Easy eggless latkes

Step 1

Pour 60 ml / ¼ cup of water and the juice of half a lemon into the blender. Add the drained and rinsed cashews and blend.

Step 2

Taste the mixture. If you want more tanginess, add more lemon juice, otherwise add more water to get the mixture smooth, but still thick (I added 120 ml / ½ cup liquid in total). Season with salt and set aside in the fridge (overnight if you can, but it is not necessary!)

Step 3

Grate half of your potatoes coarsely and half very finely. Place the grated potatoes in a large bowl filled with water. This prevents discoloration and it also allows you to separate the potato starch from the potatoes easily.

Step 4

Once you are done grating, remove the potatoes from the water with a slotted spoon and place them on a fine sieve. Using the back of a spoon, keep on pressing the potato mixture into the sieve gently to allow excess water to drain away. Additionally, you may want to wrap the drained potatoes in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze as much water out of them as you can. You can also use your hands and squeeze little handfuls of them instead - it's more time consuming but easier on the cleaning. This step is very important as the drier the potatoes, the crispier your latkes will be.

Step 5

Gently tip the bowl that the grated potatoes were sitting in and drain away the water to reveal a pool of potato starch set at the bottom of the bowl. Don't throw that away, we will add it to the latkes mixture to maximise crispiness.

Step 6

In a large bowl, combine the dry grated potatoes, grated onion, salt and pepper. Then add the flour and the dry potato starch that has gathered at the bottom of the bowl, making sure you don't add any water back in. Mix it up really well.

Step 7

Heat up a wok or a frying pan on the stove. Pour enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan and heat up the oil. Once the oil is hot, scoop a tablespoon worth of the latkes mixture and press it between two tablespoons to make the mixture nice and compact. Lie the mixture on the hot oil (you should hear a loud sizzle as soon as the mixture hits the pan) and flatten the latke a little. Depending on the size of your pan and the size of your latkes, fry 3-4 latkes at a time. Fry on one side for about 3-4 minutes. Do not flip the latkes over until they are browned all over on one side - you'll notice the edges will turn brown, that's the time to flip. Flip them to the other side using a flat spatula. Fry until the other side turns golden brown too (about 3-4 minutes). Remove from the pan and place on a plate lined with kitchen roll to soak away any excess oil.

Step 8

Put the ready latkes in a warm (100º C / 210º F) oven while you fry subsequent batches.

Step 9

Serve warm, topped with chilled cashew sour cream.