Jewish Soul Food

J E W ISH SOU L FOOD
a
b
JEWISH
SOUL
FOOD c
.................................
Traditional Fare
and What It Means
CA ROL U NGA R
BRA N DEIS U N I V ERSI T Y PRESS
WA L T H A M , M A S S A C H U S E T T S
Brandeis University Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ungar, Carol, 1959–
Jewish soul food : traditional fare and
what it means / Carol Ungar.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-61168-501-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-61168-693-7 (ebook)
1. Jewish cooking. I. Title.
TX724.U54 2015
641.5'676—dc23 2014040175
5 4 3 2 1
To my mother,
Eva Green,
who is my inspiration.
CON T EN TS
Preface: Kitchen Alchemy — A Life at the Table, xi

Acknowledgments, xiii
1 SHABBAT, 1
Wine, 2
Homemade Sweet Red Wine, 3
Challah, 3
Three-Braid Challah, 5 Single Challah, 8 Six-Braid Challah, 9
Vav Challah, 11 String of Pearls Challah, 12 Yud Bais Challah, 13
Challah Kugel, 14 Baked Garlic Is for Lovers, 14
Friday Night, 15
Doctored-Up Gefilte Fish, 17 Homemade Chrain Made Easy, 18
Asian Fusion Fish, 19 Spiritual Chicken Soup for the Frugal, 20
Meat Pie, 21 Pot Roast à la Molly Goldberg, 23 Curried Chicken for
the Shabbat, 24 Fabulous Farfel, 25 Sweet-and-Sour Red Cabbage, 25
Apple and Plum Compote, 26
Shabbat Morning Breakfast, 27
Kubaneh, 27 Yemenite Grated Tomato Dip, 28 Eyer Kichel, 29
Magical Marvelous Marble Cake, 30
Shabbat Lunch, 31
Eggs and Onions, 32 Batya’s Chopped Liver, 33 Cholent, 34
Sephardi Cholent, 35 Shalom Bayit Kugel, 37
Third Meal, 38
Rabbi Freifeld’s Pickled Herring, 39 Sardine Salad, 40
Sweet-and-Sour Cucumber Salad, 40
Melaveh Malka, 42
Bagels, 42
2 HOLIDAYS, 45
Rosh Hashana, 46
Homemade Gefilte Fish, 47 Black-Eyed Peas for the New Year, 50
Rosh Hashana Leek Latkes, 51 Gourd Pancakes, 52 Green, Green Rosh
Hashana Latkes, 53 Baked Apples with Honey, 54 Round Challah, 55
Crown Challah, 56 Shofar Challah, 57 Scales of Justice Challah, 58
Indian Jewish Rosh Hashana Apple Confit, 59 Quince Compote, 60
Carrot Tzimmes, 61 Tongue for the New Year, 62 Batya’s Sweet Rosh
Hashana Chicken Liver Sauté, 63 Couscous aux Sept Legumes, 63
Wine-Poached Pears, 65 Teiglach, 66
Yom Kippur, 68
Bird Challah, 68 Classic Kreplach, 70 Honey Cake, 72
Sukkoth, 74
One Two Three Bread, 74 Frankfurter Goulash, 76 Tomato Soup, 77
Mandelbrot, 78 Unstuffed Cabbage, 80 Pistou, 81
Hoshana Rabbah, 82
Cabbage Soup, 82 Hand Challah, 83
Shmini Atzeret, 85
Old-Fashioned Chicken Soup with a Whole Chicken, 85 Glingl, 87
Pareve Blintzes with Glingl Filling, 87 Blintzes Baked with Batya’s
Fresh Tomato Sauce, 88
Simchat Torah, 89
Torah Scroll Challah, 89 Hungarian Stuffed Cabbage, 90
Hanukkah, 92
Buckwheat Pancakes for Hanukkah, 94 Latkes, 95 Moroccan
Hanukkah Doughnuts, 97 Persian Potato Latkes, 98 Persian Herbed
Omelet, 99 Israeli Hanukkah Doughnuts, 100 Judith’s Lasagna, 102
Heavenly Cheese Latkes, 104 Menorah-Shaped Challah, 105
Anglo-Jewish Gefilte Fish Balls, 106 Gribenes and Schmaltz, 107
Shabbat Shira, 109
Ruota di Faraone, 109 Deboned Chicken Thighs Stuffed with Kasha, 111
Tu Bishvat, 112
Etrog Confit, 113
Purim: Shabbat Parshat Zachor, 115
Apple Kugel, 115 Mehl Kugel, 116 Lokshen Kugel, 116 Kartofl Kugel, 117
Purim, 118
Hamentaschen, 119 Mohn Filling, 122 Lekvar, 122 Hungarian Purim
Kindl, 124 Haman’s Ears, 126 Haman’s Fleas, 128 Fish Challah, 129
Ojos de Haman Challah, 131 Haman’s Noose, 132 Hamentasch
Challah, 133 Chickpeas for Purim, 134 Kreplach for Purim, 134
Haman’s Hair: Purim Pasta Salad, 135 Galicianer Stuffed Cabbage
for Purim, 136 Turkey Roast, 138
Passover, 139
DIY Matzo, 140 The Seder Plate, 142 Ashkenazi Haroseth, 146
Persian Haroseth, 146 Iraqi Haroseth, 147 Seder Night Hard-Boiled
Eggs, 148 Firm Matzo Balls, 148 Knaidlach with a Neshoma, 150
Fluffy Knaidlach, 150 Chicken Balls, 151 Tongue for Second Day of
Passover, 152 Intergeshlugenah Borscht, 152 Homemade Borscht, 154
Matzo Layer Cake, 154 Matzo Brei, 155 Matzo Coffee, 156
Quajado, 157 Mufleta, 158 Key Challah, 161
Lag b’Omer, 163
Bar Yochai Carob Fudge Bars, 163 Tinted Eggs, 164
Shavuot, 165
Heavenly Challot for Shavuot, 166 Four-Poled Shnei Lehem, 167
Siete Cielos Challah, 169 Ten Commandments Challah, 170
Ladder Challah, 171 David’s Harp Challah, 173 Cheese Kreplach
for Shavuot, 174 Blintzes, 176 Rochelle’s Cheesecake, 178
Tisha b’Av, 179
Rice and Lentil Pilaf, 180 Mama’s Mamaliga, 181 Hungarian Jewish
“Pleated” Potato Casserole, 182 Cabbage Noodles, 183 Existential
Lentil Soup, 184
3 LIFE CYCLE EVEN TS, 187
Shalom Zachor, 187

Weddings, 188
Jerusalem Wedding Beigel, 188 Grape-Cluster Challah, 190
Moroccan Wedding Fish, 191
Bar Mitzvahs and Other Celebrations, 192
Tefillin Cake, 192 Yerushalmi Kugel, 194
Bibliography, 195
Index, 197
PREFACE
Kitchen Alchemy — A Life at the Table
Even more than in the synagogue, Jewish life takes place around the
dining table. Jewish sages compare the dining table to an altar, and
that isn’t an exaggeration. Jewish meals — not only on the Shabbat
and holidays, but even weekday suppers — are ceremonies and cele-
brations that forge a pathway between body and soul.
The Hebrew word for a Jew, Yehudi, has the same root as the He-
brew word for gratitude. Jewish spirituality is based on gratitude, and
much of that spiritual work involves eating.
The Jewish preoccupation with food is fundamentally human;
we are born needing to eat and to socialize. Mealtimes answer both
these needs and more, because many of the traditional Jewish foods
contain spiritual messages.
What is a matzo if not a taste of Egyptian slavery? What is a latke
if not a reminder of a little jug that contained enough oil to burn for
eight nights? And what about all those whimsical dishes for Purim,
the ones that replicate the villain Haman’s eyes, ears, hat, even his
fleas?
I thought that I knew all the symbolic foods, but this list barely
scratches the surface. My mother raised me on the traditional dishes
she knew from her Hungarian childhood, and it was only when I
started a food blog to collect those recipes that I recognized the deep
link between Jewish foods and Jewish beliefs. So many familiar Jew-
ish foods express core Jewish beliefs — kreplach, farfel, lentil soup,
and many more.
Two centuries ago, no one would have picked up a book like this, as
recipes passed through the generations. Today families are scattered
across the country and the globe. Grandchildren meet grandparents
xii § pr eface
on Skype. Many people grow up without knowing the delights of the

Shabbat or holiday kitchen.
I hope this book can fill in this gap a little bit.
Just a word to readers: This is a cookbook for you, the home cook
who wants to create memorable Shabbat and holiday meals. Just
about everything in here can be made from ingredients found in any
supermarket. And add some of yourself to the recipes — taste, adjust,
improvise, and enjoy the process. Please feel free to contact me at
Ungar.Carol@gmail.com.
Happy cooking!
ACKNOW L EDGM EN TS
Every author knows that G-d places angels in his or her path. Here
are some of mine: Lisa Ekus, who made the cyber introduction to
Paula Shoyer, a truly generous spirit who introduced me to her own
publisher, Phyllis Deutsch of University Press of New England.
Paula, without you there wouldn’t be a book. And of course I must
thank Phyllis for having the guts to take a chance on an unknown
author with an out-of-this-world idea.
It almost takes a village to write a cookbook. Helping me in this
endeavor are my wonderful illustrator, Mira Simon, and my amazing
assistant, Batya Lieberman, who developed and tested recipes and
even shared several old family recipes. Batya also baked and styled
the challot for the photo shoots and worked closely with my amazing
photographer, Carine Gracia. My good friend Shoshana Goldstein
came through at the eleventh hour with revised instructions for the
challah recipes. I can’t thank her enough.
A special kudo goes to Gila Green, who is so much more than a
copy editor. She was my first reader, quick to share her intelligent
insights and offer valuable suggestions. I could not have written this
book without Gila at my side. Also, thanks to production editor Lau-
ren Seidman, to Sylvia Fried of Brandeis University’s Tauber Insti-
tute, whose instructive comments greatly improved the quality of this
manuscript, and a special thanks to Margery Tippie for her assistance
with it. Thanks also to Pesah Leah Porat, Esther Sutton, and Rabbi
Matisyahu Rosenbloom for their instructive comments.
I give a round of applause to Mrs. Jennifer Hall for introducing
me to the works of Rabbi Dovid Meisels, which started me on this
journey and are the backbone for much of my research, and for con-
tinually putting obscure and marvelous cookbooks into my hand to
keep me going. Rabbi Dovid Meisels expressed enthusiasm for this
xiv § ack now l e dgm e n ts
book when it was still in its infancy and generously shared of his
research. Tzvi Weiser handed me several Hebrew language works,
which greatly enhance this volume. Rabbis Mordechai Kuber, Avra-
ham Sutton, and Tuvia Rosen generously shared their voluminous
knowledge and answered my many questions.
Gil Marks’s amazing Encyclopedia of Jewish Food was my go-to
book every step of the way. Cookbook authors are a generous breed. I
must thank Gil, Mavis Hyman, Sarah Finkel, Arthur Schwartz, and
Marcy Goldman for sharing recipes from their popular cookbooks.
My sister-in-law, Dora Green, shared her Greek Jewish recipes. My
son-in-law, Elchanan Chen, and his mother, Ava Chen, contributed
several wonderful Moroccan recipes. My good friends Ruth Nalick,
Varda Branfman, and Aviva Freifeld shared recipes and advice.
The Rosenblum family gave me every writer’s dream — a room of
my own. Special thanks also to my brother, Steven Green, and my
daughter, Miriam Ungar Chen.
Last but not least, I thank my dear husband, Eugene, and all of my
children for putting up with a wife and mother whose meals always
seemed to be experiments for the cookbook!
J E W ISH SOU L FOOD
SHABBAT
....................................
c 1
Shabbat is a taste of the world to come. The Talmud relates that

when Antonius, a Roman nobleman who may have become Emperor
Antoninus Pius, shared a Shabbat meal with his friend Rabbi Judah
Hanasi, he noticed that the food had a better taste than it did during
the week. “Why?” he asked. “Because,” said Rabbi Judah, “the Shab-
bat itself seasons the food.”
Not only do Shabbat foods taste good, but because they have their
roots in the manna, the spiritual food that sustained the Children of
Israel in the desert, Shabbat foods are fortified with soul-purifying
powers. That is why eating the Shabbat foods can yield more spiritual
elevation than fasting.
Jews make a big deal of Shabbat foods. The three Shabbat meals
are multicourse affairs. Some people double up — for instance, two
challot to evoke Friday’s double portion of manna — and some go
all out on this one, serving two kinds of fish, two kinds of meat, two
kinds of kugel, two kinds of wine, and so on. This doubling up also
recalls the Sabbath’s double-sided nature: in the Ten Command-
ments the word for Sabbath is prefaced with two verbs, shamor, or
“preserve,” which refers to the halachot, including the proscription
on thirty-nine categories of work that scaffold the day, and zachor,
or “remember,” which refers to the day’s consciousness of spiritual-
ity and joy. Other Jews serve seven courses because Shabbat is the
2 § j ew ish sou l food
seventh day and in some kabbalistic systems there are seven Divine
Emanations (sefirot). Others count the number of Divine Emana-
tions as ten and serve ten dishes.
i W I N E
The Shabbat meal begins with wine. That is because wine enhances
joy and Shabbat is a day of great joy. The kiddush ritual also recti-
fies Eve’s sin. While both Adam and Even ate from the fruit of the
Tree of Knowledge, it was Eve, prodded by the snake, who convinced
Adam. As a result death came into the world: the original plan was
for humankind to live eternally in the Garden of Eden. The Sabbath
has the power to annul death. It’s a well-known teaching that if the
Jewish people observe two consecutive Sabbaths, that will usher in
the Messianic era, when death will end. The kiddush, the blessing
recited on grape wine, is called tikun Chava, a rectification for Eve’s
sin (“Chava” is Hebrew for “Eve,” and tikun means “fixing,” or “rec-
tification”). The Talmud suggests that the forbidden fruit may have
been a grape, and sanctified use of the grape “corrects” Eve’s willful
use. Fixing wrongs is a central Jewish theme. The moment of kiddush
is a time to review one’s behavior during the previous week and figure
out ways to fix whatever one has done wrong.
Wine is the first of the famous “sevens” in the Shabbat menu. The
Hebrew word for wine, yayin, adds up to seventy in Hebrew numer
ology, but since in numerology the zero drops, you’ve got seven. Seven
symbolizes completion: on the seventh day G-d reviewed the Cre-
ation and decided that it was complete. Seven also represents the spir-
ituality within the physical world. In Jewish mystical lore, the phys-
ical world is symbolized by the number six — six days of creation, six
directions (up, down, north, west, east, south) — and seven (six plus
one), which represents the one G-d, is physical reality infused with
holiness.
While most people today buy their wines, it is fairly easy to make
sweet wine at home. All you need is access to a large quantity of
sh a bbat § 3
grapes, a plastic wine-making vat or barrel, and patience. Don’t ex-

pect Château Lafite Rothschild, but this is an interesting at-home
experiment to try.
Homemade Sweet Red Wine

10 pounds Concord grapes
1 ½ pounds granulated sugar
Get hold of a large supply of Concord grapes, one crate or more, de-
pending on how much wine you want to make.
Remove grapes from stems. Note: Do not peel or wash grapes. The
bacteria on the grape skins is a fermentation agent — if you wash it
off, your grapes won’t ferment.
Put grapes into a clean barrel or plastic vat. When your barrel is
three-quarters full, add sugar. Roughly 10 to 15 percent of the con-
tents of your barrel should be sugar. Cover the barrel. If you’re using
a plastic barrel, use the screw-top lid. Store in a shady place and wait.
After about one month (or longer), strain barrel contents. What
remains is your wine. Store in wine bottles, cork, and refrigerate after
opening.
i CH A L L A H
Challah is another seven. Not only does challah have seven ingredi-
ents, the word challah can be figured to add up to seven in Hebrew
numerology. Here’s the math: Het is eight. Lamed is thirty, which
drops to three, and hey is five. Eight plus three plus five equals six-
teen, right? But sixteen is composed of one and six, which equals
seven.
Challah is another “Eve sin fixer.” Because Adam was created from
a doughlike lump of clay, he’s called the “challah of the world.” By
enticing him to eat the forbidden fruit, Eve spoiled the “challah of
the world.” By performing the challah mitzvah — i.e., separating a
A B
C D
E F
one-ounce piece of dough from a large (5 pound) amount of dough

and burning it, Eve’s sin is rectified.
The moment when this ritual occurs, which is called the “taking
challah” moment, is spiritually supercharged. If women (and men)
realized its spiritual potential, no one would ever use bakery challah.
sh a bbat § 5
A B
C D
1
2 2
3
3 1
E F
2 1
3
Three-Braid Challah
This recipe comes from my son-in-law’s mother, Ava Chen. It’s the
best challah I’ve tasted yet, and the glaze makes it look extra pretty.
The recipe makes a very large amount of dough, enough for six or
seven challot and more than the average stand mixer will tolerate.
For those who are interested, Bosch does make a heavy-duty mixer
that will knead a dough made with 15 cups of flour. I myself divide
the ingredients (7 ½ cups of flour plus half of everything else) so I can
knead in my regular stand mixer. Remember that challot freeze well,
and it’s a great time saver to have a stash in the freezer.
15 cups all-purpose flour ⅔ cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons instant yeast 1 cup vegetable oil
4 ½ cups water (on humid days (any oil except olive,
use slightly less water — start which is too strong tasting),
with 4 cups and gradually plus 1 tablespoon for oiling
add more, 1 tablespoon at a the dough
time, as needed) 2 large eggs
2 tablespoons salt
GLAZE
3 large egg yolks, beaten together with 2 tablespoons olive oil
Poppy or sesame seeds
Dissolve yeast in water in a very large bowl or in the bowl of a heavy-
duty stand mixer (if you wish, you can divide the ingredients in half
as described above and use a regular stand mixer). Add sugar, 1 cup
oil, and whole eggs. Add 10 cups flour and the salt. Add remaining
flour slowly, 1 cup at a time. If kneading by hand, turn the dough out
onto a floured board and knead until smooth and supple, about 10
minutes; or knead it in the mixer bowl, using the dough hook. Once
the dough forms a smooth ball, it’s time for the “challah mitzvah.”
This is done by cutting off a 1-ounce piece of dough (about the size of
a Ping-Pong ball), and reciting the following blessing:
Boruch atah Hashem Elokeinu Melech Haolam asher kidishanu
bemitzvotav vetzivanu lahafrish challah min haeesa. (Blessed
art thou G-d, who sanctified us with His commandments and
commanded us to separate the “challah” portion from the
dough.)
Then discard the dough, respectfully, by wrapping it in foil and
leaving it to burn on the stove top, or by double wrapping it (in two
baggies or any other wrapping) and putting it in the trash.
sh a bbat § 7
Place the remaining dough back in the bowl and oil it. You do
this by pouring the 1 tablespoon of oil on the dough’s surface and
rotating the ball of dough so it is completely coated by a thin film of
oil (this prevents dough from drying out while rising).
Cover bowl with a dampened kitchen towel or plastic wrap and
leave to rise in a warm place until dough doubles in bulk (1 ½ to 2
hours, depending on the temperature of your kitchen). Punch dough
down. Cut dough into equal pieces. This amount of dough is enough
for 7 medium-size challot. If you want each loaf to have 3 braids, cut
into 21 pieces.
Let pieces rest, covered, for 15 minutes. The resting period makes
the braiding much easier. For each challah, roll each of three pieces
into a long strip (for a medium-size challah, 14 inches is a good
length) Lay the strips next to each other and pinch together the ends
farthest away from you. Braid just as you would hair and finish the
braid by pinching the opposite ends together. Carefully place the loaf
on a baking sheet lined with parchment. (If you wish, you may braid
the challah directly on the baking sheet). Cover with a dampened
kitchen towel and let rise for 30 minutes. Proceed to shape the next
challah (because you are baking so many, you will have to stagger the
shaping, rising, and baking.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Just before you are ready to bake, apply glaze, using a pastry brush
to paint it over each challah. Sprinkle with poppy and/or sesame
seeds.
Bake for 40 minutes at 350ºF until golden brown.
Challot freeze well. After they cool, wrap each in foil or plastic
wrap and freeze.
Makes 7 challot
Single Challah
If you don’t have a huge crowd to feed, one challah might be enough.
If you do only want to bake one, here’s the recipe cut down to size.
This recipe produces one large loaf, enough to serve 8 to 10 dinner
guests.
½ tablespoon (1 ½ teaspoons) 3 ½ cups flour (all-purpose white
instant yeast or whole-wheat pastry flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar is fine; you can also combine
1 ¼ cups tepid water, or more them)
as needed 1 ½ teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons neutral-tasting 2 tablespoons poppy and/or
vegetable oil sesame seeds
2 large egg yolks (one for the
dough, the second for glaze)
In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough
hook, combine the yeast, sugar, 1 ¼ cups water, 3 tablespoons of the
oil, and one of the egg yolks. Beat well to mix, either with the dough
hook or a wooden spoon. Stir or beat in the flour, a cup at a time.
Knead the dough either on a floured board until smooth and supple
or in the mixer until the dough forms a ball.
Return hand-kneaded dough to the cleaned-out bowl. Using the
remaining tablespoon of oil, lightly oil surface of the dough and then
cover with a dampened kitchen towel or plastic wrap and set in a
warm place to rise until doubled in bulk (this can take between 1
and 2 hours, depending on how warm your house is. If you are in a
rush, you can make the dough the night before, cover with plastic
wrap, leave it in the refrigerator to rise, and then shape and bake the
following day).
Punch dough down. Let rest, covered, for 15 minutes, and then
shape on a parchment-lined baking sheet as desired (see, for example,
the Six-Braid Challah recipe that follows, or any of the other challah
recipes in the book).
sh a bbat § 9
After shaping, let challah rise, covered with a kitchen towel, for
30 to 45 minutes until puffed. (You’ll know that it’s ready to bake if
when you poke a dimple into it, the dimple remains.)
Glaze challah with remaining beaten egg yolk, sprinkle with
poppy or sesame seeds, and bake for 40 minutes, until golden brown.
Serves 8 to 10
Six-Braid Challah
Jewish macramé! Though nobody knows for certain whether
Mother Sarah braided six-stranded challahs in her tent, these lovely
edible macramés have been featured on Ashkenazi Shabbat tables for
centuries, maybe even longer.
The number six is no accident. On the Shabbat table there are two
loaves. The two loaves are called lechem mishneh, or “double por-
tion,” to recall the double portion of manna that fell on Friday for
the Sabbath and the twelve loaves of Temple Showbread, which were
set in two rows on the golden table in the Tabernacle and later in the
Holy Temple. That means that if each loaf is made from six strands,
it is a mini replica of the Showbread. Each strand of dough represents
one of the twelve loaves and each strand represents one of the twelve
Tribes of Israel. That’s the whole Jewish nation in two challot!
Use ingredients for dough as listed in Single Challah recipe on page
8 and prepare dough the same way, through rising, punching down,
and resting.
Using a sharp knife, cut dough into six equal pieces and roll into
six strands of equal length and width.
Pinch strands together at the ends farthest from you, leaving space
between the strands.
Move second-to-right strand to the far left.
Move far-right strand to middle.
Move second-to-left strand to far right.
Move far-left strand to middle.
1
A B
1
5
6
5 4
2 4 2 6
3
3
C D
2
5
4 4
2 6
6
3 1 5
E 3 1
4
6
3
1 5
2
Repeat until the loaf is fully braided — it should look like a hav
dalah candle — then pinch open ends together, glaze with beaten egg
yolk, and sprinkle generously with poppy and/or sesame seeds.
Follow baking instructions for the Single Challah recipe on page 8.
Freezes well.
Serves 8 to 10
sh a bbat § 11
Vav Challah
If the Six-Braid seems too daunting, a Vav Challah, which is an oval-
shaped loaf decorated with a thin rope of challah dough fashioned
in the shape of the letter vav (the Hebrew letter/number symbol for
“six”), is a great shortcut. Two vavs add up to twelve, recalling the
twelve loaves of Showbread, and symbolizing the tribes of Israel and
the Jewish people.
On Friday night the challot are stacked and sliced and the lower
loaf is eaten first. If there is both a Vav and a Six-Braid, the custom
is to place the Vav Challah underneath and eat it, to spare the plain-
Jane Vav’s “feelings,” which may have been slighted had the elegant
Six-Braid been chosen to be sliced first.
It is very Jewish to attribute “feelings” to inanimate objects. That’s
why the challah is covered when the kiddush is recited over the wine.
Odd as they sound, customs are meant to develop sensitivity that
extends to interpersonal relationships.
and resting.
Cut dough into two pieces, one large and the other small (the
small piece is roughly one ounce ).
Form large piece into an oval loaf and place on a parchment-lined
baking sheet.
Roll small piece into a single strand, 4 inches long and ½ inch wide,
shaped like the letter vav (vertical line with a hook at the top — it re-
sembles an upside-down “L” with a truncated base) and lay it on top
of the oval.
Follow instructions in Single Challah
recipe for the second rise, glazing,
sprinkling with seeds, and
baking.
String of Pearls Challah

A photograph of this lovely challah appears in Maggie Glezer’s 2004
collection of Jewish bread recipes called A Blessing of Bread. The
pearl image evokes King Solomon’s poem “Woman of Valor,” which
is recited before kiddush on Friday night. The opening lines of the
poem: “Woman of valor who will find her, as precious as pearls is
her price.”
I can’t help but wonder whether the string of pearls is just a fancy
“vav,” because it’s making a small indent in between each interval of
the “vav” that creates the effect of a strand of pearls.
Follow Vav Challah recipe on page 11, but after arranging dough
strand on larger dough oval, pinch strand at regular intervals with
your finger to create the strand-of-pearls effect.
Let rise, glaze, sprinkle with seeds if desired, and bake as directed.
Serves 8 to 10
sh a bbat § 13
Yud Bais Challah

