I know nothing about making latkes, so this may not be helpful. Your question brought to mind the butternut squash soup I make. It is flavored with onions, leeks, garlic, ginger, and maple syrup. I sense that you don’t want to use onions, leeks or garlic. Could you use ginger and maple syrup to flavor the pumpkin latkes?

Try nutmeg and maple sugar (or real syrup) with the scallions. Texture plus unusual flavor.

Thank-you all! Too sleepy still to think it through but for sure ginger is the thing I was missing! I have a lot of fresh ginger, too. And I hadn't even thought dry spices. Or brown butter....

I made potatp parsnip latkes recently. I used much of the applesauce the night before so cooked cranberries with red wine and sugar to extend the apple sauce and that was very good with the potato pancakes. cranberrysauce or compote or chutney would be nice with pumpkin

My butternut squash soup recipe also has bourbon and sherry in it. I did not know there was a bourbon flavored maple syrup!

One of my fave seasonings for winter squashes is fresh rosemary.

Agree with curry, ginger, hot pepper - all good with pumpkin. You could grate in apple along with onions as well. Also agree with suggestion of rosemary - it is very good with winter squash. I make a fair bit of pumpkin ravioli (filled with roasted pumpkin, parmesan cheese, and a bit of nutmeg) and often sauce them with a bit of browned butter, a few shreds of ham like prosciutto, whole fresh sage leaves, some crumbles of gorgonzola and toasted walnuts. You could pull from that flavor profile for fritters/latkes as well.

Thanks, everybody. All these ideas sound good. I've been thinking all day, and I think I'm going to try shredded raw sugar pie pumpkin, little bits of ginger and sliced little scallions, maybe just the greens. Eggs and a little starch, too, of course, and some seasoning. I have a ginger grated which I haven't used yet. It might be too fine. If so, I'll mince. I'm hoping the bits will have a pleasant texture. If that doesn't work, I can grate. I just want to make sure they taste mostly pumpkiny.

I'm not sure why no onion in a savory latke. I plan on making butternut squash pancakes for at least one Hanukkah dinner this year, but probably not the one I include my Dad in. It will upset him, he wants the traditional stuff, anything else triggers his anxiety disorder . . . sigh. But for us, it will be great to mix it up!! I too do not like sage as a central flavor.

I'm probably going to do a cranberry apple sauce as a condiment, I've made cranberry butternut squash baked casserole and that was good. Another great option would be something like a pesto, although maybe with parsley or cilantro instead of basil, just to mix it up. Chimichurri comes to mind. I have a recipe for hazelnut sage pesto, so there are a lot of variations on that theme that could be done . . . https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/chimichurri-sauce-2 For a minimal effort person, all this could be store bought, even open a can of mango chutney or some type of salsa would be fine, along with sour cream . . . or greek yogurt . . .

Here's what I'm currently thinking about for my menu. I'm going to do the butternut latkes, cranberry sauce, and a kale quinoa salad with goat cheese I like. Might add beets to it, or do Harvard beets as a side dish. I have a crockpot recipe for orange beets that works out pretty good. If I want a soup starter, I might do cream of corn. Cream of broccoli would also be good but I can give leftover cream of corn to dad. He had teeth pulled so corn is not as easy for him to eat as it used to be and he really likes it. I have also made vegetarian and chicken matzoh ball soup and it has been well received. I've served chicken mirabella and other sweet/savory chicken dishes too, well received.

Also, I often do dolled up three bean salad as a side salad at Hanukkah. Dolled up by adding different colorful vegetables like green peppers, red onion, chopped cherry tomatoes . . . I could do my version of tuna white bean salad except substitute tofu for the tuna. Marinated extra firm tofu, white beans, red onion, celery, (red pepper if you want for color) kalamata olives with a greek flavored lemon and oil dressing. It's a great salad with tuna for those who like that fish. Another good salad would be orange olive salad over spinach, (fennel is good in that kind of salad) or marinated beet salad. I've done all of those for holidays. Oh, another good salad is fennel apple slaw . . . and many other types of slaws, we eat a LOT of cabbage. Braised cabbage would make a nice side dish for latkes although both involved shredding a vegetable so maybe not, depends on what else you are serving.

Some type of fish might be good and then a creamy dessert, I have served salmon with fennel relish at Hanukkah, easy peasy since I already have the relish made and preserved. You can buy all kinds of fish sauces though, pre-made. Mango chutney might be nice, I have friends who serve it that way. Would work for tuna steaks too, I've done those. . .

Not sure what to make for dessert. Already have enough dairy and fruit, so it might just be a tray of cookies with coffee. I suppose if I get ambitious I could do rolled and decorated ones but I doubt that will happen, in fact they will most likely be store bought. Chocolate brownies would never be complained about . . .

I do minimal frying at Hanukkah, or any other time of year, (other than latkes) so not doing a fried dessert or cookie . . .

L, no onion just because all the other flavors have onion and I wanted them to be more different. And I do like pumpkin with sage (not so much as to be sage forward) but fried sage too easily gets burnt tasting long before it's actually burnt. I like your cranberry idea. ”Yoghurt” stuck in my head. I could use creme fraiche or greek yoghurt combined with the cranberry sauce. I think that would be a great twist on sour cream, and cut the sweet.

Your meal plan sounds good! I need a real meat course for my people, but I'm thinking brisket, because everybody loves it, and it's easy. Not sure on the veg yet. I might be making two dinners, and if some come to both, will need two menus. Sigh.

In years past, I did some everything fried (symbol of the holiday) except the salad, but this year it'll just be the latkes. I won't be cooking in my own kitchen, and I just want easy... The latkes make ahead and freeze beautifully, so I get to make them at home, at leisure, and just heat them on site. I freeze on layers of parchment to keep them from sticking, and those slide right onto the baking tray...

My first thought was ginger - I always use fresh ginger when I cook pumpkin, which, however, is very rarely.

I wonder what pumpkin and guajillo chilies would taste like together. It's just a thought and might not be good at all - I certainly haven't had it, but it sounds interesting to me.

I think it would be a good combo, if the pepper were well seeded. Too much heat would overwhelm the pumpkin without a bunch of sugar and salt, but the flavors should work. In fact, I think rellenos de calabasa would be great!

You can find recipies for soup made with pumpkin that also uses peanuts. Peanut soup is an old southern thing.

I agree with those who say that pumpkin pairs well with curry and also ginger.

It also pairs well with sweet BBQ types of sauce and roasted.