; he usually has to be begged to eat anything.  

Another nephew, scrawny from disinterest in food, crowed merrily that he could eat ten more plates of these. 

I stood for two hours, frying steadily; as soon as a latke was taken off the fire, it was claimed by greedy hands.  

When I finally sat down, the last latke was being fought over. 

And I felt great. There is such satisfaction in making something that everyone loves and is pretty nutritious, since garbanzo bean flour is high in fiber and protein, and I used the tamest of cheeses, cottage.

"Can you make this again?" the nephew without digestive upsets begs. 

"You betcha!" I assure him.  

Behold, future dates! I can fry!