Hassidic Jews fashion a twelve-part challah called the yud bet, or in
Ashkenazi pronunciation, the yud bais challah. “Twelve” stands for
the twelve tribes who descended from Jacobs’s twelve sons and also
for the twelve angels surrounding the Heavenly Throne.
While it is possible to fashion a Yud Bais by braiding twelve
strands of dough, an easier method is to construct the loaf from
twelve dough balls.
and resting.
Cut dough into 12 or 13 identical pieces, 12 for the “diamond” and
the extra piece for an optional “frame.” Roll 12 pieces into balls of
equal size. Arrange balls in a diamond shape (rows of 1, 2, 3, 3, 2, 1);
they shouldn’t touch — they will grow closer as they bake. If you wish
to make a “frame” for the diamond, roll remaining piece of dough
into a skinny strand long enough to frame the other pieces and place
it around the diamond, without touching.
Follow instructions in Single Challah recipe for the second rise,
glazing, sprinkling with seeds, and baking.
Serves 8 to 10
Challah Kugel
Some Jews like to serve a bread pudding fashioned from last week’s
challah at the following week’s Shabbat meal. That isn’t only because
the Torah prohibits discarding edible food. During Temple times,
the Showbread, the twelve loaves that stood on the Golden Table,
remained fresh from week to week. Challah Kugel, repurposed from
the previous week’s challah, echoes this and connects the Shabbats.
This is an updated version of an old recipe. The vanilla-flavored
soy milk keeps the kugel pareve and also adds a wonderfully rich fla-
vor. Because it’s so easy and low tech, this is a great recipe to prepare
with kids. They also enjoy eating it!
1 medium-size challah ½ stick margarine, melted
3 large eggs 1 small Granny Smith apple,
3 cups vanilla-flavored soy milk peeled, cored, and grated
½ cup granulated sugar Handful of dark raisins
½ teaspoon cinnamon
Tear challah into pieces — they don’t have to be too small. You can
do this by hand. Beat eggs and soy milk together in a bowl. Soak
bread in mixture until soft. Add sugar, cinnamon and melted mar-
garine. Mix in grated apple and raisins.
Pour mixture into a greased 8-inch round baking pan or two
medium-size loaf pans and bake at 350°F for 50 minutes, or until a
knife inserted in center comes out dry or almost dry.
Let cool slightly, then serve. Freezes well. Serves 8
Baked Garlic Is for Lovers

Friday night is the time for marital love and also the time to eat gar-
lic, which the Talmud says has aphrodisiac properties. Baking or
roasting tempers the “stinking rose,” softening the cloves and neu-
tralizing the smell. In Jerusalem the baked garlic, cloves squeezed
out of their skins and smeared on freshly baked challah, is a favorite
Friday night treat.
sh a bbat § 15
1 head garlic
¼ cup best-quality olive oil
Pinch of kosher salt
Peel outer layers of skin off
garlic head and separate cloves.
No need to peel each clove. Place
in a baking dish. Sprinkle with olive oil
and a few grains of kosher salt and bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes,
or until soft.
Serve with challah. Refrigerate any leftovers. Serves 4 to 6
i F RIDAY N IGH T
It’s no accident that the midrashic (Gen. Rabba 11:4) tale of the Jo-
seph who loved Shabbat involves a fish. Joseph was a simple working-
man, who lived frugally all week long, but splashed out on Shabbat
delicacies. People thought he was out of his mind until one Shabbat
eve he brought home the biggest fish in the marketplace — with a
precious gemstone inside its belly.
The story makes a point: G-d repays those who splurge on Shabbat
foods.
Fish is the quintessential Shabbat food. Dag, the Hebrew word
for “fish,” has the numerical value seven. Of course, Shabbat is the
seventh day.
Fish are part of this world but also separated from it — the under-
water world is an alternate reality. Shabbat is also an alternate reality,
and Jews who live according to the Torah also live in an alternate
reality. Because oceans and rivers are natural mikvahs, or ritual baths
(one can perform ritual immersions in any natural body of water),
fish live in purity. The Torah is compared to water. Just as water is
a life source, so the Torah is regarded as a life source. The words of
Torah are likened to water, as it is written, “O all who thirst, come
for water” (Is. 55:1).
Just as water goes from one end of the earth to the other, so does
Torah go from one end of the earth to the other;
Just as water is a life source, so is Torah a source of life;
Just as water is free to all, so is Torah a free commodity;
Just as water comes from heaven, so too is the Torah’s origin in
heaven;
Just as water makes many sounds, so is the Torah heard in many
voices;
Just as water quenches one’s thirst, so does Torah satisfy the soul;
Just as water cleanses the body from impurity, so does Torah
cleanse the soul;
Just as water originates in tiny drops and accumulates into
mighty streams and rivers, so the Torah is acquired word by
word today, verse by verse tomorrow;
Just as water descends from a high altitude, so does Torah depart
from haughty individuals and remain in individuals who are
humble and modest;
Just as water is not kept in silver or gold vessels, but the simplest
[clay], so Torah is retained by those who are simple;
Just as a scholar is not embarrassed to ask a student, “pass me
some water,” a scholar is not embarrassed to learn from a
student a chapter, a verse, a word, or even a letter;
Just as someone who does not know how to swim is drowned in
water, so is Torah — if one doesn’t know how to “swim,” one
can drown in it. (Shir HaShirim Rabbah I:19)
Fish, which of course live in water, also recall the Leviathan, the
ancient monster fish that G-d saved to feed the righteous in the world
to come. Because they breed prolifically, fish are also symbols of fer-
tility, and Shabbat is a time for procreation.
Shabbat meals are meant to be royal repasts that nourish both
body and soul. As the zemer, the medieval Sabbath poem-song, re-
lates, the Sabbath menu is basar vedagim vekol matamim — meat,
fish, and other delicacies, including farfel, kugel, cholent, cake, and
compote.
sh a bbat § 17
Doctored-Up Gefilte Fish

Not only is gefilte fish the perfect way to get around the religious laws
that disallow using a utensil to separate the bones from the flesh on
Shabbat, gefilte fish is the perfect food for toddlers. One of my sisters-
in-law brought up all her kids on it!
In the old days, gefilte fish making was a three-day job. First the
trip to the fish store or the lake, followed by the messy task of kill-
ing, gutting, cleaning, filleting, and cooking. Sometimes the ground
fish was even stuffed back into the fish skins, hence the name gefilte,
which means “stuffed.”
Today you can doctor up a frozen fish log. Add a smidgen of
homemade chrain (horseradish) and you’re on to something almost
gourmet.
1 frozen log gefilte fish 1 medium-size carrot,
(do not defrost) left whole
1 small onion, minced ¾ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt (optional)
¼ teaspoon ground pepper,
or to taste
Put fish roll in a pot with a lid and pour in enough water to submerge
the roll halfway. Add onion, salt, pepper (to taste), and the carrot. If
you like it sweet, add sugar. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
Continue cooking for 1 ¼ hours. Check periodically, adding water
as needed.
Drain, cool, and serve. Does not freeze well.
Serves 8
Homemade Chrain Made Easy

It seems like there should be a mystical reason for the pairing of ge-
filte fish with horseradish, or in Yiddish chrain, but I haven’t discov-
ered it. From what I can tell, the pairing is purely a matter of taste,
the fiery sauce balancing out the sweet, relatively bland fish.
Homemade chrain is quick work and it scores high dividends on
taste. And unlike the commercial variety, it is preservative free and
as low in sugar as you make it.
2 large or 3 medium-size beets 1 tablespoon granulated sugar,
Horseradish root (about 8 or more if you like it sweet
inches) 1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup cider vinegar
Wash beets and cut off ends. Then cook beets, in skins, in pot of sim-
mering water, covered, about 30 minutes, or until tender. Drain, and
when cool enough to handle, slip off skins and cut beets into chunks.
With a sharp knife, peel horseradish root and cut into chunks. Com-
bine beets, horseradish, vinegar, sugar, and salt in food processor
and process, using the blade attachment, until everything is finely
shredded but not pureed.
Serve to accompany gefilte fish. Keeps for 2 weeks in the fridge.
Makes 2 cups
sh a bbat § 19
Asian Fusion Fish

DAG M A ROKNA Z Y
Ever since my daughter married

her Moroccan-Israeli husband,
our family has taken to eating
hot (as in warm) and hot (as in
spicy) fish at our Shabbat table.
My kids call it Dag Maroknazy. In
Hebrew dag is “fish,” and “Maroknazy”
is their invented contraction of “Moroccan” and “Ashkenazi.” As I’ve
adapted the original recipe, adding a good helping of teriyaki sauce,
my daughter calls my version “Asian fusion fish.” (For the more au-
thentically Moroccan fish, replace teriyaki with salt to taste and coat
fish with ⅓ cup olive oil mixed with 1 tablespoon sweet paprika.)
6 slices tilapia (this also works 1 chili pepper (seeded, if you
well with sliced filleted don’t want to burn your
salmon) mouth), cut into thin strips
7 carrots, peeled and cut into 1 heaping tablespoon turmeric
rounds 1 heaping tablespoon paprika
2 s mall potatoes, peeled and 1 heaping tablespoon cumin
diced ⅓ cup teriyaki sauce
1 red or yellow bell pepper, 1 bunch fresh cilantro
seeded and cut into thin strips 1 clove garlic
Place vegetables in a large frying pan. Add just enough water to cover.
Add spices and teriyaki and cook about 20 minutes, until vegetables
are soft. Layer fish slices on top and continue cooking about another
10 minutes, or until fish flakes with a fork.
Remove fish carefully to a platter. Surround with the vegetables.
Spoon sauce on top and serve warm. Does not freeze well.
Serves 6 as a main course and
up to 12 as a first course
Spiritual Chicken Soup for the Frugal

Soup is another one of the magical sevens. Its Hebrew name, marak,
adds up to seven in Gematriya, the ancient Jewish art of word-letter
math. In case you’re wondering how, here’s the math. Mem = four
(yes, it’s usually forty, but in this system of calculation the zeroes
drop off) resh = two and kuf = one, yielding seven, as in the Seventh
Day and the Holy Sabbath.
Chicken soup can’t be eaten alone. Some people add challah
pieces — seven to honor the Seventh Day. Others add noodles,
which are called lokshn in Yiddish. The word lokshn can be parsed
as lo kashin, or “not difficult,” indicating a wish for an easy week to
come. The inseparable sticky noodles have been likened to the Jewish
people, whose lives are stuck together. In memory of Moses, who died
on Shabbat, some people add foods reminiscent of mourning, such as
chickpeas or large white beans, to the soup.
2 to 3 chicken carcasses or a 3 to 4 whole celery stalks
combination of backs and 1 medium zucchini, ends
necks trimmed
3 to 4 chicken pieces (eighths) 2 Vidalia onions, peeled
(optional but nice) 1 garlic clove
3 to 4 chicken feet (optional) Handful of dried lima beans
2 tablespoons consommé and/or chickpeas (optional),
powder (or more to taste) soaked according to package
Salt and black pepper to taste directions
3 to 4 carrots, peeled and cut 2 to three sprigs fresh parsley
into fat sticks and or dill
1 sweet potato (optional), peeled 1 cup dried thin egg noodles
2 parsnips, peeled (vermicelli)
Fill a 6-quart pot two-thirds full of cold water. Add chicken carcasses
and pieces and feet, if using, and consommé powder. Bring to a boil
(should take up to 45 minutes) and skim off scum. This ensures a
clear, golden broth. Add vegetables.
sh a bbat § 21
Cook, partially covered, on low flame for 90 minutes. During last

10 minutes of cooking, add parsley and/or dill. Cool and skim off fat.
Discard chicken carcasses and chicken feet. Shred chicken pieces
and serve in soup along with vegetables or reserve for another use.
In a separate pot cook thin egg noodles according to package di-
rections. Drain and add to soup.
Serve hot. (To freeze, remove chicken and vegetables and freeze
broth on its own.)
Serves up to 12
Meat Pie
Food historian John Cooper writes that in medieval Europe a meat
pie, called a pastide, was the Friday night entrée of choice. Its double-
crusted structure recalls manna, which came sandwiched between
two layers of dew.
This recipe is adapted from From My Grandmother’s Kitchen, a
Sephardi cookbook compiled by Vivian Alchech Miner. Alchech
Miner’s ancestors came from the Balkan countries, and her cui-
sine reflects a blend of Turkish, Greek, Bulgarian, and Rumanian
influences.
While this pie is delicious, it isn’t quite authentic. Medieval meat
pies were made of a whole-wheat or rye pastry, which were usually
combined with schmaltz (rendered chicken or goose fat) and filled
with chopped udder (yuck).
Pastry
3 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup vegetable oil
1 cup hot water
½ teaspoon salt
Filling
2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 ½ tablespoons all-purpose
1 large onion, diced flour
1 clove garlic, finely diced 1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 pound ground beef 2 tablespoons sweet red wine
½ pound fresh mushrooms, or water
sliced (optional but very nice) 1 large egg yolk, beaten
½ teaspoon salt Sesame seeds
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon finely chopped fresh
cilantro or parsley (optional)
Mix pastry ingredients into a soft dough, by hand in a bowl or using
a mixer or food processor. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for
at least 30 minutes. Refrigeration is essential; otherwise the dough is
too slippery to work with. (You can keep the dough in the fridge for
up to 2 days.)
Meanwhile, prepare the filling.
Heat oil in a heavy skillet. Sauté onions and garlic together until
translucent. Add meat and mushrooms, breaking the meat up into
crumbs, and cook until browned. Add salt, pepper, and cilantro or
parsley and remove from heat. Let cool.
In a bowl, mix together flour, egg, and wine until smooth. Com-
bine mixture with meat.
Divide dough in half. Roll out each half into a 9 × 13-inch rect-
angle. Try to make them as thin as you can. Press one rectangle of
dough into a medium-size baking pan coated with nonstick cooking
spray. Spoon meat on top and cover with the other crust.
Brush with egg yolk and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Prick all over
with a fork and bake at 350°F until crust is brown (about 50 minutes).
Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Delicious and freezes well.
Serves 8
sh a bbat § 23
Pot Roast à la Molly Goldberg

GEDEM PTE FLEISH
The Hebrew word for “meat” is basar, which in the ancient mathe-
matical system of Gematriya adds up to seven (bet = two, sin = three,
resh = two). This is mispar katan. That means that the zeroes drop off.
Seven refers to the seventh day, when G-d rested, which is of course
Shabbat. Shabbat is a holy day. The prayer over the wine recited on
Friday night and again at lunch time on Saturday is called kiddush,
from the word kadosh, which means holiness. The sages teach that
all Shabbat foods contain a spark of holiness. Rabbi Nachman of
Bratslav says that Sabbath foods are unaffected by the anger or un-
bounded passion that can creep into the weekday cuisine and have a
unique purity which can inspire a state of serenity.
When one eats on Shabbat, the source of the food (the fish, the
meat, etc.) reaches its ultimate purpose because its physical energy
(the calories it contains) is transformed into spiritual energy when
those calories are expended in prayer, Torah study, or other holy
activities.
If you’re making beef, nothing beats an old-fashioned pot roast,
known in Yiddish as gedempte fleisch (the term literally means
“steamed meat,” an accurate description of the cooking process). This
recipe comes from Molly Goldberg.
Decades before Fran Drescher and Mayim Bialik were even in di-
apers, Molly Goldberg ruled radio and TV. Her cookbook, a spin-off
of her hit TV show, went through twelve editions from 1955 to 1977
because Molly cooked almost as well as she acted.
2 teaspoons salt 4 pounds brisket
½ teaspoon freshly ground 4 onions, chopped fine
black pepper 2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon paprika
Rub spices into the beef (this allows the flavors to penetrate). Heat
a heavy saucepan. Add a tiny bit of oil and brown meat on all sides.
Add onion and garlic. Continue browning on medium heat for 10
minutes. Cover and cook on low heat for 2 ½ hours or until meat is
tender. Turn meat frequently, adding a little water if necessary.
Remove meat to a serving platter, slice, and serve with gravy.
Freezes well.
Serves 8
Curried Chicken for the Shabbat

In our times, the swan and quail of the Shabbat table hymns (zmirot)
have been replaced by the chicken. Though those exotic fowl may
have been tastier than our mass-produced chicken, this recipe adds
enough flavor to turn the lowliest hen into a delight. This is my fam-
ily’s recipe, handed down to me by my Bombay-born mother-in-law,
Esther Sargon Ungar.
2 large Vidalia onions, diced 8 small tomatoes, cut into
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (any chunks
oil — olive is good, too) 2 tablespoons curry powder
1 chicken (about 3 pounds), cut 2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
into eighths, or four leg-and- 2 handfuls of raisins (optional)
thigh sections Cooked basmati rice for serving
Heat oil in large skillet and sauté onion and chicken pieces together
over medium-high heat. When chicken skin turns golden brown
on all sides, stir in tomatoes, curry powder, teriyaki sauce, and op-
tional raisins. Cook, covered, on low flame for approximately 1 hour,
or until chicken is cooked through (juices run clear when a thigh is
pierced with a fork).
Serve over basmati rice. Freezes well.
Serves 4
sh a bbat § 25
Fabulous Farfel
Farfel, the once-ubiquitous noodle, shaped like little pieces of gravel
and known as the Ba’al Shem Tov’s tzimmes, is soul food in its truest
sense — it’s a food that speaks to our souls. Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer,
the eighteenth-century founder of the Hassidic movement, ate farfel
every Friday night (hence the name “Ba’al Shem Tov’s tzimmes,”
which literally means the Ba’al Shem Tov’s food) because the word
farfel resembled the word farfaln, which means “wiped out, over, fin-
ished.” He saw those oddly shaped noodles as a message that an old
week is over and that it was time to begin again — a very important
idea. You can still find packaged farfel in Jewish grocery stores.
2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 cup farfel
1 small onion, chopped 2 cups chicken broth,
4 to 5 button mushrooms, sliced boiling hot
Heat oil in a medium-size saucepan and sauté onion and mushrooms
together until soft. Stir in farfel and pour in boiling chicken broth.
Cook, covered, for 10 minutes, or until broth is absorbed.
Serve hot. Doesn’t freeze well.
Serves 6 to 8
Sweet-and-Sour Red Cabbage

This recipe has its roots in Alsace. Cook until all liquid evaporates
and only a meltingly soft, sweet, pungent relish is left. Because it con-
tains apples, it is also served on Rosh Hashana.
2 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 cups shredded red cabbage
1 medium-size onion, diced 2 cups water
2m edium-size Granny Smith ½ cup cider vinegar
apples, peeled, cored, and ½ cup brown sugar, packed
cut into chunks
Heat oil in a skillet and sauté onion until translucent. Add apple slices
and sauté for another minute or two. Add cabbage, water, vinegar,
and brown sugar and simmer, uncovered, over very low heat until
liquid evaporates and apples turn meltingly soft (about 90 minutes,
but check periodically to make sure the mixture doesn’t burn).
Excellent alongside meat or chicken. Freezes well.
Serves 6
Apple and Plum Compote

Because tapuhin, “apples,” feature in the “Song of Songs,” King Solo-
mon’s allegorical poem recited in some synagogues on Friday nights,
it is customary to eat apples on Shabbat.
Sadly, compote has a bad name because it’s so often bland and
mushy. Using a minimum of water, compote can be both fragrant
and richly flavored. The plums add a lovely sweet-tart tension and
dye the cooking syrup a jewellike purple color. Pears and peaches are
nice in this, too.
1 cup granulated sugar 5 Italian plums, pitted and
½ cup water sliced but not peeled, or any
4 Granny Smith apples, cored other combination of fruit
and sliced but not peeled 1 tablespoon lemon juice
In a saucepan, boil sugar and water together for a minute or so to
form a syrup. Add apples and plums and cook until soft (about 20
minutes) Add lemon juice. Cool and refrigerate.
Serve chilled for desert or alongside meat or poultry. Does not
freeze well.
Serves 6
sh a bbat § 27
i SHABBAT MORNING BREAKFAST

Though the official tally on Shabbat meals is three (Friday night din-
ner, Shabbat day lunch, and the third meal on Saturday at dusk) some
people like to add a breakfast. The reason for this is largely practical.
Though sleeping in on Shabbat has a certain loveliness, and in many
places synagogue services only begin at nine, to accommodate the
sleepers, the most pious Jews rise for prayer at dawn. In Jewish law
this is regarded as optimal, as morning worship is timed to coincide
with the rising of the sun. When those early birds come back from
synagogue, they are hungry but not necessarily ready to tuck into
cholent at eight o’clock in the morning — hence the emergence of the
Shabbat morning kiddush/breakfast. This meal can be as simple as
a glass of wine or shot of whiskey and a cookie or as elaborate as the
Yemenite kiddush of kubaneh or the Sephardi desayuno, an elegant
dairy brunch featuring a variety of fresh salads, cheeses, and pastries.
Kubaneh
The Jews of Yemen would assemble a buttery yeast dough on Friday
afternoon, leaving it overnight to bake so that it could be warm and
fluffy for a post-services breakfast.
3 cups water (approximately), 1 stick butter
for a loose, sticky dough 1 teaspoon ground black
1 tablespoon instant yeast sesame seeds (optional)
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground fenugreek
½ cup granulated sugar (hilbe) (optional)
7 to 8 cups all-purpose flour 5 large eggs, in shell, washed
In a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixture, combine water, yeast,
salt, and sugar, slowly stirring or beating in enough flour to form a
soft, sticky dough. Knead on a floured board or in the mixer using a
dough hook (if it’s too sticky to knead, add more flour, a handful at a
time, until you have a dough you can work with). If kneaded by hand,
return dough to cleaned-out bowl.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set dough aside to rise. (It can
rise in the refrigerator overnight.)
Punch dough down and divide into 12 equal balls (each ball is ap-
proximately 5 ounces). Let dough rest, covered with a kitchen towel,
for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, melt butter in a small saucepan. Remove from heat
and combine with ground seeds, if using. Cool slightly.
Heat oven to 200°F. Coat bottom and sides of a 6-quart ovenproof
casserole with nonstick cooking spray.
Brush dough balls with the melted butter and lay them inside the
casserole, layering until the dish is one-third full. Place the 5 eggs, in
their clean shells, in the casserole. They will cook together with the
kubaneh.
Cover the pot with a lid or heavy-duty aluminum foil and bake
for 10 to 12 hours.
When kubaneh is done, be careful when opening the pot.
Serve with Yemenite Grated Tomato Dip (recipe follows). Doesn’t
freeze well.
Serves 10, with dip
Yemenite Grated Tomato Dip

4 medium-size tomatoes
Salt and black pepper to taste
Peel tomatoes (you can poach them briefly in boiling water and then
peel or just peel with a knife) Grate tomatoes into a bowl and season
with salt and pepper to taste.
Makes 2 cups (serves 10)
sh a bbat § 29
Eyer Kichel
Ashkenazi Jews often eat the Shabbat breakfast meal at the syna-
gogue. This meal goes by the name “kiddush” because it begins with
the kiddush, or blessing over the wine. Though contemporary kid-
dushes may feature petit fours, sushi, and single malt whiskey, in the
old days the kiddush menu was simpler; there was sponge cake and
marble cake, eyer kichel, herring, and whiskey.
Eyer kichel, pronounced eye-er-kichel (with the “ch” combining
to make the gutteral “chet” sound) is the Yiddish name for an old-
fashioned Jewish egg cookie. Eyer means “eggs” in Yiddish and kichel
means “cookie,” but an eyer kichel isn’t just any cookie. It’s a light,
sweet, and crispy dough puff made up of equal parts crunch and air.
It’s sweet but not overpoweringly so, and it’s the perfect complement
to a cup of steaming hot tea or whiskey straight up.
Food historian Gil Marks says eyer kichel was brought to the U.S.
in storage tins by immigrants who feared that they wouldn’t find
kosher food in the treyfe medina.
Once a Jewish bakery staple, eyer kichel are still baked by the large
Jewish food manufacturers at Passover. But for a taste of the real thing,
make them yourself at home. This recipe, a variation on eyer kichel
called “bow ties” because the cookie has a twisted bow-tie shape, is
adapted from the Ratner’s Meatless Cookbook. Ratner’s, which closed
its doors in 2002, was the queen of New York dairy restaurants,
known for its wonderful soups, blintzes, and baked goods.
For additional flavor, mix cinnamon into the dredging sugar.
4 large eggs 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ cup vegetable oil 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon rum or vanilla Additional sugar for dredging
extract 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
½ teaspoon salt
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine everything except the dredg-
ing sugar and cinnamon. Using paddle attachment, beat together
until dough forms a ball.
Wrap dough with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes (no need
to refrigerate).
Sprinkle flour and sugar onto your work surface and roll dough
out till it’s ½ inch thick. Cut into strips ¾ inch wide and 3 inches
long. Gently twist each strip at the center like a bow tie.
Place bow ties on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake
until lightly browned (this can take anywhere from 15 to 25 minutes,
depending on your oven). Cool on racks.
Freezes well.
Makes about 3 dozen
Magical Marvelous Marble Cake

Marble cake was another old time kiddush staple. The marble refers
to the dark chocolate streaks shot through the yellow sponge cake
like the veins in marble stone.
Because commercial bakeries have turned it into a pale replica of
its former self, marble cake is no longer popular, but this marble cake,
which comes from Lithuania by way of South Africa’s Lithuanian
Jewish community, is sheer delight. I learned it from Shoshana Levy,
who is a professional harpist and a wonderful baker.
If you leave out the chocolate, this is a delicious sponge cake on its
own. For a more pronounced chocolate taste, double the amount of
cocoa.
7 large eggs, separated Pinch of salt
3 cups flour (use all-purpose 1 ½ cups water
white or whole-wheat ¾ cup vegetable oil
pastry flour) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ½ cups granulated sugar 1 tablespoon best-quality
4 level teaspoons baking unsweetened cocoa
powder powder
sh a bbat § 31

This recipe makes a large amount of batter. Grease (or spray with
nonstick cooking spray) one 10 × 4-inch tube pan and an 8 × 4 × 2 ½-
inch loaf pan; or use a 12-cup (10 × 3 ½-inch) Bundt pan plus a
9 × 5 × 3-inch loaf pan.
Beat egg whites until stiff in a bowl with a whisk or electric hand
mixer. In a second bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and
salt. In a third, large bowl, beat egg yolks, water, oil, and vanilla. Add
flour mixture and combine well, then gently incorporate egg whites.
Remove a cup of batter to a clean bowl and gently fold in the table-
spoon of cocoa.
Spoon batter into prepared pans, alternating between yellow and
chocolate batters. Gently run a knife through the batter to create
swirls. Bake for 50 minutes at 350°F, or until a toothpick inserted into
the cake comes out dry.
Freezes well.
Serves 16
i SH A BBAT LU NCH

Shabbat lunch, which can be eaten any time from nine in the morn-
ing until after noon, is a challenge, since Jewish law prohibits fresh
cooking on Shabbat. On Friday night, food can be served relatively
fresh and warm. But what about the following day? Because of the
laws, various slow-cooker recipes were devised. These are the cho-
lents, hamins, and their derivations. Another uniquely Jewish inven-
tion is the kugel, the egg-and-vegetable or egg-and-noodle casserole,
which frequently accompanies the cholent. Like cholent, kugel can
be served warm, though the warming strategy differs from the one
used for cholent. Because a kugel is a solid food, Jewish law holds
that it can be heated up indirectly. This is accomplished by placing
another surface, commonly an upside-down cookie sheet, over a hot
plate and placing the kugel on top to warm.
Along with the cholent and kugel, lunch may be rounded out with
cold cuts, poultry, or beef along with salads and cake or sorbet for
dessert. Of course, a Shabbat meal isn’t just about eating. As the goal
is spiritual elevation, there’s lots of singing — of the Shabbat table
hymns called zmirot. There is also storytelling and discussions of the
weekly Torah portion. In some homes this meal can go on for two to
three hours. Afterward, many folks tumble into bed for a good long
nap known affectionately as a “Shabbat shluff.”
Eggs and Onions

