As we are preparing our passover celebration, I wanted to share our family's Leek Patties (Keftas de Prasa) recipe. These Leek Patties are a very popular family recipe for the Passover holiday. There are numerous adaptions of this recipe and some versions include meat in the patties and others are vegetarian. Our recipe has meat in it as well as matzo meal for Passover. Feel free to leave out the ground beef if you prefer your patties to be vegetarian.
These patties are so delicious! And you can serve them hot or cold... all year round.
Ingredients
- 7 leeks (about 2 pounds), white and light-green parts, cut into 1-inch sections
- 1 large potato, peeled and quartered
- 1/2 pound ground beef (optional)
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 3 Tablespoons breadcrumbs or matzo meal, or more as needed
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Vegetable oil or olive oil, for frying
Instructions
- Place the leeks and potato in a large pot, add water until everything is covered and bring to a boil over high heat.
- Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot and cook for about 15 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Drain the vegetables in a colander and let it cool.
- Transfer the potato to a large bowl and use a fork to mash the potato.
- Use your hands to squeeze as much water out from the leeks as you can. Transfer them to a food processor and process until finely chopped. Transfer to the bowl with the potato.
- Add the ground beef, the eggs, bread crumbs (Matzo meal) , salt and pepper; mix well. If the mixture is runny, add bread crumbs as needed. Cover the bowl and transfer it to the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Line a baking sheet with 2 layers of paper towels.
- Pour vegetable oil into a skillet to a depth of 1/8 inch and heat over medium heat. Form the mixture into 2- to 2 1/2-inch patties. When the oil is hot, add several patties at a time and fry on both sides until they are golden brown. Transfer the cooked patties to the paper towels to drain. Repeat until you use it all.
- These can be made all year round. They are delicious served hot or cold.
