Hanukkah is a nutritionally challenging holiday. The reason: The traditional holiday foods - pancakes and doughnuts - are foods high in fat and sugar.
An average-sized doughnut will contain at least 450 kcal, and a potato chip contains about 150 kcal of sugar that is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream. Moreover, when it comes to chips, they are usually made by deep frying, an unhealthy way of making them.
Keep in mind that most of us will be at several Hanukkah events and will eat at least a pancake and a donut at each of them, and receive high exposure in a single week to sugars and saturated fat and deep frying.
According to Tamar Yadin, who holds an M.Sc. in Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics and is a consultant for Herbalife: "The good news is that when it comes to pancakes, there is a much healthier way to prepare them that will allow you to eat the beloved holiday dish without suffering the harm of the classic, fried pancake. By making a few small changes, we can make the pancake much healthier and just as tasty."
1. You can bake the pancakes in the oven, instead of frying them. This is a healthier preparation method.
2. Change the flavor base in the pulp from potato to sweet potato. Sweet potatoes are richer in fiber, iron, calcium, and vitamin A, and contain the same amount of antioxidants and vitamin C as potatoes.
3. Add vegetables to the pancakes to make them rich in dietary fiber and vitamins: grated carrots, cauliflower, zucchini, onions, leeks, etc.
4. Add wholemeal flour or almond flour to the pancake, which will keep you full for a long time. Start gradually with a combination of half wholemeal flour and half white flour, and if you like it, next time make it half almond flour or rye flour and half wholemeal flour - the goal is to have no white flour at all.
5. Prefer oil spray and be sure to wipe off excess oil with paper towels.
Tamar Yadin offers a recipe for making baked sweet potato, zucchini, and lentil fritters:
Components:
3 medium sweet potatoes
½ cup orange lentils.
½ zucchini
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil or oil spray
2 eggs
2 tablespoons oatmeal
A tablespoon of wholemeal flour or almond flour
Spices: salt, pepper.
preparation:
1. Wash the lentils well before preparing.
2. Put the sweet potato cubes, washed lentils and zucchini into the pot.
3. Fill the pot with water until covered.
4. Cook the lentils, sweet potato and zucchini until tender, then drain the liquid.
5. After filtering, lightly mash the lentils and sweet potato with a fork; there is no need to mash them into a smooth puree.
6. Leave the mixture to cool.
7. When the pan is hot, pour in the olive oil and when it is hot, fry the chopped onion until golden brown.
8. Add the onion to the sweet potato, lentil and zucchini mixture.
9. Also add the egg, foxtail millet, wholemeal flour and spices.
10. Mix the mixture well until a uniform puree is formed.
11. Pour the mixture into a greased pan to make pancakes (the amount of pancakes depends on the diameter and size of the pancake you made).
12. Place in a well-heated oven at 200 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until the pancake is golden brown.
13. Turn the pancake over and heat for another 15 minutes.
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