TZIBELEH M IT EYER
Forget Iron Chef! In Hassidic homes, the head of the household puts
on his own bravura performance at Shabbat lunch when he creates
an emblematic Jewish appetizer called tzibeleh mit eyer, or eggs and
onions, right at the table.
With family and guests watching, hopefully with rapt attention,
the master of the house mashes the eggs — which have cooked all
night long inside the cholent pot — minces the onion, and adds oil
and spices. The results are magical, especially when smeared on a
piece of challah.
Tzibeleh mit eyer fits into the scheme of sevens, at least in part.
Initially, the dish was just tzibeleh, onions, which were eaten alone in
medieval Europe. When most people lost their desire to bite straight
into a raw onion, the eggs were added.
Now here’s a mathematical sleight of hand. In Hebrew an onion
is a batzal, which adds up to 140 (bet is 2, tzadik is 90 — which turns
into 9 — and lamed is 30 — which turns into 3; 2 plus 3 plus 9 makes
14). How do you reach 7? By cutting the onion in half!
3 large eggs, in shell, cooked all night in the
cholent until they turn velvety brown
1 medium-size onion, diced
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
sh a bbat § 33
Shell eggs. Mash eggs into small pieces (see note below) in a bowl.
Mix in onion, oil, salt, and pepper and serve right away.
Serves 6
Note: Some rabbis recommend preparing this dish before the Shab-
bat because the Shabbat laws don’t permit the usual mashing — using
the tines of a fork or a potato masher. On Shabbat, mashing is done
with a shinui (Hebrew for “change,”), which can be accomplished by
reversing the fork and using the other end.
Batya’s Chopped Liver

A favorite Jewish delicacy, chopped liver is frequently served at
Shabbat lunch. Before the food processor, chopped liver was made
by hand with a hackmesser — a curved-metal blade — set over a large
wooden chopping bowl.
Today chopped liver isn’t at all complicated to make at home. And
it’s tastier and certainly cheaper than buying it ready made.
Note: The recipe, which comes from my assistant Batya Lieber-
man, uses roasted chicken livers. In order to be kosher, liver must be
salted and roasted over an open flame. I prefer to buy preroasted liver
at a kosher butcher.
1 large egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion, finely diced
4 ounces roasted chicken livers
Salt and pepper to taste
Hard-boil egg in a saucepan of boiling water. Peel and set aside.
Heat oil in a skillet and sauté onion until golden. Remove from
heat and add to food processor, fitted with the metal blade, along
with egg and chicken livers. Process everything into a paste.
Excellent when smeared on challah or crackers. Freezes well.
Makes 1 cup (serves 6)
Cholent
No one knows where the
word cholent comes from.
Scholars relate it to the
French words chaud lent,
or “slow heat.” Traditional
Jews see in it the Hebrew
she talin, meaning “and it shall
rest,” referring to the Shabbat
stew’s lengthy cooking period.
It has even been suggested that cholent
is a contraction of the phrase “shul ends” referring to the end of the
Shabbat morning prayer service, which is traditionally followed by a
lunch featuring cholent.
Regardless of its etymology, cholent and its Sephardi equivalent
hamin (which simply means “hot food” in Hebrew) are integral to
the Jewish day of rest. The long-cooking stew — a cholent or hamin
can simmer for twelve hours — solves a potentially intractable prob-
lem: how to honor the Shabbat with a hot meal when Jewish law
prohibits Shabbat day cooking.
Because the cholent is at least half cooked before the Shabbat
begins — the Talmud calls this half-cooked state ma’achal ben drusai
(literally, “the food of Ben Drusai”) after Ben Drusai, an on-the-lam
thief who survived on partially cooked food — the prohibition is cir-
cumvented. Cholent and hamin are among the best-loved of Shabbat
foods. The aroma of the slow-cooked beans — which cook so long in
the cholent that they do not have to be presoaked — meats, and vege-
tables perfumes the whole house with the scent of Paradise.
It seems like there are almost as many ways to make cholent as
there are Jews. This is my family’s recipe, originally developed by my
sons and adapted by my husband.
sh a bbat § 35
2 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 tablespoons consommé

3 to 4 Vidalia onions, diced powder
2 p ounds beef flanken or 1 cup pearl barley
short ribs 1 cup dried lima beans
2 cups tomato paste ½ cup dried navy beans
1 teaspoon salt ½cup dried pinto or
1 teaspoon each black pepper, cranberry beans
sweet paprika, turmeric 3 t o 4 large russet potatoes,
(optional), cumin (optional), peeled and diced
curry powder (optional),
hot paprika (optional)
Heat oil in a large Dutch oven and sauté onion until golden. Add
meat. Continue cooking for 10 minutes. Add tomato paste, salt, and
spices and continue to cook on low flame for 10 more minutes. Add
barley, beans, and potatoes and pour in enough water to cover by 2
inches and bring to a boil. Simmer 10 minutes.
Remove pot from heat. Transfer contents of pot to large Crock-Pot
set to low. Cook overnight.
Serve hot. Freezes well. Serves 8 to 10
Sephardi Cholent
A DA FINA OR HAM IN
Of all the different slow-cooking Shabbat stews, adafina — which is

also called t’fina, dafina, or hamin — is my favorite. In Inquisition
Spain, making this dish was considered “proof” that one was a secret
Judaizer. Spanish Jews took this dish with them when they fled to
Morocco and North Africa and then later to Israel and France.
If cholent is a one-pot meal, adafina is a one-pot meal with side
dishes — a feast in a pot. That is because the grains are cooked in
cheesecloth or ovenproof cooking bags that are immersed in the stew.
During Shabbat lunch, the bags are opened and their contents ele-
gantly arranged to create an elaborate multicourse meal. This adafina
recipe comes from my assistant’s sister, Rifka Cohen.
Stew
2 t ablespoons vegetable ½ cup dried chickpeas
or olive oil ½ cup dried white beans
3 medium-size Vidalia onions, ½ cup pearl barley
diced 1 tablespoon cumin
2 c loves garlic, minced 1 tablespoon turmeric
3 to 4 pounds beef flanken, 1 tablespoon paprika
beef short ribs, or lamb ½ teaspoon cinnamon
shoulder, cut into large chunks Pinch of cayenne pepper
2 medium-size all-purpose Salt and black pepper
potatoes, peeled and cubed to taste
3 medium-size sweet potatoes,
peeled, one left whole and the
remainder cubed
Additions
1 cup basmati rice 1 ½ teaspoons salt (optional)
3 cups water or broth from the 1 cup wheat berries
cholent 5 large uncooked eggs, in shell,
½ teaspoon turmeric washed
For the stew, heat oil in large pot (such as a 6-quart Dutch oven)
and sauté onion and garlic until translucent. Add meat and sauté till
browned on all sides. Add potatoes, chickpeas, beans, barley, and
spices and cover with water by 2 inches.
Cook together on low flame for 15 minutes, then remove from heat
and transfer, if desired, to a large Crock-Pot. (If not using a Crock-
Pot and planning to cook the adafina on top of the stove, make sure
you have a blech [metal sheet] to place over the gas burner on your
stove so the stew will cook slowly.)
Combine the basmati rice with 1 ½ cups water, ½ teaspoon tur-
meric, and ½ teaspoon salt in an ovenproof cooking bag (you can
substitute 1 ½ cups of broth from the cholent for the water and salt
if you like). Close bag, pricking a tiny airhole near the top with a
toothpick, and place in cholent.
sh a bbat § 37
Combine wheat berries with remaining 1 ½ cups water and 1 tea-
spoon salt and place in second ovenproof cooking bag. Close bag and
prick an airhole with a toothpick (as with rice, you can substitute
cholent broth for the water and salt). Place in cholent.
Add the 5 raw eggs in shell to the cholent, then add enough water
to make sure everything, except the tops of the bags with the airholes,
is covered. Adjust seasonings.
Cover and cook overnight in the Crock-Pot set on low or on a
blech-covered gas burner.
Serve the rice, wheat berries, eggs, and the cholent itself in separate
bowls. Don’t freeze.
Serves 8
Shalom Bayit Kugel

Marriage counseling in a kugel! Many years ago, a couple in a small
Polish town had a terrible disagreement that left them on the verge
of divorce. Before throwing in the towel, they sought marriage coun-
seling with a great Hassidic master.
“What is troubling you?” the master asked.
It seemed that the dispute concerned the kugel. The husband
wanted to eat it at lunch, but the wife wanted to eat it at kiddush,
immediately after morning synagogue services.
“Bake two kugels,” the master said. “One for kiddush and the sec-
ond for lunch.”
The couple was thrilled, and they named the new kugel shalom
bayit kugel.
Shalom bayit, which translates as “peaceful house,” is the Hebrew
term for marital harmony. I got this recipe from Miriam Liefer, the
Pittsburgher Rebbetzin of Ashdod, Israel. She said that it is also known
as Bukoviner kugel, after the Rumanian town of the same name.
You can use kluski (Polish-style) egg noodles here, but if you’re con-
cerned about cholesterol, no-yolk noodles work fine too.
12 ounces (4 ½ cups cooked) dried egg noodles
1 small onion, chopped and sautéed (optional)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
Boil noodles according to package directions until soft.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°F.
Drain, rinse in a colander until cool, and place in a bowl. Add eggs,
sautéed onion (if using), salt, and pepper to noodles and toss to mix
well. Pour mixture into greased loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes at
350°F.
Let kugel rest for 10 to 15 minutes before slicing to serve. Freezes
well.
Serves 6
i T HIRD M EA L
Shalosh shudos is the Yiddish version of the name of the third Shab-
bat meal. This tongue twister is a slightly garbled contraction of the
Hebrew seudah shlishit, which simply means “third meal.” It is the
simplest of the three meals — the menu is pared down to fish, salad(s),
and challah, all generally served cold — as well as the most soulful.
The sun is about to set. The holy Shabbat will soon end and another
week will begin. There’s a feeling of longing in the air — longing for
the departing Shabbat Queen and the ultimate Shabbat of messianic
redemption.
sh a bbat § 39
Rabbi Freifeld’s Pickled Herring

Every Wednesday, Rabbi Shlomo Freifeld exchanged his rabbinical
coat for a plastic apron and pickled the fish for this dish by himself,
using one of his students as his sous-chef. Even decades after Rabbi
Freifeld’s passing, those students cherish the memory of the hours
they spent alone with their rabbi, talking, singing, and pickling her-
ring. The recipe was provided by Rabbi Freifeld’s daughter, Peninah
Rothman. Don’t let the word “pickling” frighten you. With a sharp
knife, the process is quite simple and actually enjoyable, and it might
be a good way to bond with someone you care about.
You can buy salt herring (a silvery-gray fish with white flesh) at
Jewish stores.
1 salt herring (approximately 1 medium-size onion, sliced
7 inches long) into rounds
1 handful pickling spice ⅔ cup granulated sugar
2 to 3 bay leaves 1 cup vinegar of choice
1 dried chili pepper Salt to taste
Fill a medium-size bowl with cold water and add fish. Refrigerate.
After 24 hours change soaking water and return to refrigerator for
another 24 hours.
After fish has soaked for 48 hours, drain, slit it across its belly,
and gut it. Remove spinal column, fins, and tail and slice flesh into
1-inch squares. Submerge fish slices in cold water and let them sit for
another 24 hours. This will extract the saltiness completely.
On the third day, stir sugar and vinegar in a bowl until sugar dis-
solves, then add fish slices, pickling spice, bay leaves, dried red pepper,
and onion slices. Transfer everything to a container with a lid and
store, covered, in the refrigerator.
The fish should marinate in the
fridge for at least 24 hours before
serving. Does not freeze well.
Serves 4 to 6, or many more if served

as an hors d’oeuvre on crackers
Sardine Salad
One of the great Hassidic masters advised his disciples to live near
a source of fresh fish. My non-Hassidic forebears didn’t follow this
advice — they made their home in landlocked Hungary. During the
1920s and ’30s, my grandmother, who had moved to nearby Roma-
nia, used to smuggle sardine cans across the border into Hungary
so that her father could enjoy fish at his third Shabbat meal. My
grandmother didn’t do the smuggling herself. Instead, she sought out
other Jews who were planning to make the hazardous journey — back
then Hungary and Romania were bitter enemies and the border was
sealed — so that her father could enjoy his Shabbat fish.
1 can sardines, drained
1 large egg, hard-boiled and peeled
Juice of ½ lemon
1 tablespoon chopped onion
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
Remove skin and bones from sardines. Mash in a bowl with remain-
ing ingredients.
Serve stuffed into avocado halves or spread on crackers or bread.
Does not freeze well.
Serves 6 as an hors d’oeuvre
Sweet-and-Sour Cucumber Salad

UBORKA SA LATA
Uborka salata, Hungarian Jewish sweet-and-sour cucumber salad,

actually benefits from a long stay in the fridge. That’s why it is such a
perfect choice for Seudah Shlishit, the third Shabbat meal.
My father was a genius at making this dish. I still remember how
he sliced the cucumbers gossamer thin and soaked them in a per-
fectly balanced marinade. I’m sad to say that I never got his original
recipe, but this recipe evokes that flavor.
sh a bbat § 41
5 medium-size cucumbers, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

sliced into thin rounds ½ teaspoon sweet Hungarian
½ teaspoon kosher salt paprika (optional)
1 small onion, sliced into thin ⅛ teaspoon freshly cracked
rounds black pepper
⅓ cup distilled white vinegar Table salt to taste
⅓ cup water
Place cucumber slices in a colander and sprinkle with kosher salt.
Leave them to sweat for at least 30 minutes.
Squeeze cucumbers to remove liquid and rinse with fresh water.
Drain and squeeze again, then place cucumbers in a bowl along with
onion slices, freshly cracked black pepper, and salt to taste. In a sep-
arate bowl, combine vinegar, water, sugar, paprika, and pepper and
pour over the cucumber and onion slices. Adjust flavors adding salt,
sugar, and pepper to taste. Refrigerate, covered, until you are ready
to serve.
Keeps for up to 10 days in a closed container in the refrigerator.
Does not freeze well. Serves 6
i M EL AV EH M A L KA
Melaveh malka literally means “to escort the queen.” The queen isn’t
Elizabeth II but the Shabbat Queen, who departs after her twenty-
five-hour-long visit. As befits a queen, she’s ushered out with a festive
meal. This meal was invented by another royal, King David.
According to tradition, King David knew that he would die on
Shabbat — he just didn’t know when. So every Saturday night he
hosted a banquet to say thanks that he was still alive.
The Melaveh Malka meal is traditionally eaten right after the hav
dalah ceremony marking the end of the Shabbat. The mystics say this
meal nourishes the luz bone, located at base of the skull, which will
be the first body part to be revived after the Messiah comes and the
dead will awaken.
There’s no official menu for Melaveh Malka. Some people suffice
with a cup of tea and a slice of cake. Others microwave leftover cho-
lent. It’s also common to celebrate with a pizza party or that Jewish
all-occasion favorite — bagels with or without lox.
Bagels
Bagels are an old-world food — the first known reference to them
dates to medieval Krakow. In Poland they were a beloved snack, sold
in the marketplace and on street corners. In Poland and in the Jewish
neighborhoods of the early twentieth-century United States, bagels
were crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside, and they had large
holes — so they could be fished out of the boiling water used in their
production.
Food historian Gil Marks says that the bagel’s round shape make
it a good choice to mark life cycle events, such as postcircumcision
brunches and postfuneral meals.
If you are hankering for an old-fashioned bagel, you may have to
make your own, as modern factory-made bagels are often nothing
more than soft, bread-like doughnuts. Fortunately, bagel baking isn’t
at all complicated, though it does take time. My recipe takes over
sh a bbat § 43
twenty-four hours from start to finish, though most of that is waiting

time.
This recipe was inspired by the delightful cookbook-memoir In-
side the Jewish Bakery: Recipes and Memories from the Golden Age of
Jewish Baking, by Stanley Ginsberg and Norman Berg.
¾ teaspoon instant yeast 5 cups whole-wheat flour
1 tablespoon brown sugar or 2 teaspoons salt
honey, plus 2 tablespoons Sesame seeds, poppy seeds,
brown sugar for boiling bagels rock salt (optional)
1 ⅔ cups warm water
Dissolve yeast in the water in a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand
mixer fitted with the dough hook. Stir or beat in 1 tablespoon sugar
or honey. Gradually stir or beat in flour and salt; expect a stiff dough.
If making the bagels by hand, turn dough out onto a floured board
and knead 8 to 10 minutes until smoother and supple, flouring your
hands well (the whole-wheat flour will make the dough a bit sticky).
In the mixer, knead with the dough hook until dough forms a ball.
Let dough rest, on the board or in the mixer bowl, covered, for 30
minutes.
Shape dough into bagels by rolling into a long rope and cutting
into 12 equal pieces. Form each piece into a circle and pinch the ends
well to seal. Set bagels on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, boil up a large pot of water. Add 2 tablespoons
brown sugar to the water.
Drop bagels into boiling water, as many as will fit without crowd-
ing. When they float, remove with slotted spoon to one or two
parchment-lined or greased baking sheets. Sprinkle on toppings —
sesame seeds, poppy seeds, rock salt, or anything else or nothing at all.
Bake for 18 minutes at 450°F until puffed and golden brown.
Let bagels cool on a rack for 30 minutes. Enjoy immediately or
freeze.
Makes 1 dozen
HOLIDAYS
....................................
c2
The Jewish Year has many holidays, such as Rosh Hashana and Yom
Kippur, which are known collectively as the Days of Awe; the three
pilgrimage festivals, Sukkot, Passover, and Shavuot, when the Jews
of ancient Israel visited the Temple; and the two Rabbinic holidays
of Hanukkah and Purim. These and numerous other holidays create
a break from routine and provide opportunity for feasting (except
on Yom Kippur), reunions with loved ones, and of course spiritual
renewal.
Traditional Jews live in anticipation of these days. Considerable
effort goes into holiday preparations, especially in the kitchen, but
these chores are viewed as labors of love. Interestingly, the one month
in the Hebrew calendar without a holiday is called Marcheshvan, or
“bitter Cheshvan.”
Rosh Hashana Greeting

May you have . . .
Enough happiness to keep you sweet
Enough trials to keep you strong
Enough sorrow to keep you human
Enough hope to keep you happy
Enough failure to keep you humble
Enough success to keep you eager
Enough friends to give you comfort
Enough wealth to meet your needs
Enough enthusiasm to look forward
Enough faith to banish sadness
Enough determination to make each day better than yesterday
— Author Unknown
Rosh Hashana, which usually comes in the early fall, is the two-day-
long Jewish New Year. While Rosh Hashana is a holiday — celebrated
with good food and fine clothing — there is an atmosphere of solem-
nity. It is the time when G-d evaluates every person and every na-
tion and decides what the next year will look like. Jews traditionally
devote this day — actually two days that merge into one extra-long
day (yoma arichta, in Aramaic) — to prayer and introspection aimed
at self-improvement because, as the liturgy points out, “Repentance,
prayer and charity cancel harsh decrees.”
In spite of the element of solemnity, the holiday is also full of both
hope and joy. Across the world Jews eat sweet foods, so that the new
year will be sweet, and avoid sour foods and nuts, whose numerical
value is the equivalent to the numerical value of the Hebrew word
for sin.
“At the beginning of each year, each person should accustom him-
self to eat gourds, fenugreek, leeks, beets and dates,” says the Tal-
mud, because these foods symbolize collective aspirations for a year
of abundance, fertility, and peace. It’s traditional to hold a simanim
ceremony, a Passover Seder–like meal involving symbolic foods. Kid-
dush, the blessing over the wine, followed by ritual hand washing
holi days § 47
and the blessing over bread, precede the meal, which can include the
six recipes that follow. A special blessing accompanies each of the
symbolic foods.
Homemade Gefilte Fish

The fish head prayer is about
being “as a head and not as
a tail.” A head isn’t a CEO,
or a president. Rosh, the
Hebrew word for “head,”
can be read as an acronym
for ratzon avinu shebashamayim,
one who accepts the will of G-d. Rosh
Hashana’s theme is coronation, which means the surrender of indi-
vidual will to a Higher will.
Making fresh gefilte fish with a fish head in the poaching stock is
a great way to get a fish plus a fish head.
May it be Your will, Lord our G-d and the G-d of our fathers,
that we be as a head and not a tail.
Having a sheep’s head on the table is an ancient custom, a reminder
of the binding of Isaac, when Abraham placed his son on an altar in
a supreme demonstration of faith, a binding that took place on Rosh
Hashana so long ago. The sheep’s head recalls the ram, which Abra-
ham brought as a sacrifice in place of his son.
The following is only said on a sheep’s head:
. . . And You shall remember for us the binding and the ram of
our forefather Isaac, the son of our forefather Abraham, peace
be onto them.
As fish reproduce prolifically, they symbolize fertility. Fish is tra-
ditionally served at the Rosh Hashana meal, and the accompanying
prayer expresses a wish for us to be as numerous as fish.
May it be Your will . . . that we multiply like fish.
Interestingly, Iraqi Jews refuse to eat fish on the New Year. They
say that the Hebrew name for fish, dag, sounds like the Hebrew word
da’aga, which means “worry”!
When you buy the fish, after it is ground, ask the fishmonger to
give you bones and fish heads for stock.
Fish Mixture
3 pounds ground whitefish, 1 tablespoon seltzer
pike, carp, or any combination ¼ cup granulated sugar
1 medium-size onion, grated 2 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs ½ teaspoon white pepper
3 tablespoons matzo meal or
ground almonds
Poaching Stock
2 quarts cold water Fish heads and bones
1 teaspoon salt 2 medium onions, finely diced
¼ teaspoon white pepper 2 carrots, peeled and left whole
⅔ cup granulated sugar
Combine ground fish with grated onion in a bowl. Add eggs, matzo
meal, seltzer, sugar, salt, and pepper and mix well. Adjust seasoning.
(The best way to do this is by poaching a bit in some boiling water in
a small saucepan and tasting.) Refrigerate, covered, for at least 1 hour.
Meanwhile, make the poaching stock.
Combine all the ingredients for the stock in a stockpot and bring
to a boil. Lower the flame and let simmer for at least 30 minutes.
Wet your hands and form fish mixture into balls and add to the
simmering stock. The liquid should just barely cover the fish balls.
Cover pot and bring to a boil, then remove cover and simmer for
90 minutes, or until stock is reduced by half.
Remove fish balls from stock with slotted spoon; discard stock.
Serve fish balls cold. These freeze well.
Serves 12
Dates are traditionally part of the simanim ceremony.
The prayer said over them is Sheyitamu sonenu, “May
our enemies be consumed.” Throughout Jewish
history, Jews have been plagued by enemies. The word
sheyitamu, “may they be consumed,” resembles the
word tamar or tamri, the Hebrew and Aramaic words
for dates. May it be Your will, Lord our G-d and the
G-d of our fathers, that there come an end to our enemies,
haters and those who wish evil upon us.
According to tradition, a pomegranate has 613 seeds,

the same as the number of commandments in the
Torah, and the seeds are eaten during the simanim
ceremony. Its prayer is for “our merits to increase like
a pomegranate” (shetarbeh zechuyoteinu karimon),
reflecting our desire to live a life full of good deeds
(mitzvot). May it be Your will, Lord our G-d and the
G-d of our fathers, that we be filled with mitzvot like
a pomegranate [is filled with seeds].
Black-Eyed Peas
for the New Year
RUBI YA
On Rosh Hashana black-eyed peas

are called by an elegant, albeit mis-
taken, Aramaic name — rubiya. Rubiya
is really fenugreek, and black-eyed peas are
really lubiya, but for some reason it’s become
traditional to eat lubiya (black-eyed peas) and call it rubiya (fenu-
greek). That is because rubiya sounds like the Hebrew word ribui,
which means “increase.” Therefore, a prayer for increase — of good
deeds, financial resources, and progeny — accompanies this legume.
May it be Your will . . . that our merits shall increase.
This recipe comes from my son-in-law’s mother, Ava Chen.
1 cup dried black-eyed peas 2 tablespoons tomato paste
5 ½ cups water 1 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons olive oil ½ teaspoon cumin
2 medium-size onions, Salt and black pepper to taste
finely diced
2 large tomatoes or 4 to 5 small
ones, peeled and diced (you
can peel them with a knife)
Inspect peas to remove dirt and stones. Soak overnight in 3 cups
water.
In the morning, drain peas and cook in 2 ½ cups water in a covered
saucepan until almost tender, about 20 minutes. Drain, reserving 1
cup of cooking water.
Heat oil in a skillet and sauté onion until brown. Add tomatoes,
peas, reserved cooking water, tomato paste, and seasonings. Cook,
uncovered, until peas are tender and flavors are blended, about 20
minutes.
Serve immediately. This freezes well. Serves 8
holi days § 51
Rosh Hashana Leek Latkes

Karti, Aramaic for “leek,” sounds like karet, “to cut off,” or its future
plural form sheyikartu. The leek prayer is Sheyikartu sonenu, “May
our enemies be cut off.” Regard this dish as a bit of edible spiritual
self-defense.
May it be Your will . . . that our enemies, haters, and those who
wish evil upon us shall be cut down.
Frying the leeks into patties is a traditional presentation of this
vegetable. These patties are so good that you will want to eat them
all year round!
1 medium-size leek
5 large eggs
⅓ cup matzo meal
Vegetable oil for frying
Split leek lengthwise. Separate leaves and run each leaf under cold
water to remove dirt and pebbles.
Place leek pieces in food processor along with eggs, matzo meal,
and salt and pepper. Process, using blade attachment, until you’ve
created a lumpy paste.
Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. With wet hands, form
leek mixture into thin patties the size of your palm and fry, in batches
without crowding, until brown on both sides (about 2 minutes per
side). Drain on absorbent paper.
Serve immediately. Does not freeze well.
Makes 2 ½ to 3 dozen
Gourd Pancakes
KRA
Kra, the Aramaic name for “gourd” or “snake squash,” can be trans-
lated as “to tear,” as in “tear up any evil decrees” (kra roa gzar dineinu).
Kra can also be translated as “to read or to proclaim,” as in “Let our
good deeds be read or proclaimed” (Veyikriu lefanecha zechuyoteinu).
May it be Your will . . . that the evil of our verdicts be ripped,
and that our merits be announced before You.
Like karti (leek) and silka (beet green), kra is customarily grated
into patties or latkes.
1 medium-size gourd or ¼ cup matzo meal
snake squash Salt and black pepper to taste
1 small onion Vegetable oil for frying
3 large eggs
Peel gourd or snake squash, cut lengthwise in half, and remove seeds,
then cut in chunks. Cut onion in chunks. Place all chunks in food
processor along with eggs, matzo meal, and salt and pepper. Pro-
cess, using blade attachment, until the ingredients just about bind
together — you should still see vegetable pieces — a bit lumpy, not a
puree.
Heat oil in a skillet over a medium-high flame. With wet hands,
form gourd mixture into thin pancakes about the size of a silver dol-
lar. Fry pancakes, in batches without crowding, until golden brown,
approximately 2 minutes per side. Drain on absorbent paper.
Makes about 20 silver dollar–size pancakes.
holi days § 53
Green, Green Rosh Hashana Latkes

