The story of Chanukkah has enchanted and inspired people for centuries and even though we did an article on it last year, we thought that we’d look at it from a different angle today for the sake of realism. Legend has it that the Assyrians, who ruled Israel at the time, tried to turn the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem into a temple of  Zeus but some feisty Jewish fighters, the Maccabees, were horrified and refused to cooperate, so they rebelled and recaptured the Temple to use it for the purpose for which it was intended. Because Jewish law requires the Temple

to be rededicated, they needed to kindle a flame in it and keep it burning constantly as a sign of God’s eternal presence.  Unfortunately the Temple was destroyed with only one really tiny jar of oil left for the oil and it would take 8 days to get some more oil – there was no way the oil could carry on burning for so long but, miraculously, it did!

LIBYAN SFENZ

This is similar to the sufganiyot and is also a sweet, deep-fried pastry similar to the cakes eaten by the Macabees.

Ingredients

Syrup

• 150ml orange blossom honey
• 50ml water
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• ½ tsp orange flower water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Doughnuts

• 150g plain flour
• 2 free-range eggs, beaten
• 50g sugar
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 orange, zest only
• ½ tsp cardamom seeds (the black seeds taken out of the green pods), finely crushed
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• 50g almonds, finely chopped
• ½ tsp orange flower water
• Vegetable oil, for deep-frying

Method

• Mix all of the syrup ingredients in a pot and heat gently, stirring occasionally, until the honey is dissolved, then bring it to the boil until the syrup has thickened (around 20 – 30 minutes on medium/low heat) – try not to stir after the honey has dissolved – set aside and keep warm until needed.
• Combine all the doughnut ingredients in a bowl (but no the oil for deep-frying) – if it’s too soft, add a touch more flour to make a firmish dough – knead it until smooth and silky.
• Now you need to roll out the dough and cut out about 12 circles (use an 8cm pastry cutter) and then use a smaller glass to cut out the hole in the middle.
• Heat a deep pan that is filled halfway with oil until a tiny cube of bread sizzles and turns a golden colour when dropped into it.
• Carefully fry a few doughnuts at a time in the oil – do be careful here and don’t leave them alone!
• As soon as they are a deep golden colour on both sides, remove from the oil, drain on absorbent kitchen paper and place on a wire rack to cool – it’s not a bad idea to put a large plate underneath the rack now because you are going to make a mess next.
• Remove the warm syrup from the heat and pour over the still warm doughnuts – use a spoon here and do first the one side, turn them over with a fork or tongs and then do the other side.
• Serve immediately.

But is this story of courage and of God’s intervention on our behalf at a time when we really needed it really true? We know there was a Maccabean Revolt and we know that the rebels reconquered and rededicated the Temple but, for some reason the jar doesn’t appear anywhere in the Book of Maccabees – the first time you read about it is in the Talmud – which is a codified work that appeared 600 years after the events under discussion. Then there’s the question about the length of Chanukkah – why is it eight days long? According to the book of Maccabees, it’s because Sukkot was celebrated late that particular year as the Temple was under siege and the Jews were unable to perform the necessary rituals – so they, sensibly, moved it to December (Kislev).

HEALTHY GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Make these healthy cookies for the children to give away as gifts the Chanukkah - they’re delicious and it can be so much fun making them with your family.

Ingredients

• 1,250 g whole wheat flour
• 160 g honey
• 160 g  molasses
• 85 g butter
• 1 ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground cloves
• 3 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp salt

Method

• Preheat oven to 180 C.
• Blend the honey, the molasses and the butter together.
• Sift all dry ingredients into a bowl and then combine with the butter, the honey and the molasses until everything is well mixed – use your hands here.
• If necessary, add a few drops of milk to soften the dough enough to make a firm ball.
• Roll out dough to  between two pieces of wax paper to about ½ cm, cut with a cookie cutter of your choice and bake on a biscuit tray for about 8 – 10 minutes.
• Ice to taste and package.

So, without the miracle, what is it really and does it really matter? Is it not just a celebration of the very essence of being a Jew?  Surely, it’s a celebration of a time when the Jews rose up against their oppressive rulers, a celebration of God’s constant presence in their lives and a celebration of a military victory so rightly deserved. For the sake of clarity, here’s a quotation from the II Maccabees 10 about the reason for the eight-day celebration … “and having cleansed the sanctuary, they made another altar of sacrifice; and striking stones to produce fire, they offered sacrifices, after they had ceased for two years, and burned incense, and lighted lamps and set forth the showbread… Now on the same day that the sanctuary was profaned by aliens, upon that very day did it come to pass that the cleansing of the sanctuary was made, the 25th day of the same month, which is Kislev. And they observed eight days with gladness in the manner of the feast of Succot, remembering how not long before, during the feast of Succot, they had been wandering in the mountains and in the caves after the manner of wild beasts” .

SPICY MUSTARD  LATKES

Ingredients

• 1kg baking potatoes, peeled, soaked in cold water until needed
• 1 onion, peeled
• 25g plain flour or fine matzoh meal
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
• 1 free-range egg, beaten
• Sea salt and freshly ground white pepper
• Extra virgin olive oil, for frying
• Serve with sour cream

Method

• Finely grate the potatoes and the onions and mix together.
• Put the grated potatoes and onions into a colander and squeeze out as much moisture as you can and then mix this with the flour, the eggs, the turmeric, the cumin, the yellow mustard seeds and the salt and freshly ground white pepper.
• Heat the oil in a frying pan until moderately hot and then place heaped tablespoons of the mixture into the pan to shallow-fry – turn the heat down to medium, flatten each latke with the back of your spoon and fry until golden on each side.
• Be careful not to have the heat too high because the latkes will become dark brown before they are cooked – there’s nothing worse than raw latkes.
• Remove the latkes from the pan and drain on absorbent kitchen paper to absorb the oil – serve with sour cream.

To all our readers, have a wonderful celebration and have a very Happy Chanukkah!