Latke

A crispy fried potato pancake traditional to Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine and universally associated with Hanukkah, where frying in oil commemorates the miracle of the Temple menorah oil lasting eight days. Made from grated potatoes, onion, egg, and matzo meal, latkes are served with sour cream or applesauce, and the custom of eating oil-fried foods at Hanukkah — latkes in Ashkenazi tradition, sufganiyot in Israeli tradition — turns cooking and eating into a ritual re-enactment of the holiday's founding miracle.