Silka is another one of the symbols that
has become shrouded in confusion.
Because beets are called selek in mod-
ern Hebrew, some people say that the
Talmudic vegetable silka is the contem-
porary beet. Historically this is all wrong.
Red beets didn’t exist in Talmudic times.
The Talmudic silka is the thin, fibrous white root
with large leaves and stalks that we know as Swiss chard.
Silka sounds like the Hebrew word sheyisalku (salak, the root form
of lesaleik, has the same letters as selek, which is the Hebrew equiv-
alent of silka), or “may they be removed,” referring of course to ene-
mies. Silka is traditionally fashioned into delicious patties, which are
very similar to spinach latkes. They are very green, which may elicit
a strange reaction from most children and some adults, but trust me,
they are delicious.
May it be Your will . . . that those who wish evil upon us shall
depart.
5 large Swiss Chard or beet ½ cup matzo meal
green leaves, shredded 1 small onion, finely diced
(about 2 cups) Salt and black pepper to taste
2 large eggs Vegetable oil for frying
In food processor using blade attachment, process all ingredients
except frying oil quickly until a paste forms (there should still be
identifiable vegetable pieces). Do only a few pulses — you don’t want
to create a true puree.
Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. With wet hands, form
chard mixture into thin patties the size of your palm and fry patties,
in batches, until golden brown on each side, about 2 minutes per side.
Makes 2 to 2 ½ dozen patties
Baked Apples with Honey

While apples aren’t on the Talmud’s short list of symbolic foods, a
honey-dipped apple slice has become synonymous with Rosh Ha-
shana. There is even a prayer for the honey-dipped apple — for a good
and sweet year, of course.
May it be Your will . . . that we are renewed for a year that is
good and sweet like honey.
Why the apple? Because the apple contains the name of G-d. An
apple has ten small holes. In Hebrew the symbol for ten is yud, which
has the same letters as the word yad, which means “hand.” Those ten
little holes are a hint to seek out G-d ’s Hand everywhere. The apple’s
core is shaped like a five-pointed star. The Hebrew letter for five is
hey. The letters yud and hey combine to form the Divine name.
Honey is a metaphor for repentance. Just as sweet honey comes
from a stinging insect, humans can transform mistakes, which are
like bee stings, into merits by making amends.
Some people eat their apples and honey baked together.
Four large baking apples ½ cup of honey, or to taste
(Granny Smith, Rome (estimate 2 tablespoons for
Beauty, Jonathan, or each apple or less to taste)
Jonagold) ¾ cup boiling water
holi days § 55

With an apple corer, dig a hole two-thirds of the way down each
apple — you want to make a hole, not a tunnel. If you don’t have an
apple corer, remove stems with a knife and scoop out cores with a
melon baller or spoon.
Spoon honey into cavities in apples. Place apples in 8 × 8-inch bak-
ing dish and pour ¾ cup of boiling water into dish around apples.
Bake at 375°F for 45 minutes or until apples are tender.
Serve hot.
Serves 4
Round Challah
The circle, which has no beginning and no end, symbolizes G-d and
the infinite and the cycle of life. It’s popular to knead a handful of
raisins into the dough for challah at holiday time.
and resting, kneading in raisins, if using.
Flour your work surface. Using your hands, form dough into a
single long, wide strand (about 27 inches long and 2 inches wide).
Form into a coil and place on parchment-lined baking sheet.
Leave the shaped dough, covered with kitchen towel, for another
45 minutes to rise. Brush with remaining egg yolk and bake 40 min-
utes, or until golden brown.
Freezes well.
Serves 8 to 10
Crown Challah
The Rosh Hashana liturgy is about the coronation of G-d. Corona-
tion is a surrender of personal will and an acceptance of G-d ’s will.
Because Jews see G-d as a loving presence, this surrender is an act of
love. That is the reason why this challah is sweet.
8, adding an extra tablespoon or so of sugar or honey if desired, and
prepare dough the same way, through rising, punching down, and
resting.
Roll dough into a 12-inch log and cut off a one-inch piece from one
end. Form a ball, pulling the sides of the dough down and under and
pinching the bottom closed for a smooth top. Place on a parchment-
lined cookie sheet.
Roll the small piece into a 6-inch rope and cut into six 1-inch
pieces. Roll these pieces into balls. Form a ring with the balls on top
of the larger ball on the baking sheet. Let rest, covered, with a kitchen
towel, for 15 minutes.
Glaze challah with remaining egg yolk and sprinkle with seeds.
Bake for 35 minutes, or until golden brown.
Freezes well. Serves 8 to 10
Shofar Challah
holi days § 57
Shofar Challah
Don’t try to blow this shofar! It’s a tradition to fashion a challah into
the shape of the shofar (ram’s horn) blown at Rosh Hashana and
throughout the penitential period to awaken Jews to repent.
Cornet forms — in sizes anywhere from 5 to 8 inches will work for
this recipe — are available in specialty baking-supply stores, as well
as online.
and resting.
Roll dough into a 12-inch rope. Using a metal cornet baking form,
and starting at the wide end of the cornet, begin wrapping the rope
around the cornet, continuing to the pointed end and just beyond,
curving the end of the dough past the cornet to form the crescent
shape of the shofar.
glazing (but without the seeds), and baking.
Freezes well.
Serves 8 to 10
Scales of Justice Challah

On Rosh Hashana the Heavenly Court is in session, and human be-
haviors are weighed on a scale, good deeds measured up against bad.
The goal, of course, is for the good to outweigh the bad.

and resting.
Divide dough into 3 equal pieces. The first piece will form the
scale’s center column; roll into a log approximately 12 inches long.
Center this lengthwise on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Divide second piece of dough into 3 equal pieces. Roll each into a
15-inch rope and twist into a standard 3-rope braid (if you need help,
see directions in recipe for Three-Braid Challah on page 5). Stretch
this braid over top end of the center-column log, centering it and
curving the ends down.
Divide third piece into 3 equal pieces. Form one piece into an ob-
long shape and place it at bottom of scale for the base.
holi days § 59
The remaining 2 pieces will form the bowls of the scale. Divide
each piece in half. Form 2 pieces into balls and attach one to either
end of the braided “arms” of the scale. Divide each of the remaining
2 pieces into 3 small strands and braid. Stretch these braids under and
around the “bowls.”
glazing (then sprinkling base with sesame or poppy seeds), and baking.
Because this challah is fragile, it would be best to serve it on the
baking sheet. It freezes well, but wrap carefully. Serves 8 to 10
Indian Jewish Rosh Hashana Apple Confit

This sweet, interesting, jamlike apple dessert is adapted from Mavis
Hyman’s wonderful book, Indian-Jewish Cooking.
Mrs. Hyman, who grew up in the Iraqi Jewish community of Cal-
cutta, says that this jamlike confit was prepared at Rosh Hashana.
Iraqi Jewish traders emigrated from Baghdad during the nineteenth
century. The Baghdadis, as they were called, formed a tight-knit
community, and after India declared independence in 1948, many of
them relocated to England and Israel.
4 cups granulated sugar 2 tablespoons rosewater
2 ¼ cups water (optional)
12 small Granny Smith or other 2 cloves
cooking apples, cored but left 2 teaspoons lemon juice
whole (don’t peel)
Boil sugar and water together. Simmer together for about 10 minutes
until a syrup forms (yes, this is very sweet). Add apples, rosewater (if
using), and spices and cook for an hour (or even longer), or until the
syrup coats the back of a spoon.
Remove from heat. Cool and refrigerate. This has a long shelf life
and may be used as a jam.
Makes about 5 cups
Quince Compote
While the Hebrew word tapuach is reflexively translated as “apple,”
the exquisitely scented tapuach fruit described in the “Song of Songs”
may have been a quince. The word also appears in the Rosh Hashana
liturgy, referring to the mound of ash from the ram sacrifice that
followed the binding of Isaac.
Heavy and covered with brown fuzz, the quince, a botanical cousin
to both apples and pears, is too sour to eat raw, but cooked with honey
or sugar, quinces make a wonderful compote — sweet, tart, and fra-
grant all at the same time. Quinces grow abundantly throughout
southern Europe and in the Middle East. Sephardi Jews love them,
and this compote, called bimbriyo or membrillo, is a traditional fea-
ture of the Sephardi Rosh Hashana table.
6 quinces, peeled and cored Pinch of cinnamon
⅔ cup water Juice of 1 lemon
1 cup granulated sugar
Cut quinces into quarters and cut
through each quarter to make
medium-size pieces. If you find
them too hard to cut, steam
them first, then slice and core
and continue cooking. Com-
bine all ingredients in a sauce-
pan and bring to a boil. Simmer,
covered, over a very low flame for up
to 2 hours, or until quinces are soft.
If you like, you can puree the compote
into a paste. Refrigerate and serve cold.
Serves 8
holi days § 61
Carrot Tzimmes
Gezer, the Hebrew word for “carrot,” is phonologically linked to the
Hebrew word gezeira, which means “evil decree.” The carrot prayer
asks for G-d ’s protection from evil decrees.
In Yiddish carrots are called mehren, which means “to increase.”
They are sliced into rounds that look like gold coins and sautéed in
honey. Tzimmes is eaten at the New Year to attract prosperity. This
recipe has been in my family for generations. It’s traditional to serve it
through the entire High Holiday period — and it’s important to use
only fresh carrots for this, never frozen or canned.
12 medium-size carrots ¼ cup vegetable oil
2 heaping tablespoons ⅓ to ½ cup honey
all-purpose flour ½ cup water
Peel carrots and hand slice them into ¼-inch rounds. Don’t use a
food processor or the slices will be too limp.
Cook and stir flour and oil in saucepan over a low flame until mix-
ture forms a thick brown paste (roux). Add carrots and gradually
drizzle in up to ½ cup honey and the ⅓ cup water. Cover. Simmer
until carrots are tender and sweet (20 to 30 minutes).
Serve immediately, alongside meat or poultry. You can freeze this,
but the carrots will get a bit mushy. Serves 6 to 8
Tongue for the New Year

The Jewish concept of good speech means speech that isn’t hurtful.
Both Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews serve tongue during the New
Year as a reminder to use our tongues in the right way.
The Patriarch Abraham, who was born on Rosh Hashana, served
tongue in mustard sauce to the angels when they visited him. Though
Abraham’s recipe has been lost to time, the combination is a winner.
Tongue
1 beef tongue (about 3 pounds) 1 bunch fresh dill or
2 to 3 bay leaves 1 tablespoon dried
Handful of pickling spice 1 large onion, sliced into
4 to 5 cloves garlic thin rounds
Honey Mustard Sauce
1 tablespoon vegetable oil 2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 ½ tablespoons prepared
mustard (spicy brown
works well)
Submerge tongue in 6-quart stockpot filled two-thirds full of water.
Add a handful of pickling spice, dill, bay leaves, and fresh garlic cloves
(as many as you like), all tied in a cheesecloth bag, and onion. Bring
to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for about 3
hours, or until skin peels easily from tongue.
Remove tongue from cooking stock, measuring out 1 ½ cups of the
stock to use in the sauce. Peel off skin when tongue is cool enough
to handle.
To make the sauce, sauté flour in oil in a skillet. Stir in reserved
tongue cooking stock, mustard, honey, and soy sauce and cook for 5
minutes until blended. Adjust seasonings to taste.
Slice tongue thin and heat in sauce. Serve immediately.
Freezes well.
Serves 6 to 8
holi days § 63
Batya’s Sweet Rosh Hashana Chicken Liver Sauté

Ukrainian Jews fed their children liver, called leber or in plural le
berlach, on Rosh Hashana to remind them to leb, or live, erlach, hon-
estly. Honesty is a core Jewish value. In the East European shtetl the
highest compliment one could give was to call someone an ehrlacher
Yid, an honest Jew.
I got this recipe from my assistant, Batya Lieberman, and it’s amaz-
ing. Jewish law requires that liver be salted and roasted over an open
flame to drain the blood, which can be a messy job. Pre-koshered liver
is available at kosher butcher stores.
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 ½ cups sweet red wine
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ pound roasted chicken livers
Stir flour into onion in a 1-quart saucepan. Stir in wine and bring to
a boil over a medium-high flame. When mixture boils, add salt and
pepper. Continue to cook, over a medium flame, until onions are
soft, wine is reduced, and mixture is thickened. Add roasted livers
and cook for 5 more minutes.
Serve immediately. Refrigerate for storage only; do not freeze.
Serves 2 as a main course
or 4 to 6 as an hors d’oeuvre
Couscous aux Sept Legumes

Couscous aux sept legumes is a traditional Moroccan dish that Mo-
roccan Jews turned into a Rosh Hashana specialty by reading the
number seven (sept is “seven” in French) with Jewish eyes. Jews live in
the world of sevens. Rosh Hashana is in Tishrei, the seventh month
(counting from Nissan, when Passover occurs). There are seven hol-
idays in the Jewish year, seven years in the sabbatical cycle, seven
sefirot (or Divine Emanations), though some say there are ten.
Couscous, a grainy pasta made of tiny specks of semolina, is a fa-

vorite with many Moroccans. On Rosh Hashana Jews like to say that
their merits and good deeds should be as numerous as the grains in
couscous.
You can use tomatoes or cabbage or any other vegetables you like
for this dish. Just make sure you have a total of seven vegetables.
2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 small sweet potato, peeled
2 p ounds lean beef cut into and cut into chunks
cubes (you can substitute 1 small white potato, peeled
lamb, if available) and cut into chunks
1 large onion or 2 small onions, 1 red bell pepper, seeded
finely diced and sliced thin
2 cups beef stock or broth ½ teaspoon saffron threads
1 turnip or zucchini, turnip or turmeric
peeled if using, cut into chunks ½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup peeled fresh pumpkin, ¼ cup brown sugar (packed)
cut into chunks or honey (or less to taste)
2m edium-size carrots, peeled Salt and black pepper to taste
and cut into chunks
Sauté onion in the oil in 6-quart Dutch oven until golden. Add beef
and sear over a medium-high flame until pieces are browned on all
sides (about 6 minutes) Add vegetables and sauté for 5 minutes. Then
add honey, stock, and spices and cook for another 40 minutes —
everything should be fork tender.
Spoon meat, vegetables, and gravy over Microwave Couscous (rec-
ipe below) in bowls to serve.
Freezes well, without couscous. Serves 4
MICROWAVE COUSCOUS
The classic method for making couscous is in a specially made pot
called a couscousière. This is an easy version for the busy cook.
2 cups instant Moroccan 1 teaspoon salt
couscous Pinch of black pepper
¼ cup olive oil
holi days § 65
Pour couscous into large bowl and cover with water. Cover bowl with
kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Let couscous soak for 5 minutes, then
drain. Remove couscous to microwave-safe bowl. Stir in oil, salt, and
pepper. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave on high for 5 min-
utes. Fluff with fork or your fingers before serving as base for stews,
such as Couscous aux Sept Legumes Stew (recipe above).
Serves 4 to 6
Wine-Poached Pears
Pears, called fruchtbarn, which literally means “fruit bearers” in Yid-
dish, are eaten on Rosh Hashana as fertility symbols. Delicious wine-
poached pears are a great way for cooks seeking to jump-start their
holiday cooking because they keep in the fridge for weeks, turning
darker and more flavorful as they age. The leftover wine marinade is
delicious on its own, or when mixed with seltzer or club soda.
This recipe is adapted from Arthur Schwartz’s Jewish Home
Cooking.
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
1 ½ cups sweet red wine (Malaga or Concord)
6 firm, ripe Bosc pears
Peel pears, leaving stems intact (no need to core or seed). Boil to-
gether sugar, water, and wine in a deep saucepan. Insert peeled pears
and cook, uncovered, for 45 minutes, turning every 10 or so minutes
so they cook and color evenly.
Remove from heat. Leave pears in the pan to cool in the syrup.
While they cool, turn them every 10 minutes for the first 30 minutes.
Refrigerate in tightly covered container and serve very cold. The
pears get better over time, and the leftover syrup is delicious when
added to seltzer.
Serves 6
Teiglach
Teiglach, which is Yiddish for “dough balls” (teig is the Yiddish word
for “dough”), is an old-fashioned Ashkenazi Rosh Hashana cake as-
sembled from hundreds of tiny balls of honey-soaked dough. A gen-
eration ago, Teiglach was a staple in Jewish bakeries. Today you can
hardly find it. Most people don’t bother to bake it because it is such
a patchke (labor-intensive job). Truthfully, it does take considerable
time and patience to cut up and prepare all those tiny balls of dough,
but the results are yummy and also quite pretty. If you are serious
about trying this, get your kids or friends on board to help out.
The walnuts listed in the recipe — inspired by the teiglach recipe
in A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking by Marcy Goldman — are
optional, since for Rosh Hashana it’s customary to abstain from
nuts, whose Hebrew name, egoz, has the numerical equivalent of the
Hebrew word chait, which means “sin.”
You can bake the dough puffs first and make syrup and assemble
the next day.
3 large eggs ¾ cup honey
1 teaspoon vegetable oil 1 teaspoon ground ginger
⅓ cup plus 1 teaspoon (optional)
granulated sugar 1 cup chopped walnuts
¼ teaspoon salt (optional)
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, ¾ cup shredded coconut
plus additional as necessary (optional)
to make a workable dough
Preheat oven to 375ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and
lightly grease a second baking sheet.
Whisk eggs, oil, 1 teaspoon sugar, and salt in bowl of stand mixer
fitted with paddle attachment. Beat in flour gradually to make a very
soft dough.
Turn dough out onto a floured board. Continue adding flour until
you have a very soft, workable dough. Roll out into pencil-thin strips
and cut into pieces, ½ inch or a little bigger. Teiglach puffs don’t have
to be perfect. Lay pieces on the parchment-lined baking sheet so they
holi days § 67
A B
C
D
don’t touch and bake at 375°F until they are puffed up and golden
brown (about 20 minutes).
Heat honey and sugar together in a saucepan, and boil very gently
for 3 to 5 minutes until the syrup is amber colored. Lower heat, stir
in dough puffs and optional nuts and ginger, tossing with the syrup.
Take care not to break the puffs. Pour the honey-soaked dough
puffs onto the lightly greased baking sheet. Teiglach are sticky. Dip-
ping your hands in cold water, mold the puffs into small pyramids.
Sprinkle with coconut, if desired.
Let cool before serving. If not serving right away, store in an air-
tight container. Freezes well. Serves 4 to 6
i YOM KIPPU R
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day on the Jewish
calendar.
While the “Book of Life” is inscribed on Rosh Hashana, it’s only
sealed on Yom Kippur. That means that Yom Kippur is a last chance
to set things straight with G-d and merit a good year. Because of
this, many Jews spend the entire day of Yom Kippur in synagogue,
fasting and praying so that their sins will be atoned. The goal is to
begin the new year with a clean slate. This only works between G-d
and humankind. If you’ve wronged a fellow human, you need to ask
his or her forgiveness and make appropriate amends.
As Yom Kippur is devoted entirely to the spirit, there is no eating
or drinking. But the day before Yom Kippur is a day of great feasting.
The Talmud says that eating on Yom Kippur eve is a holy act, and it’s
customary to eat continually throughout the day to take advantage
of this spiritual bounty.
For Ashkenazi Jews, the traditional pre-fast meal is chicken soup
with kreplach. Sephardi Jews don’t have an equivalent tradition, and
neither has a traditional post-fast menu. In recent years, it’s become
popular to break the fast on bagels and lox.
Bird Challah
FEIGEL
In eighteenth-century Ukraine, where life could be harsh, Jewish

women baked a bird-shaped ( feigel) challah for the pre–Yom Kippur
meal. The bird reflects a promise in Isaiah 31:5 that just as a bird can
fly loose from its captors, so too will G-d rescue the Jews from their
foes.
8 (omitting the seeds and adding 2 raisins and a whole unblanched
almond) and prepare dough the same way, through rising, punching
down, and resting.
holi days § 69
To form the bird, roll the dough into a thick rope. Cut off one-
third of the dough. Form the larger piece into a ball; this will be the
base, or body, of the bird. Cut the smaller piece of dough into 4 equal
pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. Using 2 balls, form the wings of
the bird by pressing into the body on opposite sides. The next piece
will be the bird’s neck. Form it into a ball and then flatten it slightly.
Press this on top of the bird, slightly forward from the wings. With
the last piece form another ball and press it on top of the neck. Insert
an almond for the beak and two raisins for the eyes.
glazing (but without the seeds), and baking.
Freezes well.
Serves 8 to 10
Classic Kreplach
Kreplach aren’t just Jewish wontons. The traditional dumplings are
a kabbalistic food expressing the nature of Divine judgment. The
white dough covering stands for Divine mercy, while the red meat
filling stands for Divine justice. In Jewish mysticism red, the color
of blood, represents strict justice while white, the color of milk,
represents mercy and love. Kreplach incorporate both, and on Yom
Kippur, when G-d inscribes the judgment, we want the justice to be
covered with mercy — like the meat of the kreplach encased in its
blanket of white dough.
Chickens are used during the pre–Yom Kippur atonement rit-
ual of kaparot, which can be performed by swinging a live chicken
over one’s head and reciting an ancient prayer that declares that the
chicken is going to its death in place of the person performing the
ritual (traditionally the chicken used for the ritual is slaughtered and
donated to the poor for the pre–Yom Kippur meal). The stark drama
of the kaparot ritual demonstrates the fragility of our existence and
inspires us toward repentance. For this reason, it’s an ancient tradi-
tion to float kreplach in chicken soup eaten at the pre-fast meal.
For the thinnest, most professional looking kreplach, use a hand-
cranked pasta maker; check online for an inexpensive model.
Dough
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, preferably unbleached
Pinch of salt
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
½ cup water
Filling
1 cup ground beef
1 small onion (optional, grated, raw or sautéed)
Pinch of black pepper
Salt for cooking
holi days § 71
Make the dough. Combine flour and salt in a large bowl. Add egg,
egg yolk, and water and work all together into a soft, smooth dough,
using a wooden spoon (you can also use a food processor fitted with
the metal blade). Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes
or longer (if you are pressed for time, you can even leave dough re-
frigerated overnight).
A B
C
D
F
When ready to make kreplach, bring a large pot of salted water

to a boil.
Combine beef, onion (if using), and pepper in a bowl and mix
well. On a heavily floured surface or using a hand-cranked pasta ma-
chine, roll out dough as thin as it will stretch. Cut dough into 3-inch
squares; you should have about 32 squares.
Place ½ teaspoon filling in center of each square. Fold squares
over into triangles and pinch edges closed. Drop finished kreplach
into the boiling water, stirring gently with wooden spoon to keep
kreplach separate, and let simmer for 20 minutes.
If you see kreplach sticking together in the pot, separate gently
with the wooden spoon. Remove from pot with a slotted spoon or
wire skimmer and serve right away, in hot soup, or freeze.
Makes 32; serves 10–12
Honey Cake
LEKACH
Here’s a little secret you’re unlikely to hear from your financial ad-
viser. Just before Yom Kippur, have a friend feed you a slice of honey
cake. Two slices, even. And not because the sweet carbs will help you
fast better. A pre–Yom Kippur gift of honey cake, also called lekach,
is the secret to a prosperous New Year.
Here’s why. If one was decreed to “eat the bread of others” he could
“fulfill” this decree with sweetness by receiving a gift of honey cake.
Because of this, many synagogues distribute honey cake slices on
Yom Kippur Eve. In Yiddish, lekach translates as “moral lesson.” As
lekach is a term used to describe the Torah, honey is also served on
Shavuot and Simchat Torah, the holidays on which the Torah takes
center stage.
Homemade honey cake is complex, subtle, and slightly smoky in
flavor and quite exquisite, especially paired with a cup of coffee or tea.
This recipe is based on one from the Art of Jewish Cooking, the
best-selling cookbook by Jennie Grossinger, founder and doyenne of
holi days § 73
Grossinger’s, the legendary Catskills resort that bore her name. The
cookbook went through thirty-one editions between 1959 when it
was first released and its last printing in 1977.
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour 4 large eggs
¼ teaspoon salt ¾ cup granulated sugar
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder ¼ cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon baking soda 2 cups honey
½ teaspoon cinnamon ½ cup brewed coffee
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 ½ cups walnuts or almonds
⅛ teaspoon ground cloves (optional)
½ teaspoon ground ginger
Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray two-9 × 5 × 3-inch loaf pans with non-
stick cooking spray.
Sift dry ingredients together into a large bowl. In a second bowl,
beat eggs until light, gradually adding sugar, oil, honey and coffee.
Combine wet and dry ingredients and fold in optional nuts.
Divide batter between the two loaf pans and bake at 325°F for
50 minutes.
i SU KKOT H
On Sukkoth Jews leave their homes to move into sukkoth, huts that
are actually designed to allow the stars to shine through the roof.
These huts recall the temporary dwellings of Israelites through their
desert wanderings, dwellings that were famously shielded by the
Clouds of Glory, a supernal shield that made those flimsy structures
the safest places on earth.
The move into the sukkah is done with great enthusiasm and love,
and Sukkoth is Zman Simchateinu, the happiest time of the Jewish
year. The move into the sukkah expresses a belief that the material
world represented by our homes is transitory and the only real secu-
rity comes from faith.
Perhaps because it’s so laden with other symbols — the sukkah
itself, as well as the lulav (palm branch) and the etrog (citron) —
Sukkoth lacks an extensive menu of symbolic foods. It is traditional
to serve wine and meat, the Jewish foods of joy, and bread, which is
the anchor of a Jewish meal. Serving stuffed vegetables is also pop-
ular, because Sukkoth coincides with the Israeli harvest season and
stuffed vegetables symbolize bounty.
No matter what is on the menu, Sukkoth is a weeklong party, as
family and friends join for meals in the sukkah.
One Two Three Bread

Every sukkah is visited by ushpizin, which is the Aramaic word for
the seven metaphysical visitors who are the seven shepherds of Israel
— Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, and David. They
come one at a time, each guest on his own special night. Ushpizin
are easy guests. They don’t take up chairs. They don’t require food.
Their spirits, evoked in prayers that precede the meal, hover over the
sukkah.
On the fourth night of Sukkoth, Joseph arrives. Because Joseph
is called the “sustainer” — he created the world’s first food bank and
fed the entire world during a famine — the Hassidim of Belz honor
holi days § 75
him with a life-sustaining whole-wheat bread. I wonder if they knew

about One Two Three Bread.
Unless you live right next door to a really first-class bread bakery,
this crusty, loose-crumbed loaf will taste better than any bread you
buy, and it will save you money. Why is it called One Two Three
Bread? It’s a shortcut to remember the recipe: one cup water and
starter, two teaspoons salt, three cups flour, nothing more than that!
Sourdough, or wild yeast, is a magical combination of flour, warm
water, and a bit of fermented dough. Until commercial yeast became
widely available, every home had a crock of sourdough starter. Be-
cause starter is used and then replenished, it can live indefinitely.
Some starters date back decades, even centuries.
Long-term starter saving never caught on among Jews because of
Passover. Starter, known in Hebrew as seor, which has an interesting
sound not unlike sourdough, is hametz, or leavened food, and must
be discarded before Passover. For centuries, Diaspora Jews bought or
received starters as gifts from their Gentile neighbors.
While starter making, which is not as daunting as it sounds, takes
only about ten minutes to get under way, after that you’ll need to wait
a week for the fermentation to start. In an immediate-gratification
culture, it’s a wonderful lesson when all you can do is wait.
Potato water is especially good to use in the starter because it con-
tains lots of natural sugars.
Sourdough Starter
2 ½ teaspoons instant yeast
2 cups warm water or water
in which you’ve boiled potatoes
2 cups all-purpose flour
Bread
1 cup starter
1 cup water
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon instant yeast
3 to 3 ¼ cups whole-wheat pastry flour
Mix all the starter ingredients together in a nonmetallic bowl using a

wooden spoon. Cover loosely and leave in a warm place until mixture
becomes bubbly and lets off a sour smell (in hot weather this can take
2 to 3 days; in winter the process is slower). If your starter turns a
strange color (green or orange), throw it out and start again.
Note: Every time you use the starter, you need to replenish it. You
do this by adding equal parts of flour and water to the mixture and
allowing it to stand overnight to ferment again. Store in fridge. By
continually replenishing, you can keep your starter going indefinitely.
To make the bread, mix all ingredients in a nonmetallic bowl
using a wooden spoon. Cover and leave for 8 hours (yes, this is slow).
Thirty minutes before you’re ready to bake, preheat oven to 500°F.
Place a 3-quart ovenproof saucepan or casserole (only stainless steel,
or ovenproof glass or ceramic — do not use nonstick cookware for
this) and heat, with its lid on, for 30 minutes.
Uncover dough and knead in as much flour as it takes to create a
soft, workable dough (add the flour a handful at a time).
Remove saucepan or casserole from oven — wear sturdy oven
mitts! — and carefully place dough inside. Bake for 30 minutes with
lid on. Remove lid and bake for another 30 minutes.
Very carefully, wearing your oven mitts, remove bread from sauce-
pan or casserole; the bread should slide right out.
Cool before serving. Freezes well.
Serves 6 to 8
Frankfurter Goulash
Frankfurter Goulash is an Old Country fast food that harks back to
an era when cooking times weren’t calculated in seconds. My mother
raised her family on it and introduced it to my kids, who renamed
it “knock knocks and potatoes” from the Hebrew naknik, which
means “hot dog.” The recipe easily doubles.
Sadly, the frankfurter has a deservedly spotty reputation, so unless
you can get chemical-free franks, don’t eat this every day. It’s a nice
holiday treat, though.
holi days § 77
2 tablespoons vegetable oil 4 to 5 medium-size russet

1 to 2 medium-size onions potatoes, peeled and cubed
½ red bell pepper, seeded and ¼ cup tomato paste mixed with
diced (optional) ⅔ cup water or one 16-ounce
1 clove garlic, chopped can tomato sauce
(optional) 2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
8 to 10 all-beef frankfurters 1 teaspoon paprika
(reduced fat is fine), sliced Pinch of black pepper
into rounds
Heat oil in Dutch oven over a medium flame and sauté onion (and
red pepper and garlic, if using; these will beautify the dish). When
onion is translucent (or even before, if you’re rushing), add frank-
furters and sauté everything for 1 minute, mixing with a wooden
spoon. Add potatoes, tomato paste mixture, teriyaki sauce, paprika,
and pepper. Cook, covered, on a low flame, checking occasionally to
make sure potatoes don’t stick to bottom of pot. If they seem to be
sticking, add more water. Taste and adjust seasoning. When potatoes
feel fork tender, about 20 minutes, you are done.
Serve immediately. Frankfurter Goulash doesn’t freeze well, but
you aren’t likely to have leftovers anyway.
Serves 4
Tomato Soup
If unexpected guests descend on your sukkah, this rich and velvety
tomato soup is a classic comfort food that takes just minutes to pre-
pare using ingredients you probably have in your pantry.
Leftover cooked white rice can be used instead of raw — just toss
it in to heat through as the soup finishes cooking.
1 ½ tablespoons all-purpose ¾ to 1 cup granulated sugar
flour 2 to 2 ½ cups water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil ⅓ cup white rice
2 cans tomato juice
(46 ounces each)
Heat oil in a 5-quart saucepan over a medium-high flame. Stir in

flour and sauté for about 1 minute until a light brown paste (a roux
or einbren, the traditional European soup thickener) forms. Add to-
mato juice, sugar, and 2 cups water — if soup is too thick add another
½ cup water. Bring to a boil and add rice. Reduce heat and simmer,
covered, 20 minutes, until rice softens.
Serve immediately. Freezes well.
Serves 6 to 8
Mandelbrot
Mandelbrot (literally “almond bread,” or Jewish biscotti) is an Old
Country favorite brought over to the New World and passed on
through the centuries — and for good reason. This recipe is love.
When I recently made a batch for a friend’s son’s bar mitzvah, neigh-
bors besieged me begging for the recipe. So here it is, adapted from
The Kosher Palette, by Susie Fishbein and Sandra E. Blank. Great
for your own family, great for Sukkoth snacks, Purim baskets, par-
ties, kiddush receptions, or just to enjoy with coffee. Because you
don’t bake the mandelbrot twice, this is a slightly unconventional
but nonetheless very tasty recipe, and it’s so easy that older kids can
make it on their own.
2 large eggs 1 teaspoon baking powder
½ cup vegetable oil 1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract ¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups flour (whole-wheat pastry ½ cup slivered almonds
flour is just fine) ½ cup raisins, dried cranberries,
1 cup granulated sugar or chocolate chips
Beat eggs, oil, and vanilla in a large bowl, then stir in dry ingredi-
ents, almonds, and raisins, dried cranberries, or chocolate chips. Mix
until dough forms a ball. Divide dough in half and place each half on
a parchment-lined baking sheet. Using your hands, shape each piece
into a log 12 inches long and 2 inches wide.
holi days § 79
Bake at 350°F for 30 to 40 minutes.

Remove from oven. Cool slightly. Cut, using a sharp serrated knife,
into ½-inch slices. For a crunchier mandelbrot, return to turned-off
oven for 15 minutes after slicing.
Cool on a rack. Freezes beautifully.
Makes about 24 pieces
A B
E
Unstuffed Cabbage
When my dear friend Sylvia boasted of her famous “unstuffed cab-
bage,” I secretly smirked. Unstuffed cabbage? It seemed like such a
violation, but the dish turned out to be tasty and a snap to make.
Meat eating is traditional on Sukkot. Unstuffed cabbage, which is
heavy on the vegetables, is a lighter way to eat meat.
Cabbage
1 cup water
4 cups shredded white cabbage
Meatballs
2 p ounds ground meat (can be a ½ teaspoon paprika
mixture of beef and turkey) ½ teaspoon garlic powder or
1 large egg one fresh clove garlic, crushed
½ cup tomato sauce ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
¼ cup matzo meal
Sauce
2 cups tomato sauce 1 tablespoon onion soup mix
2 t ablespoons lemon juice, 1 tablespoon distilled white
or to taste vinegar
3 tablespoons (packed) brown 1 tablespoon teriyaki sauce
sugar, or to taste Pinch of ground ginger
Bring water to a boil in a 5-quart Dutch oven and add shredded
cabbage. Let cabbage steam, covered, for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in
a large bowl, combine ground meat, matzo meal, egg, and spices into
a mixture that holds together. Using the palms of your hands, form
balls that are 1 inch in diameter. You will have about 24 meatballs.
Place meatballs on top of cabbage. Re-cover and continue to cook
on a low flame while you combine all the sauce ingredients in a bowl.
Pour over meatballs and cook, covered, for 1 hour.
Adjust seasonings to taste before serving over rice, quinoa, mashed
potatoes, or pasta. This freezes well.
Serves 6 to 8 as a main course
and twice that as a starter
holi days § 81
Pistou
Pistou, the pareve cousin to the better-known and dairy pesto, is the
culinary equivalent of a strand of good pearls, simple and elegant. It
goes well with pasta, cheese, fish, eggs, chicken, potatoes, baguette,
and nearly everything else you can imagine, except perhaps ice cream.
Pistou originated in Provence, which in medieval Rabbinical liter-
ature refers to the entire South of France, including the Cote D’Azur,
where Jews were neither Ashkenazi nor Sephardi but followed their
own unique customs. During the Middle Ages, Provence was a power
house of Talmud study, producing several leading scholars, among
them the Rivads (I, II, and III) the Meiri, and the Ba’al Hamaor.
Olive oil, one of pistou’s main ingredients, accelerates brain devel-
opment. Could pistou be the fuel behind all the Talmudic genius?
Note that the original Provençal pistou didn’t have nuts, but I like
them, so I included them here. Which means, I guess, that what I’m
making here is Italian pesto (minus the Parmesan cheese).
2 cups fresh basil leaves ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
5 tablespoons pine nuts 1 ½ teaspoons freshly squeezed
1 to 2 cloves garlic (you can lemon juice (optional)
use more if you like) ½ to ⅔ cup best-quality olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
In bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, combine

basil, pine nuts, garlic, salt, pepper, and lemon juice, if using. Pulse
while gradually dribbling in oil. This isn’t a puree. The results should
have some texture.
Serve immediately or freeze (this freezes well).
About ⅔ cup
i HOSH A NA RA BBA H
Hoshana Rabbah, or the Great Hosanna, is the name given to the
final day of Sukkoth. Though it is technically part of Sukkoth, this
one-day holiday shares some of the flavor of Yom Kippur, and it’s
considered the last blast of the penitential season.
As is customary on Yom Kippur eve, so too are kreplach eaten
on Hoshana Rabbah. According to Jewish folk tradition, Jews eat
kreplach on holidays that involve “clopping,” or beating. On Yom
Kippur eve Jews eat kreplach and clop al cheit; breast beating is part of
the Jewish confessional prayer ritual. On Hoshana Rabbah the cus-
tom is to clop shanas or aravos, or “beat willow branches,” as part of
the prayer ritual. Willows are a sign of humility, and they are banged
on the ground to indicate that Jews are like willows, devoid of the
smell and taste that symbolize good deeds and merits and wholly de-
pendent on Divine mercy, which the kreplach symbolize. On Purim,
when kreplach are also eaten, the custom is to “clop Haman,” or make
noise when Haman’s name comes up during the megillah, the scroll
of the Book of Esther, which is read in the synagogue on Purim.
Cabbage Soup
KOHL M IT VASSER
Kohl mit Vasser, which literally means “cabbage with water,” is a soup
that German Jews have served for centuries on Hoshana Rabbah. Ac-
cording to the Zohar (an important Jewish mystical text), the judg-
ment period that began on Rosh Hashana ends on Hoshana Rabbah,
when judgment is sealed.
The Hoshana Rabbah prayer service is like a miniature Yom
Kippur and features a cycle of seven Hoshana prayers, Hoshana-na,
translated as “hosanna” and meaning, literally, “save us.” The word
na, which is composed of the letters nun and aleph, adds up to fifty-
one (nun is fifty and aleph is one), the exact length of the penitential
period, which starts at thirty days before Rosh Hashana at the be-
holi days § 83
ginning of the month of Elul (the month that precedes Tishrei, the
lunar month that contains the New Year and all the High Holidays)
and ends on Hoshana Rabbah.
The refrain to the Hoshana series is the phrase Kol mevasser,
mevasser ve-omer —“the voice of the Herald (Elijah) announces”—
expressing hope for the speedy coming of the Messiah, which repeats
through this prayer cycle. Kohl mit Vaser sounds like Kol mevasser,
hence the soup.
Sadly, I couldn’t track down an authentic recipe, but my assistant,
Batya Lieberman, supplied me with her German Jewish forebears’
delicious and spicy German cabbage soup.
12 cups water ¼ cup tomato paste
2 onions, cut coarsely 1 can (28 ounces) pureed
3 carrots, peeled and sliced into tomatoes
thin rounds 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 ½ lbs beef flanken or stew 2 tablespoons (packed) brown
meat, cubed sugar
4 cups shredded white cabbage Salt and black pepper to taste
Combine everything in a large soup pot. Bring to a boil, skimming
the surface, then simmer, covered, over very low heat for up to 2 hours
until beef is very tender.
Taste and adjust seasoning and serve. Freezes well.
Serve 12
Hand Challah
Ukrainian Jews commemorated Hoshana Rabbah by baking a chal-
lah in the shape of a hand, open to receive a good judgment. There’s
a mystical idea that the Heavenly Court reconvenes on Hoshana
Rabbah for another round of appeal in the judgment process. That
means that Jews once again go through the rituals of prayer, charity,
and repentance. The traditional Yiddish greeting for Hoshana Rab-
bah is Gut kvitel, which literally means a “good note,” referring to a
wish for a good judgment.

and resting.
Form entire piece of dough into the shape of a hand with five fin-
gers, placing it on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Or cut dough into
two pieces, one large piece and another the size of a medium-size
apple. Form the large piece into a ball and flatten lightly into a disc
shape. Place disc on a parchment-lined baking sheet, then shape the
smaller piece into a hand with five fingers and place on top of disc.
Let rise, covered with kitchen towel, 30 to 45 minutes.
Glaze challah with beaten egg yolk and bake for 40 minutes, or
until golden brown.
Freezes well.
Serves 8 to 10
holi days § 85
i SHM I N I ATZERET
Shmini Atzeret (the Eighth Day of Solemn Assembly) comes on the
heels of Sukkoth and signals the start of the rainy season. Though
it seems to merge with Sukkoth, Shmini Atzeret is actually a sepa-
rate holiday. As the Israeli rainy season begins shortly after Shmini
Atzeret, a prayer for rain is recited in synagogue.
On Shmini Atzeret, Rabbi Moses Sofer, the Chatam Sofer, the
early nineteenth-century Austro-Hungarian sage, ate chicken soup
with long noodles, which symbolized worms crawling out from the
ground after a good rain. Back then people weren’t grossed out by
worms; in agrarian society people realized that worms aerate the soil
so that the crops can grow, hence the long noodles.
You can replicate this custom by boiling some spaghetti for the
soup.
Old-Fashioned Chicken Soup with a Whole Chicken

GOLDENE YOICH
1 chicken (4 pounds), 2 whole parsnips, peeled

fat removed 3 stalks celery, with leaves
Consommé powder to taste 2 sprigs parsley
(optional) 2 sprigs dill
Salt and black pepper to taste 4 ounces spaghetti, cooked
2 onions, peeled and left whole (optional)
4 whole carrots, peeled
Put chicken in large soup pot and pour in enough cold water to cover.
The water level should be 2 inches above the chicken. Add consommé
powder, salt, and pepper. Bring to boil, then lower flame and simmer,
uncovered, until scum forms (about an hour). Remove scum with a
slotted spoon or paper towel. Add vegetables and cook for another
hour, or until veggies are soft. Remove from heat.
Carefully remove chicken, then pour broth through strainer into

a clean pot to remove vegetables and herbs. Discard herbs. You can
either discard the vegetables or serve them (the vegetables are soft, so
eating them is a matter of taste; I do eat them) and save chicken for
another purpose, such as glingl (recipe follows).
Serve broth with cooked spaghetti, if desired. Serves 12
holi days § 87
Glingl
With generous helpings of garlic and freshly ground black pepper, a
waterlogged fowl can be deliciously repurposed as glingl.
1 chicken, cooked as in recipe 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or
for Old-Fashioned Chicken Schmaltz (page 107)
Soup with a Whole Chicken 3 to 4 large eggs
(recipe above) Salt and black pepper to taste
2 to 6 cloves garlic, to taste,
minced
Separate chicken meat from bones with your fingers, discarding skin
and fat, until you have 2 cups of meat. It’s critical that chicken for
glingl be completely divested of bones or cartilage (which makes this
a good dish to serve to toddler). Shred meat with a knife or in a food
processor until about the texture of chopped meat.
Beat eggs lightly in a bowl with a fork. Add chicken, salt, and pep-
per and toss to combine.
Heat oil or schmaltz in a skillet and sauté garlic until fragrant.
Add chicken and egg mixture and fry in the hot garlicky oil, stirring
occasionally, until egg is cooked. What you will have, basically, is a
doctored-up scrambled egg.
Serve over pasta, quinoa, or rice. Does not freeze well.
Pareve Blintzes with Glingl Filling

2 cups water 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 large eggs ½ teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour Glingl (recipe above),
(for Passover substitute made without eggs
potato starch)
Blend or process eggs and water; add flour gradually, beating until
smooth after each addition.
Spray a crêpe pan or medium-size skillet with nonstick cooking
spray and set over a medium flame. Spoon batter, one-half ladleful at
a time, into pan, tilting pan so batter covers entire bottom of skillet.
When top of crêpe looks dry, flip over and fry on the other side for
15 seconds. Remove crêpe from pan to a plate. Fry remaining crêpes
and stack on the plate.
Place 1 tablespoon glingl in center of each crêpe and fold top of
each crêpe one third of the way down, like an envelope flap, then fold
in the right side, left side, and bottom, until filling is tucked inside.
Serve as is, or baked in a sauce as in the following recipe. These
freeze well.
Makes 12 blintzes; serves 6
Blintzes Baked with Batya’s Fresh Tomato Sauce

6 to 7 small, very ripe tomatoes
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley or cilantro
Pareve Blintzes with Glingl Filling (recipe above)
Cut tomatoes up into big pieces — no need to peel. Place in saucepan,
cover, and cook on a low flame for 15 minutes. Remove from heat,
season with salt and pepper, and blend using an immersion blender
or in a regular blender.
While sauce cooks, preheat oven to 425°F.
Layer blintzes in a 9 × 13 baking dish — they should be tightly
packed — and pour sauce over them. Bake 10 minutes at 425°F until
heated through.
Sprinkle with finely chopped fresh parsley or cilantro to serve.
These freeze well.
Serves 6
holi days § 89
i SIMCH AT TORA H
Simchat Torah, when the annual cycle of Torah reading ends and
another cycle begins, is one of the happiest days of the year. The main
action is in the synagogue, where worshippers sing and dance with
the Torah scrolls. It’s customary to honor this day with foods that
look like Torah scrolls — a Torah scroll–shaped challah and Torah
scroll–shaped cabbage rolls.
Torah Scroll Challah

8 (you will also need a large egg white and poppy seeds for sprin-
kling) and prepare dough the same way, through rising, punching
down, and resting.
Cut dough into two equal pieces. With a rolling pin, roll out half
the dough to a 9 × 10-inch square; this is the “parchment” for the
Torah scroll. Place on a parchment-covered baking sheet.
Divide second dough piece in two and roll each into a piece about
11 inches long and 2 inches wide. These will be the poles — Atzei
Chaim — on which the Torah rolls up. Place one “pole” on each side
of the “parchment”; pinch the ends of each with your fingers (to form
handles). Let challah rise, covered with kitchen towel, for 30 to 45
minutes.
With the egg white and yolk in separate small bowls, lightly beat
each, using separate forks. Dip a pastry brush in the egg white and
paint five thin horizontal stripes across the “parchment.” Sprinkle
poppy seeds over the painted areas — these are the word of the Torah.
Glaze the “poles” with beaten egg yolk.
Bake at 375°F for 40 minutes, until golden brown.
Freezes well.
Serves 8 to 10
Hungarian Stuffed Cabbage

At Simchat Torah, Jews finish the annual cycle of Torah reading and
immediately begin the next cycle. Cabbage rolls are said to look like
Torah scrolls. In Eastern Europe stuffed cabbage was the favorite
food of Torah scholars, who’d go from house to house during the hol-
iday sampling various versions of the fabled dish. This is my mother’s
recipe, savory, tart, and spicy, the way Hungarians like it.
5 small onions 2 or 3 meaty beef bones, short
2 tablespoons vegetable oil ribs, or a piece of flanken
½ cup white rice (optional but recommended)
1 pound ground beef ½ cup (packed) brown sugar
1 ¼ cups tomato juice Juice of 1 lemon
2 large eggs, lightly beaten Handful of raisins
Salt and black pepper to taste (about ½ cup)
1 large head Savoy cabbage
1 jar (16 ounces) sauerkraut
(optional)
holi days § 91
Preparing the Stuffing

Finely chop one onion. Heat oil in a small skillet, add onion, and
sauté until soft and brown. Add rice to the onion and mix together
for 1 minute. (This is just an initial sauté; the rice will cook later on
when it’s stuffed inside the cabbage rolls). In a separate bowl combine
ground beef with the ¼ cup tomato juice, the eggs, and salt and pep-
per to taste. Add sautéed onion and rice to meat mixture, stir well,
and set aside.
Preparing the Cabbage
Bring 2 inches water to boil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Carefully
set cabbage upright in pot. Reduce heat just enough so water still
steams. Let cabbage steam until it is softened enough that the leaves
can be pried loose, up to 15 minutes. Carefully remove cabbage from
steaming water. Cut out the core of the cabbage by making two cuts
on either side of the core and a third connecting them, then delicately
separate the leaves one at a time.
Tip: You’ll probably be able to get two or three leaves loose at one
time, and then you’ll have to return cabbage to the steaming water
to soften some more (you will need about 15 leaves for the amount
of filling). This takes patience; the leaves must be pliable enough to
fold and roll.
Stuffing the Cabbage
Once you can separate the first few outer leaves from the cabbage,
take a paring knife and thin the vein at the center of the cabbage leaf
(a thick vein will make rolling impossible), taking care not to tear the
leaf (small tears don’t matter, but try to keep the leaves intact).
Place a tablespoon of filling toward the base of each leaf. (If your
leaves are small, use less filling). Bring base of leaf up over filling, then
tuck in sides and continue rolling from bottom. Press each roll on
both sides to make sure the filling is secure inside. If there’s a small
rip on the side, the cabbage will still survive, but try to avoid major
leaks. Continue filling and rolling leaves until filling is used up.
Cooking the Cabbage Rolls

Quarter remaining 4 onions. Line bottom of a large pot or Dutch
oven with quartered onions and sauerkraut, if using. (Throwing in
a few beef bones and a few short ribs or a piece of flanken is highly
recommended for flavor.)
Layer cabbage rolls on top of onions and sauerkraut and beef
bones, if using. Continue layering until you’re done.
Pour the 1 cup tomato juice over the rolls, then sprinkle with
brown sugar, lemon juice, raisins, and a good-size pinch of black pep-
per. Cook, covered, on a low flame for 3 hours, until cabbage is tender
and filling is cooked through, shaking pot occasionally to distribute
juices.
Remove cabbage rolls to platter to serve. They will freeze very well.
Serves 4 to 6 as a main course
and up to 10 as an appetizer
i H A N U KKA H
Like Passover and Purim, Hanukkah fits the old ten-word paradigm
for Jewish holidays: “They wanted to kill us. G-d saved us. Let’s eat.”
On Hanukkah the threat was spiritual rather than physical anni-
hilation. In the second century BCE, the Greeks wanted to kill the
Jewish soul by separating Jews from Judaism. Their strategy was to
turn Judaism into a crime against the state. Shabbat observance was
illegal, as was circumcision and Torah study.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the Greeks also placed an idol inside
the Temple and sacrificed pigs on the altar. They taxed Jews heav-
ily, and forced them to quarter Greek soldiers in their homes and
hand over their daughters for illicit purposes. Some Jews were ini-
tially enamored with Greek culture, but as Greek domination grew
increasingly oppressive, the Jews became disenchanted. Some even
fled Greek-dominated cities, moving their entire families into caves
in the countryside rather than live under Greek rule.
holi days § 93
When a Greek battalion marched into Modi’in, a small city

northwest of Jerusalem, the situation came to a head. In Modi’in the
Greeks erected an altar and asked for a Jewish volunteer to sacrifice
a pig on it. When a Jew agreed to take on the job, another Jew, Mat-
tityahu, stabbed him to death. Rioting broke out. By the end of the
day, Mattityahu, aided by his sons and their allies, had wiped out the
entire Greek battalion. After that, Mattityahu’s family organized a
guerilla army of 12,000 men called the Maccabees. The word mac-
cabee is an acronym of the Hebrew phrase: “Who is like You among
the gods, oh G-d.” The Maccabean army defeated a Greek army more
than 3,000 times its size. Though they took heavy casualties, they
won back their religious liberty.
After the victory, the Maccabees reentered the Temple. Instead
of thousands of flasks of ritually pure oil that would normally be
present, they found one lone jug, enough to light the menorah for a
single day.
Miraculously, that one little jug burned for eight days — long
enough for a fresh supply of ritually pure oil to arrive. Today Jews
celebrate by lighting menorahs and engaging in the spiritual work of
prayer and Torah study.
The holiday’s main foods are snacks called latkes and sufganiyot,
or fried potato pancakes and deep-fried doughnuts, which evoke the
miracle of the oil. (In our safety-conscious age, I don’t think anyone
will want to revive this custom, but it’s interesting to note that shtetl
Jews celebrated Hanukkah with the “flaming tea ceremony.” They
would put sugar cubes on spoons, pour brandy over the cubes, and set
the brandy alight. After that they would douse the flames by dunking
the spoons into glasses of tea.)
Buckwheat Pancakes for Hanukkah

These are not quite Yehudah Maccabee’s latkes!
When they moved into Russia and Poland during the Middle
Ages, Ashkenazi Jews began their long romance with kasha, the Jew-
ish and Slavic name for buckwheat, which is technically a fruit rather
than a grain. The earliest Hanukkah latkes were made from buck-
wheat flour fried in schmaltz. In Couscous, Quiche and Kugel, Joan
Nathan has an Alsatian recipe for grechenes, which are old-fashioned
savory buckwheat latkes.
This is an American pioneer recipe, not quite authentic, but
healthy and low fat and almost as easy to make as Aunt Jemima.
Note that if buckwheat flour isn’t available, you can grind whole
kasha in the food processor, using the metal blade, for about 10 min-
utes. The results will be coarse, but that doesn’t matter. If you do this,
let the batter refrigerate overnight to soften the kasha.
These pancakes will not be greasy at all.
¾ cup buckwheat flour ¾ cup milk
½ cup flour (all-purpose white 2 large eggs
or whole-wheat) 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder melted butter, plus additional
½ teaspoons baking soda oil for frying
1 cup vanilla yogurt (you can Maple syrup for serving
use plain, but vanilla adds (optional)
a nice sweetness)
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon or
immersion blender until smooth.
Pour thin film of oil in a nonstick skillet and heat over a medium
flame. Ladle batter, about 2 tablespoons at a time, into pan and fry on
first side for about 3 minutes, until lightly browned. Flip and fry for
another 3 minutes.
Serve immediately, with or without maple syrup. These don’t
freeze well.
Makes 10 to 12 latkes; serves 6
holi days § 95
Latkes
While nobody really knows what the Maccabees ate during that first
Hanukkah, it certainly wasn’t potato latkes. Potatoes didn’t exist in
ancient Israel or even in ancient Greece. The Maccabees lived on
legumes, grains, and vegetables. The iconic tuber only entered the
Western diet in the sixteenth century, after the Conquistadors im-
ported them to Spain.
F
At first Europeans feared that potatoes were poisonous. They fed

them to animals or to prisoners of war. Ironically, it was a former
POW who convinced Europeans that potatoes were worth eating.
Following his release in 1763 from a Prussian POW camp, French
pharmacist Antoine-Augustin Parmentier became a one-man PR
agency for the much maligned spud.
Nobody knows who invented the latke. Before potatoes became
popular, Jews made Hanukkah fritters with buckwheat flour. During
the mid-nineteenth century, Russian grain crop failures led farmers
to attempt potato cultivation — potato crops are much easier to grow,
are hardier, and produce greater yields than grain. Quickly, potatoes
became an East European staple, staving off starvation and sparking
a rise in Jewish populations. Potatoes remain a staple in Jewish cui-
sine. Although foodies have made latkes using yams, zucchini, even
jícama, old-fashioned potato latkes are still the hands-down favorite.
Latkes Rap
Here’s a cooking lesson cast in rhyme
So your latkes can rock at Hanukkah time.
Latkes are a part of our history.
I’m going to unlock the mystery
Of how to make them crisp and light,
For your guests to eat on Hanukkah night.
Rule number one: Don’t skimp on oil —
¼ inch in the pan, bring it close to a boil.
Rule number two: Make of equal dimension
And don’t crowd in the pan —
They need personal attention.
Rule number three: When they’re brown, then flip,
Fry the other sides, place on paper towels to drip.
Rule number four: Eat right away.
Your latkes will be soggy if you wait another day.
Rule number five: Don’t forget to smile!
Let the Hanukkah light shine on you for a while.
holi days § 97
1 small onion ½ cup matzo meal

4 large Idaho or russet 1 teaspoon salt
potatoes, peeled ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
2 large eggs Vegetable oil for frying
Grate onion and potatoes into a bowl, then add eggs, matzo meal,
salt, and pepper. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon.
Heat oil in heavy-bottomed skillet over a medium flame. Make
sure entire skillet bottom is covered with oil, ¼ inch or more deep.
The oil should be hot but not smoking (smoking oil will spoil the
latkes). Drop in a tiny bit of batter. If it browns, you’re ready to fry.
Add potato mixture, a spoonful at a time, to the hot oil. Don’t crowd
the pan; you have to work in batches.
Fry latkes 3 minutes on each side, or until browned. Remove with
a slotted spatula, place on paper towels to drain away excess oil, and
serve immediately (you can reheat in a low oven and serve later, but
nothing tastes as good as fresh).
Safety note: turn frying pan handles inward and never leave a fry-
ing pan full of hot oil alone, even for a minute.
Makes about 16 latkes; serves 8
Moroccan Hanukkah Doughnuts

SVINGE
In Morocco, where svinge was the Hanukkah food, the women rose
at dawn each day of the holiday to prepare the svinge for that day.
While that may seem like a terrible burden, once you taste this de-
lightful deep-fried pastry, you’ll come to appreciate the value of this
sacrifice.
Food historian Gil Marks traces the name to the Arabic isfenj,
meaning “sponge,” referring to the way the dough soaks in the oil.
Yes, this is a splurge, but Hanukkah comes only once a year, so enjoy.
You have the rest of the year to work off the calories!
The idea for this recipe for svinge came from the HaModia news-
paper children’s section, December 2011.
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour 1 cup warm water

½ teaspoon salt Vegetable oil for deep frying
1 teaspoon instant yeast Confectioner’s sugar
Combine flour, salt, yeast, and water in a large bowl and stir into a
smooth but loose dough. Let dough sit, covered, for 3 hours until it
has at least doubled in size.
If you are using a deep-fat fryer, follow manufacturer’s instruc-
tions. The oil should be heated to 365°F. If you are not using a fryer,
heat 2 inches of oil in a stockpot or other large, deep saucepan. There
should be at least another 2 inches of clearance over the top of the oil.
When the oil reaches 365°F on a deep-fat frying thermometer, you are
ready to begin frying.
Wet your hands. Tear off plum-size pieces of dough. Stretch each
piece a bit and make a hole in the middle. Drop, a few at a time, into
the hot oil. Fry on both sides, about 2 minutes per side, till brown,
then remove with a slotted spatula to paper towels to drain.
Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar and serve immediately. These
don’t freeze well.
Makes about 15; serves 6
Persian Potato Latkes

KOOKOO SIBZAM INI
Here’s an elegant Persian riff on the Hanukkah classic, courtesy of

Shifra Perles.
3 medium-size Idaho or russet potatoes
Salt, black pepper, turmeric, and cinnamon to taste
About ¼ cup vegetable oil for frying
Boil potatoes in their skins until they are cooked through. Peel and
mash in a bowl with the eggs. Add salt and spices to taste. (You can
and should taste this mixture to adjust seasonings.)
holi days § 99
Heat oil in skillet over a medium-high flame. Drop batter into pan
a tablespoon at a time. Fry latkes, in batches without crowding the
pan, on each side for 2 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from
pan and drain on paper towels. Serve immediately.
Persian Herbed Omelet

KOOKOO SA BZI
Dr. Seuss’s children’s book never says which green eggs his notori-
ously finicky Sam disliked, but it couldn’t have been kookoo sabzi.
Kookoo sabzi — yes, that is a mouthful to say — is the name of a
healthy, delicious, and green Persian herbed omelet. Kookoo, some-
times spelled kuku, doesn’t mean “mentally deranged.” It’s Farsi for
“omelet,” and sabzi means “herbs.”
Not only is this savory blend of greens and eggs delicious, it is a
world-class power food full of protein, iron, and other goodies. Be-
cause Hanukkah is the frying holiday, Persian Jews include it on their
Hanukkah menus.
½ bunch fresh cilantro 2 to 3 large eggs
(or 3 frozen cubes) Salt and black pepper to taste
½ bunch fresh parsley Turmeric to taste
¼ bunch fresh dill 1 small onion, grated, or 3
1 or 2 small leaves fresh spinach scallions, finely diced
Finely chop herbs, including spinach, if using. Use an herb chopper
or a mezzaluna, if you have one. Lightly beat eggs in a bowl and beat
in salt, pepper, and turmeric to taste. Gently stir in chopped herbs
and onion.
Heat oil or ghee in a ceramic nonstick skillet over a medium flame.
Pour egg mixture into skillet and fry until lightly browned on the
bottom, about 5 minutes, then flip over and cook another 3 minutes.
Cut into wedges and serve with yogurt and rice or crusty bread
and feta cheese. Serves 3
Israeli Hanukkah Doughnuts

SU FGA NI YOT
According to an Israeli folk tale related by Israeli folklorist Dov Noy,

after Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, it was
none other than G-d who cheered them up by feeding them sufgani-
yot. This rather whimsical exegesis, based on a parsing of the word
sufganiyah as sof-gan-yud-hey (the end of the Garden of the Lord, aka
the Garden of Eden), indicates the high esteem in which the hole-less
fried jelly doughnut is held. In the U.S., latkes still reign supreme, but
in the Jewish State the sufganiyah is the quintessential Hanukkah
food. At least 80 percent of Israelis consume at least one doughnut
during the eight-day holiday.
While the custom of eating fried pastries on Hanukkah has an-
cient roots, food historian Gil Marks says that the plump, jelly-filled
sufganiyah has its roots in late medieval Germany, where a jam-filled,
lard-fried doughnut was a popular December holiday treat. The Jews
substituted goose fat and served their version at Hanukkah. Eventu-
ally, the doughnut traveled eastward to Poland, where it was renamed
ponchiks or ponchkes, and then to Israel, where it became a national
food.
Whereas their filling was once red jam — strawberry or raspberry
— modern sufganiyot are filled with anything from dulce de leche
to peanut butter. Whichever flavor you choose, remember that the
sufganiyah is a lot like life itself. It’s cyclical, sometimes up and some-
times down, and its real sweetness is hidden deep inside and must be
savored in the moment.
The author of the Tassajara Bread Book, Ed Brown, has famously
said that recipes don’t belong to anyone. With that in mind, please
accept my friend Ruth Nalick’s sufganiyot, which she attributes to
Roseva Sternberg, who got the recipe from some unknown person
and so on down the chain.
holi days § 101
2 tablespoons instant yeast 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup water or milk 4 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup orange juice. ½ cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons butter or Pinch of nutmeg or mace
margarine, melted Vegetable oil for deep frying
1 large egg Confectioner’s sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Combine yeast with water in a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer.
Add orange juice, butter, egg, and vanilla. Beat well to mix. Stir or
beat in flour, sugar, and nutmeg, then knead by hand on a lightly
floured board or using the dough hook of the mixer until a smooth
ball of dough forms.
If you’ve kneaded the dough by hand, return it to the cleaned-out
bowl. Brush the dough ball with the oil, cover with plastic wrap or a
A B
C
D
F
kitchen towel, and leave in a warm place to rise until it doubles (1 to

2 hours, depending on kitchen temperature).
Punch down dough and roll it out to ½-inch thickness. Using a
biscuit cutter or a wide-mouthed drinking glass, cut into rounds.
You should get around 20 with this amount of dough. Reroll dough
scraps and cut them out, too.
Cover dough rounds with a kitchen towel and let them rise again
until they look puffy (this could take between 30 to 60 minutes, de-
pending on kitchen temperature).
Heat 4 cups of oil in a 6-quart pot. When oil is hot (it will sizzle
when you dribble in a drop of water), fry sufganiyot, in batches with-
out crowding the pot, until golden brown, approximately 2 minutes
on each side.
Remove fried sufganiyot to paper towels to drain.
With the tip of a sharp serrated knife or a pastry bag outfitted with
a large nozzle, puncture a hole into one side of each doughnut and
fill with jam (spooning it in if you don’t have a pastry bag), approxi-
mately 2 teaspoons per doughnut.
Roll sufganiyot in confectioner’s sugar and serve hot. These do
not freeze well.
Makes about 20
Judith’s Lasagna
Jewish history is full of powerful women whose acts of heroism saved
the entire Jewish nation. Esther is probably the best known, but an-
other one of these heroines was Judith, who was instrumental in the
Hanukkah miracle.
The Greeks’ harshest decree was a requirement that Jewish brides
submit themselves to Greek soldiers for illicit purposes. The Greek
governor made a decree — unfortunately, a common one in ancient
cultures — called jus primae noctis, “first night rights.” The governor
would kidnap and assault every bride on her wedding night. Most
Jewish brides evaded this by marrying in secret, but Judith, the beau-
tiful daughter of the High Priest Yochanan, couldn’t do this. When
holi days § 103
her family refused to turn her over, the Greeks laid siege to all of
Jerusalem.
Judith decided to take action. On her own initiative, she ap-
proached the Greek general Holofernes carrying a basket filled with
her own wine and cheese party. First she fed him her homemade salty
cheese. Then she doused his thirst with so much wine that he passed
out — at which point she cut off his head. When his skull rolled
through the military camp, the Greeks panicked and ran away, lead-
ing the Maccabees to victory. It is an ancient custom to recall Judith’s
bravery by eating dairy foods.
I don’t think the Maccabees ate lasagna, but I love this recipe.
There’s no precooking. You just layer everything and it all bakes to-
gether, tightly wrapped under a sheet of foil. Easy and delicious.
1 large egg
2 cups ricotta cheese
1 jar (24 ounces) marinara sauce (3 cups)
2 cups (approximately) grated mozzarella cheese
1 package (9 ounces) no-cook lasagna noodles
Lightly beat egg in a bowl and stir in ricotta.
Pour thin layer of sauce over bottom of a rectangular baking dish
(9 × 13 is a good size). Arrange a layer of noodles on top of sauce.
Spread half the ricotta cheese mixture over noodles, followed by
about a third of the grated cheese. Repeat: another layer of noodles,
half the remaining sauce, and half the cheese. Last layer is noodles
and sauce.
Bake, covered well with foil, for 50 minutes at 350ºF. Remove foil,
sprinkle remaining grated cheese on top, and bake for 10 more min-
utes, until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbling.
Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes before cutting and
serving. Freezes well.
Serves 8
Heavenly Cheese Latkes

Cheese latkes are an old-fashioned dairy favorite. They are doubly
meaningful — dairy plus frying. Because of that they’ve been made
for centuries, but without immersion blenders and food processors,
those early cheese latkes must have been lumpy. Fortunately, today
we can make cheese latkes that are light, smooth, and sublimely
delicious.
Whole-wheat pastry flour is my favorite for this.
1 cup cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
¾ cup whole-wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour
3 large eggs
⅓ cup granulated sugar
Vegetable oil for frying
Confectioner’s sugar or jam for serving (optional)
Combine cheese, flour, eggs, and sugar in a food processor, a bowl (if
using an immersion blender), or an ordinary blender. Process until
smooth.
Coat bottom of a nonstick skillet with a tiny bit of oil and heat over
a medium flame. Using a soup ladle, ladle batter in small amounts
into hot pan. Work in batches; do not crowd pan. Fry latkes until
brown on the first side, about 2 minutes, then flip and fry on the
other side.
Serve immediately, either plain or sprinkled with confectioner’s
sugar or jam. These do not freeze well. Batter may be refrigerated
for 2 days.
Makes about a dozen; serves 4
holi days § 105
Menorah-Shaped Challah
A particular menorah, the eight-branched candelabra, is the symbol
of Hanukkah. On each day of the eight-day holiday, another light is
kindled to recall the tiny flask of pure olive oil that kept the seven-
branch Temple menorah lit for eight days. In Jewish mystical teach-
ings, the number eight indicates transcendence, going beyond nature,
into the realm of the miraculous. For the Shabbat of Hanukkah, it’s
customary to fashion a challah in the shape of an eight-branched me-
norah. This is a great arts-and-crafts project for kids or for the inner
child in all of us — real life edible Play-doh.
and resting.
It’s best to form this challah on a baking sheet covered with parch-
ment paper.
Cut the dough into 2 equal pieces. Roll the first half of the dough
into a 16-inch rope. Cut off a quarter of this rope and set aside. Place
the remaining 12-inch rope in the center of your parchment-lined
baking sheet. Roll the cut-off piece of dough into a 5-inch rope. Place
this over the bottom of the rope already on the pan; this is the base
of the menorah.
Divide the remaining half of the dough into four equal pieces. Roll
each piece into a 10-inch rope. Using ropes one and two, cut off 2
inches from each; the long pieces will be the outermost and the short
pieces the innermost branches of the menorah. Using ropes three and
four, cut off a third of each; the short pieces will be the second and
the longer pieces the third branches on each side.
Beginning with the two smallest pieces, arrange the branches
against the center piece already on the baking sheet. The branches
should start about 3 inches down from the top, the succeeding
branches curving up from the center piece, just below one another
but ending at the same height. Only the center piece stands up higher
than the rest. Gently pinch dough at the top of the branches to form
“flames.”
glazing, sprinkling with seeds (optional), and baking.
Freezes well.
Serves 8 to 10
Anglo-Jewish Gefilte Fish Balls

In Jewish England, fish balls (the Brits leave off the gefilte part) are
everywhere. You find them at kiddushes, at weddings, at cocktail
parties.
This is real kitchen alchemy — something quite ordinary trans-
formed into a snack fit for kings. This combination of frying and
fish makes this dish perfect for Shabbat Hanukkah. And with frozen
gefilte fish rolls in every kosher grocery, fish balls are quick work.
1 roll frozen gefilte fish
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 cup matzo meal (approximately)
Vegetable oil for deep frying
Ketchup, chutney, or dipping sauce
for serving (optional)
holi days § 107
Defrost gefilte fish (the safest way to do this is to leave it in the fridge
overnight). Add pepper and then add matzo meal one handful at a
time so that you can form the fish into walnut-sized balls; the mix-
ture should be soft but able to be handled.
Drop balls, in batches, into hot oil; do not crowd the pot. Deep
fry for about 6 minutes until browned on all sides. Remove with a
slotted spoon or wire skimmer to paper towels to drain.
Serve hot or cold, with or without ketchup, chutney, or dipping
sauce. These do not freeze well.
Makes 30 to 40 depending on size;
serves 10
Gribenes and Schmaltz

It’s hard to believe, but schmaltz — that much maligned yellow
chicken fat — is good for you. It’s full of omega 3s and linoleic acid.
Considering that Jews survived on it for centuries, this information
really shouldn’t come as a surprise. In Eastern Europe schmaltz was
the preferred fat, used in everything from latkes to kugel to chopped
liver.
My mother still remembers watching my grandmother render
schmaltz from goose skins at Hanukkah time. Every shtetl house-
wife did that, not for any mystical or religious reason, but simply be-
cause Hanukkah was when the geese were slaughtered. Like all good
shtetl housewives, my grandmother set aside an extra jar of schmaltz
for Passover use.
Having been conditioned to think of schmaltz as an almost dirty
word, I initially recoiled at the idea of making it. Wouldn’t it be com-
plicated and gross? No. Shmaltz making is easy, and the results are
delicious. And it’s a double winner. Not only do you have flavorful
golden schmaltz to cook with, you also get a plate of gribenes, crack-
lings that, until they were supplanted by Doritos and potato chips,
were the savory snack of choice among Ashkenazi Jews. Gil Marks
says that some pious Jews specifically ate gribenes during the peni-
tential month of Elul to demonstrate their delight in G-d ’s world.
2 medium-size chickens
Skin the chickens. Setting birds aside for another use, cut skin into
small pieces (no special size or shape — consider the irregular shape
as part of the charm). Place pieces of skin in a medium-size skillet set
over low heat, leaving uncovered while the fat renders out. Within
an hour the fat will separate and the skin will turn dark brown and
crunchy (these are your gribenes). Pour off fat into a container and
refrigerate. You should have about ½ cup of schmaltz, which will pro-
vide a tremendous flavor boost to soups and sautéed dishes (don’t use
it uncooked).
Place gribenes in a separate jar and either eat as is or sprinkle on
top of rice, mashed potatoes, chopped liver, or stuff inside of matzo
balls in Knaidlach with a Neshoma (page 150), which translates as
“soulful matzo balls.”
B
holi days § 109
i SH A BBAT SHIRA

Shabbat Shira is the Shabbat when the “Song of the Sea” is recited
as part of the weekly Torah reading. The Shira is a prayer of thanks
for the splitting of the Red Sea when Pharaoh and his charioteers
drowned in the water while the Children of Israel walked to safety
on dry land.
The Shira, known in English as the “Song of the Sea,” is consid-
ered the most beautiful and perfect of the Hebrew prayers and is part
of the daily liturgy. On Shabbat Shira, when the song is read from
the Torah scroll, it’s customary for the entire congregation to stand.
Ruota di Faraone
Ruota di Faraone, or “wheel in Pharaoh’s chariot” is a unique and
exquisitely delicious meat and pasta casserole that the Jews of the
Tuscan hamlet of Pitagliano used to prepare in honor of the miracle
of the splitting of the Red Sea. The Torah relates that Pharaoh sad-
dled his chariot and drove to the sea to try to stop the Children of
Israel from fleeing Egyptian slavery. Of course he was caught in the
raging waters, while the Israelites walked on dry land.
During the Second World War, Pitagliano, the former “Jerusa-
lem of Italy,” was decimated by the Nazis. Decades later, Edda Servi
Machlin chronicled the cuisine and Jewish life of her vanished home-
town in the best-selling cookbook memoir The Classic Cuisine of the
Italian Jews, from which the recipe below is adapted.
Like most of Servi Machlin’s dishes, this one adapts classic Italian
ingredients — pasta, tomato sauce, wine, and beef (in place of pork)
— to the Jewish and kosher palate. The recipe may seem daunting,
but you can put it together in steps. Make sure to use a round dish so
that the result resembles a chariot wheel. According to Italian Jewish
food expert Alexandra Rovati, the noodles represent the waves of the
seas, the pine nuts the heads of the Egyptian horses, and the raisins or
pieces of tongue, pastrami, or salami the Egyptian warriors, drown-
ing in the Red Sea.
The raisins and pine nuts are quintessentially Italian.

½ cup olive or corn oil 1 ½ cups chicken stock or water
1 to 2 medium-size onions, 1 teaspoon salt
finely chopped Pinch of black pepper or to taste
1 carrot, finely chopped 1 pound pasta
2 stalks celery, chopped ½ cup thin strips of tongue,
2 to 3 sprigs of Italian parsley, pastrami, or salami
chopped ½ cup raisins, plumped in hot
1 pound lean ground beef water for 15 minutes and
½ cup dry white wine drained
⅔ cup tomato paste ¼ cup toasted pine nuts
Heat oil in a large saucepan over a medium flame. Add onion, carrot,
celery, and parsley and cook for 10 minutes, or until the vegetables
are soft.
Add ground beef and brown thoroughly, stirring frequently. Add
wine and raise the heat, bring to a boil, and cook for a few minutes.
Add tomato paste and cook over a high flame for 1 to 2 minutes, stir-
ring frequently. Add stock or water and cook, covered, over a very low
flame for 30 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper.
The sauce should be thick. If it’s too watery, cook a few minutes lon-
ger. This is a very good meaty pasta sauce just on its own.
Boil 1 pound of pasta — any kind — according to package directions.
Drain pasta and combine with meat sauce in a large, round oven-
proof casserole. Add the sliced tongue, pastrami, or salami with the
raisins and toasted pine nuts. Bake at 350°F for 1 hour.
Serves 6
holi days § 111
Deboned Chicken Thighs Stuffed with Kasha

On the first Friday that the manna fell, Moses told the Children of
Israel to collect a double portion because the manna wouldn’t be
delivered on Shabbat. That Friday night, the biblical villains Datan
and Aviran scattered manna around the camp to “prove” that it fell
on the Shabbat and show Moses up as a liar. When the birds ate the
strewn manna, their plot was foiled.
On Shabbat Shirah, when the Torah portion of Beshalach, which
includes this story, is read, it is customary to thank the birds by both
feeding them kasha and eating kasha.
Why is kasha bird food? In Hebrew, the word beshalach forms a
Hebrew acronym for the words b’Shabbat Shira l’echol chitim, which
means “On Shabbat Shirah eat wheat.” The Hebrew word chittim
means “wheat” or “buckwheat,” that is, kasha.
Don’t think this is trivial. In medieval Prague, Rabbi Judah
Loewe, the great sage known as the Maharal, actually gathered the
local children and told them this very tale. Afterward, he handed out
buckwheat for the children to give to the birds.
As to the custom of buckwheat eating by people, there isn’t any
special way to do it. Kasha varnishkes, or buckwheat mixed with bow
tie noodles, is nice, but I love kasha as a stuffing for deboned chicken
thighs.
1 ½ cups chicken stock Salt and black pepper to taste
1 large egg 8 chicken thighs, deboned,
¾ cup kasha slit down one side
3 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 tablespoons paprika,
2 medium-size onions or as needed
2 stalks celery or 6 fresh button 4 or 5 large cloves garlic
mushrooms
Bring stock to boil in a small saucepan.
Lightly beat egg in a bowl. Stir in kasha and leave for 5 minutes,
until kasha soaks up egg.
Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a small skillet with a cover and fry
kasha and egg mixture over a medium-low flame, stirring, for 3 min-
utes, or until kasha becomes brown and crumbly. Add boiling stock
and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed.
Meanwhile, mince one of the onions and finely chop celery or
mushrooms. Heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in second skillet and
sauté onion and celery or mushrooms until softened.
Remove from heat and combine with kasha. Add salt and pepper
to taste.
Spoon stuffing into slits in deboned thighs. You can secure stuffing
with toothpicks, or not — the spilled-out stuffing baked with chicken
drippings is delicious. Rub thighs with paprika (1 tablespoon should
be enough for 8 thighs) and the cut sides of 1 or 2 large cloves of fresh
garlic. Place thighs in ovenproof casserole or baking dish with a cover.
Chop remaining onion into chunks and scatter chunks, along with
additional garlic cloves, around stuffed thighs in casserole — they
take on a wonderful flavor when they bake together with the chicken.
Bake, covered, at 350°F for 1 hour, until chicken is cooked through.
Remove cover and bake for 10 more minutes to brown.
Serves 4 to 6
i T U BISH VAT
On Tu Bishvat, the fifteenth day of the Hebrew month of Shebat
(mid-February, usually) there is a minor holiday known as the New
Year for the Trees. Tu Bishvat is the day when the strength of the
soil of the Land of Israel is renewed. It is also the day when the sap
begins to rise inside the trees in the Land of Israel and the almond
tree blossoms, signifying the beginning of spring. It’s customary to
eat a new fruit — which means a fruit that one has not tasted this
season — or fruit of the Land of Israel (those are grapes, olives, dates,
figs, and pomegranates). In the Hebrew language, letters double as
holi days § 113
numbers. Tu Bishvat includes the letters teth and vav, which add up
to fifteen — teth is nine and vav is six, which equals fifteen — referring
to the fifteenth day of the Hebrew month of Shebat. There’s an an-
cient tradition to celebrate this holiday by eating fifteen fruits.
The fruit is eaten in kabbalistic order, beginning with fruits with
edible peels, such as figs, apples, and pears. Because there is no waste
in these fruits — everything is eaten — they symbolize wholeness (yes,
apples, grapes and pears have tiny pits, but you can eat those — as
well as the cores). This may seem shocking to generations raised on
coring apples and pears and removing all those seeds, but people have
eaten them for generations. It is correct that apple seeds contain trace
amounts of arsenic but not enough to be considered dangerous. I eat
them and I’m alive to tell the tale. My father ate them and he lived to
the age of eighty-four!
Next come fruits like dates, olives, peaches, and plums, which have
edible peels but inedible pits. The final group are fruits such as pome-
granates and almonds, walnuts, and other nuts that have inedible
shells.
According to the Kabbalah, a shell, or klipa, indicates a spiritual
hurdle.
Etrog Confit
Prayer is the conduit for the blessings of health, livelihood, rain,
dew, peace — you name it — even a good etrog.
Tu Bishvat is the time to pray for a good etrog. An etrog, the cit-
ron, is one of the “four species” used during Sukkoth, and finding a
good one is no simple matter; while they are sold through synagogues
and Judaica stores and of course online, an almost infinite variety of
specks and blemishes disqualify an etrog from ritual use. This is why
purchasers equipped with magnifying glasses and jeweler’s eyepieces
devote hours to the selection process.
Even after one has found a perfect specimen, the question remains:
what to do with this fruit once Sukkoth is over. An etrog is a holy
object; it can’t be thrown into the trash.
Etrogs can be cooked into a lovely sweet-tart jam that some people
claim is a talisman for easy childbirth. The results are scrumptious,
and you can bake the jam into a cake if you like. This recipe comes
from a former Parisienne, Gislaine Asouline, who makes a large stock
of etrog confit each year.
4 pounds etrog water
Granulated sugar Kosher salt
Since this jam is made from the peel, clean etrog peel well with soapy
water, then rinse well, and with a grater or microplane, scrape peel
lightly to dislodge dirt. Slice fruit into rounds, discarding pulp, and
then into smaller rectangular-shaped pieces.
Measure pieces and write down the result; when you cook the
etrog after the soaking process that follows, you will need to add
¾ cup sugar and ¼ cup water for each cup of raw etrog.
Place pieces in a lidded container and cover with water. Add a big
pinch of kosher salt.
Leave in the closed container, at room temperature, for 24 hours.
Pour off salty water and replace with fresh, unsalted water. For the
next 48 hours, change the water twice daily.
By day three, the water will have turned a bright yellow. Pour off
water and transfer etrog pieces to a heavy saucepan. Cover with fresh
water, and cook on a low flame for 40 minutes until the etrog is soft-
ened. Drain in a colander, then return etrog to saucepan. For each
cup of etrog slices that you measured when it was raw, add ¾ cup
sugar and ¼ cup water.
Cook sugar, water, and etrog slices together in the saucepan, cov-
ered, occasionally checking to see if sugar is melting. Your goal is to
create a syrup. Test to see that jam is ready by removing a drop of
syrup from pot. If the drop widens on a plate and is sticky to touch,
it’s ready.
Turn off burner and leave mixture in the covered pan on the stove
for 12 hours. Ladle into glass or plastic jars and refrigerate.
Makes about 4 cups
holi days § 115
i PSHUARIM :
BBAT PA RSH AT ZACHOR
On the Shabbat before Purim, Parshat Zachor is read in synagogue.
Parshat Zachor describes the evil Amalekites’ cruel attack on the Is-
raelites in the wilderness. According to tradition, the Purim villain,
Haman, is a descendant of the evil Amalekite nation.
As the Torah requires the Jews to “eliminate even the memory of
Amalekites,” Hassidic Jews perform this mitzvah symbolically by
serving a dish called Amalek’s Kugel. Amalek is a Yiddish acronym
for four different kugel flavors: A for apple or eppl (the ayin); M for
mehl, or flour (the mem); L for lokshen, or noodles (the lamed); and
K for kartofl, or potatoes, (the kuf ).
Apple Kugel
This dessert kugel — soft and sweet, almost like a cake — was adapted
from the latest cookbook by that doyenne of kosher cookery, Sara
Finkel, who is still writing cookbooks even as she enters her tenth
decade. The book is titled Simply Delicious.
4 large eggs 6 tart apples, peeled, cored,
1 cup granulated sugar and sliced
2 teaspoons cinnamon ½ cup raisins (optional)
½ cup vegetable oil ⅓ cup chopped pecans
1 cup all-purpose flour (optional)
1 teaspoon baking powder
Combine eggs, sugar, cinnamon, and oil in a large bowl and beat
well with a wooden spoon to combine. Whisk flour and baking
powder together in a small bowl, then stir into egg mixture. Fold in
sliced apples and optional raisins and nuts. Pour into a well-greased
9 × 13-inch baking dish and bake at 350°F for 45 to 50 minutes, until
browned and puffed.
Serve warm. Freezes well. Serves 8
Mehl Kugel
FLOUR OR CHOLEN T KUGEL
Mehl or cholent kugel is nothing more than a ball of savory matzo

meal placed directly in the cholent. Because it “steals” the flavor of
the cholent, the kugel is known as the Shabbos goniff (the Shabbat
thief).
This recipe comes from my cousin Leah Kraminer, who translated
her mother’s Old Country approximations into usable measurements.
¼ cup vegetable oil
½ cup water
⅔ cup matzo meal
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and knead together until dough
feels oily and soft but adheres together as a ball or log.
Drop kugel directly into boiling hot cholent (see recipes in chap-
ter 1) after cholent is in Crock-Pot; it will survive intact.
Slice to serve.
Serves 8 to 10, as part of the cholent meal
Lokshen Kugel
NOODLE KUGEL
This noodle kugel is savory rather than sweet and made with delicate
vermicelli, plenty of eggs, and more than a pinch of salt and pepper.
One 12-ounce package vermicelli
¾ teaspoon salt, or to taste
⅛ to ¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper, or to taste
2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
Boil noodles according to package directions.
holi days § 117
Drain noodles and cool under cold running water, then combine
with beaten eggs and spices in a large bowl and toss to mix well.
Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over a medium flame, add noodle
mixture, and cook until underside is golden brown, about 6 min-
utes. Flip carefully and continue browning until the other side is very
crisp, about another 5 minutes.
Serve immediately, or allow to cool and serve later. To reheat, wrap
in foil and make a slit in the foil. Heat in a low oven until warmed
through, about 15 minutes.
Freezes well. Serves 8
Kartofl Kugel
POTATO KUGEL
When I was a young bride, my mother-in-law presented me with her

tattered and yellowing copy of Evelyn Rose’s Complete International
Jewish Cookbook. For decades, Evelyn Rose was the gold standard in
Anglo-Jewish cooking, and for good reason. Her recipes are relatively
easy, elegant, and reliable, especially her marvelous potato kugel,
the last leg in the Amalek’s kugel series and the inspiration for the
following.
4 large potatoes, peeled 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 medium-size onion ½ teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs Black pepper to taste
Finely grate potatoes and onion into a bowl, then drain thoroughly
in a colander — don’t skip this step or your kugel will be mushy!
Pour oil into an 8-inch-square baking pan or a 9 × 5 × 3-inch loaf
pan. Put pan in oven to heat.
While pan heats, whisk eggs, flour, and baking powder in large
bowl to blend well. Add potatoes and onion and toss to mix.
Using oven mitts, remove pan from oven and carefully swirl oil so
it coats bottom and all sides of pan. Pour potato mixture into hot pan
and bake at 450°F for 10 minutes. Turn oven down to 350°F and bake
1 hour longer, until top of kugel is crisp and brown.
Serves 6
i PU RIM
Purim, a day-long, late winter holiday, celebrates the Jewish people’s
miraculous deliverance from impending destruction. Purim literally
means “lots,” to recall the lots that Haman, the evil Persian minister,
cast to determine the day of the proposed genocide. Through the
bravery of Mordechai and Esther, an orphaned Jewish girl who mar-
ried the Persian king Achashverosh, the Jews were saved.
Because of this, Purim is among the happiest days of the Jewish
year. The holiday is celebrated with the reading of the story of Es-
ther, and with parties, masquerades, Purim plays, and, of course, lots
of eating.
From a foodie’s perspective, Purim has two main food events. The
first is the exchange of mishloach manot, or gift baskets. Purim is the
Jewish “presents holiday.” (Hanukkah gift giving came about as a
result of the December gift-giving frenzy). Purim is the authentic
Jewish gift holiday, and the gift is a variety of foods. These mishloach
manot, literally “sent portions,” can be as simple as a loaf of challah
and a bottle of wine or as elaborate as the imagination allows. In
many places children and adults, dressed up in costumes, deliver the
Purim baskets to family and friends.
The other main event is the Purim seudah, an elaborate banquet
washed down with enough alcoholic beverages that the drinker will
be unable to distinguish between the hero of the Purim story, blessed
Mordechai, and his nemesis, the accursed Haman. In Hebrew this
is called the state of ad di’ lo yada, which means “until he does not
know.”
holi days § 119
According to many authorities, the goal is to get tipsy but not

blasted. It is also possible to achieve ad di’ lo yada by falling asleep
sober.
Hamentaschen
When Queen Esther commanded the Jews to send “portions of
food from each man to his fellow,” she wasn’t thinking about ha-
mentaschen. While the triangular-shaped pastry has become almost
emblematic of the holiday, hamentaschen are European, not Persian,
descended from a poppy seed–filled German pastry known as Mohn-
taschen. Noting the similarity in the name mohn and Haman —
classical pronunciation of the villain’s name is “huh-mohn,” not the
American “hay-man” — Jews adopted the pastry for Purim, contrib-
uting additional fillings along with layers of meaning.
As Tasch is the German word for “pocket,” Jews saw the pastry as
a representation of Haman’s bribe-filled pocket, or the pocket that
held the money that Haman offered to the Persian monarch Achash-
verosh to convince him to destroy the Jews.
Over the years, the explanations have grown muddled. In
eighteenth-century Europe, when tricorn hats were in fashion, the
pastry was likened to Haman’s hat.
U.S. bakers transformed hamentaschen from a yeasted kuchen
into a cookie because cookie dough stays fresh longer than yeast
dough.
This is my favorite cookie dough hamentashen recipe, inspired
by the one in The Kosher Palette, Susie Fishbein’s initial foray into
cookbook writing and the first strictly kosher cookbook informed by
contemporary foodie sensibilities. This dough isn’t cloyingly sweet,
and it works nicely with lekvar, poppy seed filling, or anything else
you’d like to put inside.
You can make the dough up to 48 hours ahead of time.
1 cup (2 sticks) margarine 3 cups all-purpose flour

(you can use butter) 2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup granulated sugar ½ teaspoon salt
1 large egg 1 cup, or as needed, jam,
⅓ cup orange juice Mohn Filling (recipe follows),
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or Lekvar (page 122)
Beat margarine and sugar in bowl of a stand mixer using paddle at-
tachment until well blended. Beat in egg, orange juice, and vanilla.
Stir flour, baking powder, and salt in a second bowl to mix well, then
beat into margarine mixture, a cup at a time, until it forms a work-
able dough.
Shape dough into flat disc. Cover in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for
at least 15 minutes and up to two days.
Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet or two with parchment
paper.
Roll out chilled dough on lightly floured surface. Try to roll as
thin as possible. Cut out 3-inch circles with biscuit cutter or drinking
glass. Place a teaspoon of jam, lekvar, or poppy seed filling in center of
each round. Shape each into triangle by folding dough over on three
sides so filling is visible in center and pinching corner seams closed.
Place triangles as they are formed on parchment-lined baking sheets
and bake at 375°F for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned
Freezes well.
Makes about 2 ½ dozen
holi days § 121
A B
D
C
F
Mohn Filling
For old-timers the classical hamentaschen filling is mohn, or poppy
seed. That is because mohn sounds like “Haman” and also because
poppy seeds were among the foods Esther ate to adhere to a kosher
diet while living at Ahashverosh’s palace. As conventional food pro-
cessing will leave them rough and gritty, poppy seeds require a special
grinder (you can find one reasonably priced on eBay). Rich in oil,
poppy seeds spoil quickly, so store them in the freezer until you use
them.
This is an old family recipe from my assistant, Batya Lieberman.
She also uses this filling in a delicious mohn strudel.
½ cup milk Grated peel of ½ lemon
⅓ cup granulated sugar 1 ½ tablespoons cookie crumbs
1 ½ cups ground poppy seeds
1 tablespoon sweet (unsalted)
butter
Combine milk, sugar, and poppy seeds in a heavy saucepan and bring
to simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, until sugar starts to melt. Remove from
heat and stir in sweet butter until melted and mixture is blended.
Allow mixture to cool, then stir in grated lemon peel and cookie
crumbs.
Makes about 2 cups
Lekvar
Lekvar is the Jewish name for prune butter, a heavenly, sweet jam
with a subtle earthiness that makes it the perfect foil to hamen-
taschen dough. In Eastern Europe plums grow abundantly.
In the present-day Czech Republic and in today’s Germany and
Austria, lekvar is called povidl. There is even a day called Povidl Pu
rim, which precedes the real Purim by four days. The Povidl Purim
is a personal Purim, a private holiday that commemorates an individ-
ual’s miraculous deliverance from disaster.
holi days § 123
In 1731 David Brandeis, a Jewish grocer in Bohemia, sold a jar of

his own povidl to a Christian girl. Not long afterward the girl’s father
died. Brandeis and his family were accused of poisoning the man by
selling him the supposedly tainted povidl.
When an investigation determined that the man died of tubercu-
losis, the charges were dropped.
In the antisemitic climate of the times, Brandeis regarded his exon-
eration as a miracle. He instructed his family to celebrate the day as a
private Purim, marked with feasting on wine and meat and retelling
the tale, and they did for almost a century.
Nowadays, lekvar or povidl is quite easy to make using pitted
prunes and an immersion blender. Think of it as a lovely contempo-
rary variation on an old classic.
1 cup pitted prunes
1 cup orange juice or water
In a small saucepan cook together pitted prunes, orange juice or
water, and sugar on a low flame, stirring occasionally and making
sure the liquid doesn’t boil off. When prunes are very soft (after about
15 minutes), remove from heat and puree everything together with an
immersion blender.
This stuffs a dozen large hamentaschen or 25 small ones. Store in
a closed container in the fridge. Does not freeze well.
Makes about ¾ cup
Hungarian Purim Kindl

A Kindle you can eat for Purim? No, kindl has nothing to do with
the eponymous e-reader. It is an old-fashioned Hungarian Jewish
pastry stuffed with a tantalizingly sweet and tangy mixture of walnut
chunks, raisins, lemon juice, sugar, and jam.
The name kindl comes from the Yiddish word kind, which means
“child.” Food historian Gil Marks says that these cakes, which look
like small children wrapped in blankets, represent Haman’s large
family. Haman had ten sons, who hanged together with their father.
Traditional lore has it that some of his grandchildren eventually con-
verted to Judaism and became Torah scholars in the holy city of Bnai
Brak.
The recipe for the dough is adapted from Tzippora Kreisman’s
Delights of the Jewish Kitchen. The filling is my mom’s.
Dough
1 ¼ teaspoon instant yeast 2 ½ tablespoons granulated
Juice of 1 lemon sugar
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (two sticks) margarine
or butter, softened
My Mom’s Filling
1 ½ cups walnuts
½ cup seedless raisins
Granulated sugar to taste (around ⅓ cup)
Juice of 1 lemon
1 jar (12 ounces) best-quality apricot jam
1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
To make dough, in bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attach-

ment, dissolve yeast in lemon juice. Beat in egg and egg yolk. On
mixer’s medium setting, beat in margarine and sugar, then, on low
setting, beat in flour gradually. Mix together until a ball forms. This
could take up to 5 minutes.
holi days § 125
A
B
C
D
E F
G
Cover dough ball with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2
hours (it will keep for up to 3 days in the fridge and up to 2 months
in the freezer).
For filling, combine nuts, raisins, sugar, and lemon juice in bowl of
food processor fitted with metal blade. Pulse briefly until ingredients
form a chunky paste.
On a well-floured surface, roll out dough until it’s as thin as you
can stretch it without tearing. You should have a rectangle of dough
roughly ¼ inch thick, 16 inches long, and 9 inches wide.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
With one short side of the dough rectangle facing you, and be-
ginning at the top, spread apricot jam over the dough, starting 1 ½
inches down from the top and ending about two-thirds of the way
down, leaving about a 1-inch margin on the sides. Spread the nut-
raisin mixture over the jam (the way you would spread jelly over pea-
nut butter). Turn the top edge of the pastry down over the filling,
then flip the lower part (the part without the filling on it) over the
filling so it overlaps the turned-down top. Transfer roll carefully to
the parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush pastry with beaten egg yolk
and prick all over with a fork.
Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes or until brown.
Cool roll on a rack for 10 minutes, then transfer to a serving platter
and cut into thin slices to serve. Keeps well for up to 2 weeks stored
in a closed container at room temperature. Freezes well.
Serves 16 to 18
Haman’s Ears
If hamantaschen are Haman’s pockets, what are Haman’s ears?
Sephardi Jews make fried yeast dough, which they fold into a shape
resembling a human ear. It’s another whimsical oeuvre of culinary
cannibalism.
This recipe was inspired by one from a lovely and sadly out-of-print
volume called Cookbook of the Jews of Greece, compiled and beauti-
fully illustrated by Nicholas Stavroulakis, the director of the Jewish
holi days § 127
Museum of Athens. Not only is it a wonderful source of cooking

ideas, this book is a beautiful memorial to a 2,000-year-old culture
that was almost totally wiped out during the Holocaust.
Dough
3 large eggs ¼ cup slivered almonds,
4 tablespoons fresh orange juice chopped
2 tablespoons confectioner’s 2 cups all-purpose flour
sugar 3 cups vegetable oil
Pinch of salt for frying
Syrup
2 cups granulated sugar
½ cup honey
1 cup water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup slivered almonds, roughly chopped (optional)
Using the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, beat eggs in the mixer
bowl until frothy. On low speed beat in orange juice, confectioner’s
sugar, and salt; beat in the ¼ cup almonds. Switch to dough hook
and add flour. Knead until dough is flexible (use low speed and check
dough until it feels soft and supple).
Roll dough to a ⅓-inch thickness on a lightly floured board and
cut into 4-inch circles with biscuit cutter — use a drinking glass if
A B C
you don’t have one. Reroll and cut out scraps. Cut each circle in half.
Draw the ends of each half-circle together and pinch with your fore-
finger and thumb to seal — this makes the ear shape.
Drop “ears” one by one into hot oil. Fry, in batches without crowd-
ing the pot, 2 to 3 minutes until golden brown. Remove with slotted
spatula and drain on paper towels. When all are fried and drained,
place in heatproof serving dish.
Bring sugar, honey, and water to a boil in a heavy saucepan, stirring
to dissolve sugar. Stir in lemon juice and simmer over a low flame
until mixture begins to thicken. Stir in cinnamon and cook until
you’ve got a thick syrup; you should have about 2 ½ cups. Pour over
the cooled “ears” in the serving dish and sprinkle with the ½ cup
almonds, if desired.
Serve immediately. These do not freeze well.
Makes about 20 pastries; serves 8
Haman’s Fleas
Though the Megillah is silent on the subject of Haman’s fleas, the
Sephardi Jews of Greece and Turkey traditionally make a Purim
candy they call susamit or koubeta or psires tou Amman, which means
“fleas of Haman.”
The recipe is adapted from Cookbook of the Jews of Greece.
1 cup white sesame seeds 24 whole or slivered almonds,
⅔ cup honey or as needed
1 cup granulated sugar 2 teaspoons vegetable oil for
Pinch of cinnamon the parchment paper
Preheat oven to 350°F

holi days § 129
Spread sesame seeds on a rimmed baking sheet and toast in oven

for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned, stirring occasionally.
While the seeds are toasting melt honey and sugar together in a
small saucepan on a low flame until small bubbles form (7 to 8 min-
utes). Stir periodically to make sure they are combining well.
Remove toasted seeds to a bowl and combine with hot honey and
sugar mixture .
Spread on a piece of lightly oiled parchment paper. Put another
piece of oiled parchment, oiled side down, on top of the mixture and
roll over with a rolling pin. Work quickly because the candy hardens
fast. When the mixture feels flat and is about ¼ inch thick, peel off
the parchment paper and insert the almonds.
When the candy reaches room temperature and using an oiled
knife, cut into 2-inch diamond shapes with an almond at the center
of each one.
These candies are very sticky. Even after you cut them, allow them
to sit for several hours to dry out before you store them. They should
keep for at least 3 weeks in a closed container. They also freeze well.
Makes about 2 dozen
Fish Challah
As the astrological sign for the month of Adar, the Hebrew month
when Purim takes place, is fish, it is traditional to eat fish on this
holiday. One way of “eating fish” is by fashioning a challah that looks
like a fish.
Fish symbolize piety and purity because they swim in the sea,
which is akin to a mikvah (a ritual bath). Jewish law permits ritual
immersion in oceans and lakes). As I explained in chapter 1, the
Torah is also compared to water.
and resting.
To form the fish, roll dough into a thick rope. Cut off one-third of
the dough.
Using larger piece of dough, form an oblong about 7 inches long

and flatten it slightly on a parchment-lined baking tray. Using a par-
ing knife, cut an opening for the fish’s mouth on one end.
Roll the smaller piece of dough into a long, narrow log. Cut off ap-
proximately one-fourth of log. Fold this smaller piece in the middle
to form a V; pinch ends into points and attach piece opposite the
mouth to the fish’s body for the “tail.”
Cut remaining dough into approximately 30 small pieces. Roll these
pieces into balls. Setting one ball aside, arrange remainder in vertical
rows, beginning near tail and ending somewhere in the middle. They
should overlap slightly. These are the scales (this is a kosher fish, after
all!). Place reserved ball just behind and slightly above mouth to form
fish’s eye.
Follow instructions in Single Challah recipe for second rise, glaz-
ing, and baking (for an interesting effect, alternate sesame and poppy
seeds on the scales).
Freezes well.
Serves 8 to 10
holi days § 131
Ojos de Haman Challah

Sephardi Jews bake a bread or challah to look like Haman’s face, with
hard-boiled eggs filling in for the eyes. At the Purim banquet the
custom is to gouge the eyes out — great fun for the children! In the
photo, the egg eyes are simply placed on the challah. You may want
to anchor the eggs with strips of dough.
and resting.
While dough is rising, hard boil eggs. (See recipe for perfect hard-
boiled eggs on page 148.)
To form Haman’s face, roll the dough into a thick rope. Cut off one-
third of the dough. Form the larger piece into a ball and place on a
parchment lined baking sheet. Flatten the dough using a rolling pin.
Cut remaining dough in half. This challah leaves a lot of room for
artistic leeway. One could roll one piece into a 15-inch rope and cut it
into 5 pieces, using pieces to form eyes, mouth, nose, mustache, and
ears. Dough for ears can be shaped into triangles and tucked slightly
under sides of face. Shape mouth into a downward curve and lay it
on lower part of face. Roll ends of mustache piece upward and lay it
on face above mouth. For nose, form dough piece into a hook shape
and place in the center of the face, resting the bottom end on the
mustache.
Roll out remaining dough into a rectangle using a rolling pin. No
need to be exact. For curly hair, roll up rectangle starting from one long
side. Cut this roll into ½-inch slices and arrange these slices on and
around top of head. For wavy or straight hair, simply slice rectangle
into thin strips and arrange them on and around head.
Before baking, place hard-boiled eggs on either side of nose, press-
ing them into the dough. They can be anchored down using 2 pieces
from a “hair” strip placed around the top half of each eye to resemble
eyebrows.
ing, and baking. (Play with the glaze. You can glaze nose and mouth
with egg yolk and leave the rest of the face unglazed, or brush the
entire loaf with egg or egg yolk and then sprinkle with poppy seeds or
dark sesame seeds for a beard. Let your imagination go wild!)
Freezes well.
Serves 8 to 10
Haman’s Noose
On Purim Polish Jews liked to make a challah in the shape of the
noose that was used to hang Haman. You’ll notice that in the photo-
graph of the Ojos de Haman Challah the noose is in the place where
Haman’s neck should be.
Prepare ingredients for dough as listed in Single Challah recipe on
page 8, through rising, punching down, and resting.
Divide the dough in half and roll each half into a long rope. Twist
ropes together and shape to resemble a noose, as pictured in the
photo.
ing, and baking.
holi days § 133
Hamentasch Challah
It’s easy and festive to fashion a challah in a triangle to resemble a
large hamentasch.
Prepare ingredients for dough as listed in Single Challah recipe on
page 8 (including a substantial number of poppy seeds), through ris-
ing, punching down, and resting.
Roll dough into a round 11 inches in diameter. With the tip of your
finger, make three indentations in the dough equally spaced around
the perimeter. Using the indentations as a guide, imagine a triangle
inside the circle from these points. Fold the dough along the (imagi-
nary) lines into the circle, forming a triangle with the dough. Pinch
each corner closed to hold the shape.
ing, and baking. After applying the glaze in the center, sprinkle with
a thick layer of poppy seeds to give the impression of a filling.
Freezes well.
Serves 8 to 10
Chickpeas for Purim

At Achashverosh’s palace, Queen Esther kept kosher by sticking to a
vegetarian diet. What did vegetarians eat in ancient Persia? Not soy
burgers or Tofutti, but chickpeas. That’s why it’s customary to eat
them on Purim. This is an old-fashioned Jewish recipe. In Yiddish
it’s known as nahit or arbes, and it’s also served at Shalom Zachor
parties, Friday night gatherings to celebrate the birth of a baby boy.
2 cups dried chickpeas
Kosher salt
Freshly cracked black pepper
Preparation
Sort through chickpeas to remove any stones. Soak overnight in a
bowl of cold water.
Drain chickpeas. Fill another pot about two-thirds full of water.
Add chickpeas and bring to a boil, then reduce flame to low and cook
chickpeas, covered, 1 ½ to 2 hours, until tender but not mushy. Drain
again.
Serve chickpeas seasoned with kosher salt and freshly cracked
black pepper to taste, either eaten as is or tossed into a salad.
Serves 8 or more, depending on portion size
Kreplach for Purim

Purim is the Jewish calendar’s most “hidden” holiday. Esther hides
— by concealing her Jewish identity. G-d hides — the name of G-d
is absent from the Purim story. The miracle is hidden. It occurs
through a series of coincidences, “natural events.” Even the holiday
hides — Purim is a holiday with weekday trappings, without kiddush
or holiday restrictions.
Kreplach is the food of hiding. The meat filling hides under a blan-
ket of dough.
You can always float kreplach in your soup, but for an extra-special
Purim treat, fry them lightly and enjoy them plain or with any dip-
ping sauce.
holi days § 135
Prepare kreplach according to the recipe for Classic Kreplach on

page 70.
Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a skillet over a medium-low
flame and gently fry kreplach until golden brown, about 2 minutes
on each side.
Serve immediately.
Makes 32; serves 10 to 12
Haman’s Hair: Purim Pasta Salad

KAVEYOS DI HAM A N
Those great culinary cannibals, Sephardi Jews, make a dish called

kaveyos di Haman, which means “Haman’s hair.” Consider this as
Haman on a bad hair day, but don’t let that put you off. Kaveyos is a
snap to make, and it’s extremely tasty.
I got the idea for this recipe from a mention made of the dish by
Gil Marks in his Encyclopedia of Jewish Food. The dish as he describes
it calls for fidellos, the traditional Sephardi coiled pasta, but I love
Chinese rice vermicelli (also called “rice sticks”), which cook after
the briefest immersion in boiling water.
1 package (10 ½ ounces) rice parsley or cilantro or a

vermicelli mixture of the two
½ cup olive oil Salt and black pepper to taste
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice Handful of olives, any kind
2 teaspoons finely chopped (optional)
Cook rice vermicelli according to package directions. Drain, then
mix in a bowl with the olive oil, lemon juice, parsley and/or cilantro,
salt, and pepper. Optional: toss in a handful of olives.
Serve warm, cold, or at room temperature. If you must freeze it you
can, but without the olives. Serves 6
Galicianer Stuffed Cabbage for Purim

For centuries, possibly even longer, Jews have been stuffing cabbage
for Purim. Why? Because in gematriya, the ancient art of letter-
number equation, the word cruv, which means “cabbage,” has the
same letters and numerical value as baruch, which means “blessed,”
the adjective used to describe the heroic Mordechai.
This recipe has its roots in Galicia, an area that encompasses
present-day Poland and parts of the Ukraine. Unlike the other major
Ashkenazi subgroup, the Litvaks or Lithuanians, who were known
for their fierce intellect and Talmudic scholarship, the Hassidic Gali-
cianers had a more prayerful and emotional approach to religion that
carried over to their tastes in food. While Litvak cuisine is salty and
simple, Galicianer food is sweet. Sweet kugels, sweet gefilte fish, and
of course sweet stuffed cabbage studded with raisins.
1 medium-size to large Savoy cabbage
Meat Filling
2 small onions, minced or grated
2 pounds ground beef
2 large eggs
½ cup white rice
holi days § 137
A
B
C D
Sauce
2 tablespoons vegetable oil for ⅓ cup granulated sugar
sautéing Salt and freshly cracked
1 medium-size onion, diced black pepper to taste
1 can (32 ounces) crushed Juice of 1 lemon
tomatoes or tomato sauce Handful of dark raisins
8 ounces (1 cup) tomato paste
At least 72 hours before you plan to cook, wrap your cabbage well
(double bag it) and freeze. The day before you want to cook, thaw it
out in the fridge. Once the cabbage is completely thawed, the leaves
separate easily. (Doing it this way is far easier than steaming the cab-
bage and peeling off the steamed leaves, and you are more likely to
end up with intact leaves.)
In a separate bowl combine ground beef thoroughly with eggs,
minced onion, and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside while you make
the sauce.
Heat oil in large saucepan over a medium flame and sauté diced
onion until translucent. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar,
salt, and pepper. Add lemon juice and bring to a boil. Add a handful
of dark raisins and remove from the heat.
Core cabbage. Gently pry leaves loose. If leaves won’t pry loose, cut
into core to release them. If the ribs of the leaves are very thick, trim
them with a knife.
Place 2 tablespoons filling at end of each leaf (near the core). Roll
and fold up envelope style. Place rolls in a casserole dish with a cover
and pour sauce on top.
Bake, covered, for 50 minutes at 375°F. Uncover and bake for 10
minutes longer.
Serve immediately. Freezes very well.
Serves 12
Turkey Roast
Although Purim isn’t the Jewish Thanksgiving, the two holidays
share both a theme — gratitude — and a food — turkey. The Hebrew
name for turkey is hodu, a double entendre because it means “give
thanks” and it is also the name for India, one of the lands in King
Achashverosh’s realm. As Achashverosh wasn’t known for his soar-
ing intellect, it’s fitting to remember a turkey-brained king with a
turkey feast.
holi days § 139
Everyone knows that turkeys don’t come from India or from Tur-
key, for that matter. They are indigenous to North America, domes-
ticated from wild turkeys, which still roam the Northeast. Turkey
roast, made of boneless dark meat, is a lovely, light alternative to pot
roast, easy to make, full of vitamin B, and low in fat.
1 turkey roast (boneless dark 2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
turkey meat) (3 pounds) 2 small onions
Spice mix ( ½ teaspoon each salt, 2 cloves garlic
black pepper, cumin, curry 2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
powder, and turmeric) 1 ½ cups water
Rub turkey roast all over with spice mix and set aside.
Heat oil in Dutch oven and sauté onion and garlic over a medium
flame until soft. Add turkey and brown on all sides. Add teriyaki
sauce and water and bring to a simmer. Reduce flame to low and
cook, covered, until juices run clear when meat is pierced with a
skewer, about 1 hour. Check periodically to make sure liquid doesn’t
evaporate. If it does, add water.
Remove from heat and transfer turkey roast to serving platter. Let
stand 10 minutes, then cut into slices to serve, accompanied by the
pan juices, if desired.
Freezes well. Serves 6
i PASSOV ER
The Hebrew word for Passover, Pesach, can be parsed into the words
peh and sach. Peh is the Hebrew word for “mouth.” Passover is the hol-
iday of the mouth, as it opens to sing, to pray, to speak, and to taste.
The Seder, the ritual retelling of the Exodus, includes multiple
tastings. There’s the tasting of the matzo, which contains the tastes
of affliction and paradoxically also of faith, of the bitter herbs of af-
fliction, of the salty tears of slavery and the joyous liberation tasted
in four cups of wine.
Another wondrous part of this holiday is the job of fashioning deli-

cious food amid a challenging set of dietary limitations. On Passover
Torah law proscribes the eating of hametz, or leavened substance.
Hametz is any one of five grains (rye, oats, durum wheat, emmer
wheat, and barley), which comes into contact with water for longer
than eighteen minutes. That eliminates bread, crackers, cookies, ce-
real, pizza, pasta, and breaded foods. But Jews have found inventive
ways to fill the gap with foods so tasty you’ll hardly remember what
it is you are missing.
DI Y Matzo
Matzo, the iconic Passover flatbread, is among the oldest recipes
known to man. Some Midrashim say that it was what the Jews ate
when they were slaves in Egypt, and that is no wonder. Matzo is
cheap and filling, though not always pleasantly so.
In the Passover Haggadah, matzo is called “the bread of affliction.”
It is also the bread of faith, as matzo sustained the Children of Israel
holi days § 141
when they left the greatest empire in the world to follow Moses into
the wilderness. They left so quickly that their dough didn’t have a
chance to rise, hence the bread of affliction turned into the bread of
liberation.
Matzo symbolizes humility and it is the humblest of foods. The
essential recipe is simply flour and water, which, according to Jewish
law, must be combined, kneaded, rolled out, and baked in the space
of eighteen minutes for the mixture to qualify as matzo.
Until 1838, when an Alsatian Jew named Isaac Singer invented the
first matzo rolling machine, all matzo was made by hand. The ma-
chine was controversial from the start — some rabbis applauded it;
others said that it violated Jewish law. Even today some Jews refuse to
eat machine-made matzot. Others compromise, eating hand-baked
matzot for the Seders, when eating matzo is a religious requirement,
and machine baked on the other days of the holiday.
This recipe is adapted from Bree Hester’s bakedbree.com. Because
the flour is gradually kneaded, this doesn’t qualify as matzo under
Jewish law but it’s a fun way to learn about matzo baking.
2 cups all-purpose flour, more if necessary
1 cup water
Preheat oven to 475°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Have ready a rolling pin, pastry brush, and fork.
Set timer for 18 minutes. In a bowl mix together 2 cups flour with
1 cup water. Knead dough on a well-floured board until it comes to-
gether. It takes about 3 to 4 minutes. If the dough is really sticky, add
flour a tablespoon at a time until it firms up.
Cut dough into 8 to 12 chunks. Roll each out as thin as you can.
Flour everything well because the dough is sticky.
Place flattened dough on the parchment-lined baking sheets. This
dough does not spread, so you can put a bunch on a sheet. Prick with
fork. Brush off excess flour. Bake 3 to 4 minutes in 475°F oven until
golden and crispy.
Store airtight for a day or so — don’t freeze.
Makes 8 to 12 matzot
i T HE SEDER PL AT E
Our Seder plate dates back only to
the Middle Ages, relatively recent
from the long Jewish view of
history. In earlier times, the
Seder foods were served on
small traylike tables set amid
the low couches, pillows, or
carpets upon which the Seder
participants reclined. This is the
kind of Seder that the Mishnah
refers to. Yemenite and other Middle
Eastern Jews still conduct their Seders this way.
When tables and chairs first came into vogue during the Middle
Ages, European Jews replaced the low tray tables with large wicker
baskets. By 1600 the baskets had been replaced with the large platters
we use today.
Hassidic Jews prefer elevated plates, with the compartments un-
derneath for the matzot. Non-Hassidic Jews use a flat plate and store
the matzot in a separate case.
Karpas
Karpas is a green vegetable, such as pars-
ley or celery, symbolizing the spring,
rebirth, and renewal of the Exodus,
which took place in the spring. Karpas
doesn’t have to be green — for centuries,
East European Jews used boiled pota-
toes or raw onions as their karpas.
At the Seder karpas is dipped into salt water reminiscent of the
salty tears the Jews shed in their enslavement. As a Jewish meal tra-
ditionally starts with ritual hand washing before eating bread, this
unusual vegetable-dipping ceremony is meant to pique children’s cu-
riosity and lead into the one of the Seder highlights, the Four Ques-
tions, which are traditionally asked by the youngest child at the table.
Shank Bone
The zero’a, or shank bone, is a piece of
roasted meat that symbolizes the Paschal
sacrifice, which the Jewish people first
brought at their departure from Egypt
and continued to bring for as long as the
Temple stood.
The Hebrew word zero’a literally means
“arm” and evokes the image of G-d’s out-
stretched arm (zero’a netuya) taking the
Children of Israel out of Egypt.
Neither the zero’a nor any roasted meat is eaten on Seder night so
that the Seder meal isn’t confused with the Paschal sacrifice.
To prepare, spear a shank bone with a fork and hold it over an open
flame until it’s charred on all sides, or roast it in the oven for 30
minutes. If you can’t get a real shank bone, a chicken neck is a good
substitute.
Maror
BIT TER HERBS
It isn’t at all clear that the traditional horseradish stick

is actually maror. According to the Talmud, maror is a
pale green herb containing a white sap called seraf. Since
horseradish doesn’t fit this description, it’s common for
observant Jews to use romaine lettuce as their bitter
herb. In many families the practice is to eat both, horse-
radish for tradition — that was what Zeyde ate — and
lettuce as the actual maror.
As the initial bites taste sweet and the later bites turn
bitter, romaine lettuce resembles the Jewish experience
in Egypt, which began sweetly with Jacob’s sons living
comfortably in the Land of Goshen and ended with
the bitterness of enslavement.
Haroseth
FRUIT RELISH
Haroseth, the beloved Seder night fruit relish, symbolizes the bricks
that the Hebrew slaves used to build Egyptian storage cities. Cinna-
mon and ginger, which are hard spices until ground, are added to the
mixture to recall the straw pieces the Egyptian taskmasters forced
Hebrew slaves to use for making bricks after they stopped supplying
them with clay.
Haroseth also symbolizes hope and faith. In most haroseth reci-
pes apples are a major ingredient. The apple, which is called tapuach
in Hebrew, recalls the tree beneath which the Israelite slave women
birthed their babies.
When the Egyptians ordered Jewish boys to be slain at birth, the
Jewish men separated from their wives to stop having children. The
women had faith. They made themselves look beautiful and went out
to the fields to greet their husbands and reunite with them. As a result
they became pregnant. And then a miracle occurred: whenever a Jew-
ish woman felt birth pangs she went out to the tapuach tree and deliv-
ered her babies — sextuplets were the norm back then — so discreetly
that the Egyptian taskmasters didn’t realize what was going on.
Beitza
EGGS FOR THE SEDER PL ATE
The roasted egg for the Seder plate

recalls the korban hagigah, the
festival offering brought on
Passover and eaten together
with the Paschal offering.
Hazeret
Hazeret, another type of maror, con-
forms with the Biblical command-
ment to eat bitter herbs — “ herbs” is
expressed in plural.
While freshly grated horserad-
ish is the usual choice for the maror
compartment, the hazeret compart
ment is commonly filled with ro-
maine lettuce.
Ashkenazi Haroseth
Food Historian Gil Marks says that in the shtetl apples and nuts
were so prohibitively expensive that in many places the richest man
in town mixed up a big batch of haroseth and distributed it to his less
fortunate neighbors.
3 sweet red apples (MacIntosh 10 almonds
or Red Delicious), peeled, 10 walnuts
cored, and cut into chunks ½ cup sweet red wine
12 dates (optional), pitted 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Combine all ingredients in a processor fitted with the metal blade
and process until a thick and gritty paste forms.
Spoon into a bowl to serve. Does not freeze well.
Makes about 2 cups; serves 10 to 12
Persian Haroseth
The Persians call this halir, but it should be called “ambrosia.” This
ancient and exquisite recipe comes from Sara Lipkin, the aunt of my
assistant, Batya Lieberman. Sara recorded many old family recipes in
a privately published cookbook.
1 handful (approximately 20) almonds
1 handful (approximately 20) walnuts
1 handful (approximately 20) pecans
¼ cup seedless raisins soaked in ¼ cup
sweet wine or grape juice
2 small green apples, peeled, cored, and grated
6 dates, pitted
Juice of ½ lemon
½ teaspoon cinnamon
holi days § 147
In a food processor using the metal blade, grind nuts, then add
soaked raisins and their liquid, apples, dates, lemon juice, and spices.
Process until a paste forms.
Spoon into a bowl to serve.
Makes about 2 cups; serves 16
Iraqi Haroseth
HA LEK
In both India and Iraq dates were the only sweetener available at
Passover. Jewish housewives cooked the dates to a honey-like sub-
stance, known as silan, for the holiday. Fortunately silan is now read-
ily available in gourmet markets.
This is the recipe that my Sephardi mother-in-law remembers
from her childhood in India, where she grew up in a community of
expatriated Iraqi Jews. Interestingly, food historian Gil Marks says
that this same recipe appears in the ninth-century prayer book of the
great rabbi Sa’adia Gaon, the head of the academy in Sura, Babylonia
(present-day Iraq).
Ingredients
1 cup silan (date honey)
1 cup walnuts
¼ cup sweet red wine
Preparation
In a food processor fitted with the metal blade, process everything
together until a thick, gritty paste forms. A few pulses should be
enough — you want to preserve some texture.
Spoon into a bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve. Does not
freeze well.
Makes about 2 cups; serves 16
Seder Night Hard-Boiled Eggs

The Seder meal begins with a hard-boiled egg — a food of mourning
— which is dipped into salt water as a show of grief over the destroyed
Temple.
Hard-boiled eggs are a metaphor for the Jewish temperament —
the longer they boil, the tougher they get. That means that the more
a Jew suffers, the stronger his faith becomes.
Simple as they are, hard-boiled eggs are an easy dish to mess up.
They can turn out too hard, too soft, too green, or too hard to peel.
This method should solve any problems for once and for all. I learned
this from my very talented assistant, Batya Lieberman, and it’s worth
remembering.
Place eggs (whatever amount you need to cook) in saucepan large
enough to hold them in a single layer. Cover them with cold water
and add a bit of salt (1 teaspoon of salt per 3 eggs). Cook on a medium
flame until water boils. Lower heat to a simmer and continue cooking
for 10 more minutes (if your eggs are cold from the fridge, they will
need 2 minutes longer than this to cook). To prevent overcooking, re-
move eggs quickly with a slotted spoon and plunge into a bowl of cold
water (cold from the tap is fine) to prevent the yolks from discoloring.
Serve as desired. Don’t freeze.
Firm Matzo Balls

SINKERS
Neither Pharaoh nor Moses ate knaidlach, or matzo balls (they never
even heard of them), and yet they have become the pièce de résistance
of the Passover Seder. How can one retell the story of the Exodus
without stopping for a bowl of matzo ball soup?
Of course, there are different opinions about matzo balls. Some
folks like them light and feathery — “floaters.” Others prefer firmer
and more substantial balls, which their detractors call “sinkers.”
“Sinker” is actually a misnomer. If you keep the lid on while you
are boiling them, your sinkers will float above the soup and retain
holi days § 149
their firm texture and shape. Unlike the feathery floaters, sinkers can
be filled with interesting surprises inside. Whichever knaidel you
choose, you can’t go too far wrong.
4 large eggs ½ cup seltzer
⅔ stick margarine 1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups matzo meal ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
Combine all ingredients in bowl of a stand mixer and beat until
smooth, using paddle attachment. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
Meanwhile, bring a wide-mouthed pot of salted water to a boil.
Roll knaidlach mixture into walnut-size balls and plunge them
into boiling water. Lower flame and simmer knaidlach, covered, for
30 minutes.
Remove knaidlach with slotted spoon. Place on baking sheet to
dry, and then refrigerate, freeze, or serve in hot soup.
Makes about 2 ½ dozen
Knaidlach with a Neshoma

A neshoma, the Hebrew-Yiddish word for “soul,” is the name Lithu
anian Jews gave to knaidlach with a piece of griben (tiny piece of
crackling made from chicken or goose skin) in the center of each.
Have ready gribenes from the recipe for Gribenes and Schmaltz
(page 107). Make dough for Firm Matzo Balls (recipe above). Form
into balls as directed. In the palm of your hand flatten each ball
slightly and insert a griben. Close dough around it. Simmer knaid-
lach in salted water in a covered pot for 30 minutes on low flame.
Drain, place on baking sheet to dry, and then refrigerate, freeze,
or serve in soup.
Makes 2 ½ dozen
Fluffy Knaidlach
FLOATERS
2 large eggs 1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup water ⅛ teaspoon black or
¼ cup vegetable oil or schmaltz white pepper
⅔ cup matzo meal Pinch of cinnamon
Combine egg, water, and oil in a bowl. Beat with a hand mixer or
whisk to blend well, then beat in matzo meal and seasonings until
smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
You can leave this dough overnight.
Fifteen minutes before you are ready to roll your balls, boil up a
small pot of well-salted water or soup stock. Wet your hands and roll
knaidlach mixer into walnut-size balls. When water reaches a rolling
boil, turn it down to simmer and drop balls in. Cover pot and let
balls cook undisturbed for 30 minutes.
Drain, place on baking sheet to dry, then refrigerate, freeze, or
serve in soup.
Makes 12
holi days § 151
Chicken Balls
Some Hassidic Jews won’t eat matzo balls at their Seders because
their rabbis ban mixtures of matzo and water, arguing that if matzo
or matzo pieces (matzo balls are made from matzo meal or ground
matzo) become wet, they could ferment into hametz, a leavened sub-
stance. (Other rabbis argue that matzot cannot ferment.) Because
of this, Hassidic cooks have cleverly developed an ersatz matzo ball
made of ground chicken combined with mashed potato. When I first
heard about this I was skeptical, but to my surprise it proved to be
quite tasty and not unlike the real thing.
You will need just enough potato starch that the mixture adheres
to form balls but not so much that the mixture turns gummy.
1 pound ground chicken or turkey
1 medium-size potato, cooked, peeled, and mashed
½ small onion, finely diced
1 large egg, lightly beaten
¼ teaspoon salt
Pinch of ground ginger
1 tablespoon potato starch, or as needed
Soup or boiling water flavored with bouillon cubes for serving
Combine all ingredients except the potato starch (and soup for serv-
ing, of course) in a bowl and work with the hands to mix well. Add
just enough potato starch to enable the mixture to be formed into
balls. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Heat a pot of soup (or boiling water flavored with bouillon cubes)
to boiling. While soup comes to boil, form mixture into approxi-
mately 3-inch balls — they will be slightly ragged looking. Plunge balls
into boiling soup, reduce heat, and simmer, covered, for 45 minutes.
These balls freeze well.
Tongue for Second Day of Passover

Did you know that the Purim miracle occurred during Passover?
According to tradition, Haman’s evil decree was issued on Passover.
Esther gathered the Jews for a three-day fast, which began on Pass-
over, and Haman went to the gallows on Passover.
Because of this it is an old Jewish custom to recall Haman’s Yahr-
zeit (the sixteenth day of Nisan, the second day of Passover) by eating
tongue. That’s because the Midrash says that Haman was hanged
by his tongue. Since Haman’s tongue was used for vile antisemitic
innuendo, the punishment fit the crime.
Using the ingredients for the stock as listed in the recipe for Tongue
for the New Year (page 62), cook a 3-pound beef tongue according to
the instructions in that recipe.
When tongue is cool enough to handle, peel off skin, slice thin,
and arrange on a platter. Serve as is, or set it first in sauce (any good
bottled barbecue sauce or duck sauce will do the trick).
Freezes well (without sauce).
Serves 6 to 8
Intergeshlugenah Borscht
Borscht is traditionally eaten on the second day of Passover because
it’s slightly sour. This is a way of saying that the second day of the
holiday — which is only celebrated outside of Israel — is slightly sour
because the Jews who celebrate it are in the Diaspora.
When I first printed this recipe in a local Jerusalem newspaper, I
mistakenly called it intagashlinganah borscht. A letter from a reader
set me right. The word is intergeshlugeneh, a derivative of another
Yiddish word, geshlugn, which means “beaten.” Yes, this is borscht
with eggs beaten into it. If you like colorful food, this is one of the
prettiest dishes around — a rich, jewel-like magenta, which happens
to look magnificent set against a white porcelain bowl.
If you don’t like the idea of using jarred borscht for this, you can
use the homemade version that follows.
holi days § 153
1 jar (24 ounces) borscht

1 cup water
2 large eggs
Boiled potato wedges and/or sour
cream for garnish (optional)
Pour contents of jar into medium-size saucepan and add 1 cup water.
Bring mixture to the beginning of a boil, when pan is rimmed with
tiny bubbles. Remove pan from stove and carefully pour borscht into
a heatproof 32-ounce measuring cup with a spout.
In bowl of a stand mixer, whip eggs until frothy, using the wire
whip attachment. Now start the intergeshlugination. In a very thin
stream, slowly pour borscht over beaten eggs. Leave mixer on while
doing this.
When soup and egg are thoroughly combined, pour soup into a
storage container with a lid and refrigerate, covered.
Serve very cold, in soda fountain glasses or in shallow soup bowls,
garnished, if desired, with a boiled potato wedge and/or a scoop of
sour cream. Does not freeze well. Serves 4 to 6
A B
C
Homemade Borscht
12 small beets Juice of 2 lemons
8 cups water 1 large potato, peeled
1 cup granulated sugar 1 cup sour cream
Pinch of salt
Trim beets of all but about an inch of stems and scrub. Bring beets
and 8 cups water to boil in 4-quart Dutch oven. Add sugar and salt,
then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, until beets are cooked
through, about 1 hour. Turn off burner.
Remove beets with slotted spoon to colander and run under cold
water. When cool enough to handle, slip off skins. Using medium
shredding blade, grate beets in food processor, then return to cook-
ing liquid.
Add lemon juice and taste for salt. Refrigerate until well chilled.
Just before serving the soup, cook potato in saucepan of boiling
water until tender. Peel and cut into 8 wedges, or as many as needed
to garnish soup.
Serve soup in shallow bowls, each serving garnished with a wedge
of hot boiled potato and/or a dollop of sour cream. Does not freeze
well.
Serves at least 8
Matzo Layer Cake

Other than the kosher-for-Passover marshmallows I used to toast
over a burner on my mother’s stove as a kid, this is the best Passover
desert I’ve ever tasted. My daughter discovered it in Ruti Kenan’s
Bishul LePesach (Cooking for Passover) when she was about twelve.
My daughter is an amazing cook, and this was one of her first culi-
nary triumphs.
The recipe below has been adapted from the recipe in the book
and translated from the Hebrew.
holi days § 155
5 square matzot
⅔ cup sweet red wine or Concord grape juice
⅔ cup butter (1 whole stick plus 2 ⅔ tablespoons)
7 ounces best-quality dark chocolate, cut into pieces
4 large egg yolks
¼ cup confectioner’s sugar
Pour wine or juice into shallow baking dish; dip each matzo, on one
side and then the other, into wine to coat. Set aside.
Meanwhile, in heavy saucepan over a very low flame melt butter
and dark chocolate, stirring just until chocolate melts and blends
with butter. Remove from heat and pour into medium-size bowl.
Allow to cool slightly.
Lightly beat egg yolks in small bowl, then, still beating, dribble egg
yolks slowly into chocolate-butter mixture, to avoid curdling. Spread
mixture over matzot with spatula or knife. Stack matzot, then slice
into serving portions with very sharp knife dipped in cold water.
Store in fridge until ready to serve. Do not freeze.
Serves 6 to 8
Matzo Brei
For much of the twentieth century, matzo brei, literally “mashed
matzo,” a frittata-like matzo and egg pancake, was emblematic of
Passover. When New York City abounded with kosher dairy restau-
rants, Farm Food was the Matzo Brei capital. Emblazoned on a
large banner posted at the entrance to the restaurant were the words
“Matzo Brei is better than Pizza Pie.” Farm Food, along with Rat-
ner’s, Steinberg’s, and the Garden Cafeteria, has been lost to time, as
has its recipe for matzo brei. This one comes from my mother. Ask
your kids if it doesn’t beat pizza.
5 square matzot Salt and black pepper to taste
1 cup whole milk 3 tablespoons butter
5 large eggs, lightly beaten Jam, flavor of choice
Break up the matzot into 1-inch pieces or smaller and place in a bowl.
Warm milk, either in a small saucepan over a low flame or in the
microwave) until a ring of tiny bubbles forms. Don’t let milk boil
(you can microwave for up to 1 ½ minutes). Pour hot milk over bro-
ken matzot and let soak for about 20 minutes. Stir occasionally.
Mix beaten eggs into soaked matzo. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Melt butter in nonstick skillet over a medium-high flame. Pour in
matzo mixture and fry until golden brown on bottom, 2 to 3 minutes.
Carefully flip pancake and cook until golden brown on second side.
Serve piping hot — like pizza — but with jam. Matzo brei just
doesn’t cut it cold, and it does not freeze well.
Serves 4 to 6
Matzo Coffee
My late father was the king of matzo coffee. He’d crack a few matzo
boards with his hands, set each in a bowl and pour a cup or so of
boiling-hot coffee on top — the heat was crucial because it melted
the matzo. Then came the milk and sugar, which in earlier, less diet-
conscious times may have been half-and-half or even sweet cream.
The results were heavenly, sweet, velvety soft with a slight crunch.
1 matzo per person
1 cup coffee, regular or decaf, boiling hot, per person
Milk (skim or whole) or cream
Granulated sugar
Crack one matzo per person into small pieces in a bowl. Each piece
should be the size of a key on the computer keyboard — they can be
slightly smaller or larger. Don’t be too worried about getting the siz-
ing exactly right.
Pour the very hot black coffee over the crumbled matzot.
Add milk and sugar to taste and serve immediately.
Serves 1
holi days § 157
Quajado
What in the world is a quajado?
For the uninitiated — that is, anyone not blessed with a Sephardi
sister-in-law — a quajado is a delicious egg, cheese, and vegetable cas-
serole with a long and interesting history.
Quajado actually means “congealed” in Ladino, referring to the
casserole’s custard of baked eggs. During the Spanish Inquisition,
this dish went underground because anyone caught trying to make
it was suspected of being a Judaizer. Fortunately, my sister-in-law’s
ancestors fled Spain, resettling in Turkey and finally in the USA, tak-
ing this recipe with them as they fled.
This is a modern oven-baked quajado. In previous centuries qua-
jado was cooked on the stovetop like a frittata. Because it has no
breadcrumbs or flour, quajado is typically eaten on Passover, but it’s
great anytime and it freezes well.
6 medium-size zucchini 1 cup grated yellow cheese,
1 medium-size onion such as kashkaval (mozzarella,
2 tablespoons olive oil though not yellow, is also
6 large eggs good)
½ cup crumbled feta cheese 1 tablespoon finely chopped
mixed with ½ cup cottage fresh parsley
cheese or farmer cheese Salt and black pepper to taste
Using coarse shredding attachment, grate zucchini in food proces-

sor. Drain. One way to do this is by wrapping the grated zucchini
in a kitchen towel and folding it into a bundle (it should look like a
hobo’s sack). Leave it for at least 10 minutes, then squeeze out excess
moisture by holding it over sink. Or you can salt zucchini lightly,
leave for 10 minutes, and drain in a colander.
While zucchini drains, heat oil in a skillet over a low flame and
sauté onion until soft (about 10 minutes). While onion sautés, lightly
beat eggs in a large bowl.
Add drained zucchini and sautéed onion to lightly beaten eggs,
then stir in cheeses, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Fold mix-
ture into greased 9-inch square baking dish or 9 × 11-inch baking tray
and bake for about 1 hour, or until set.
Serve warm or at room temperature. Freezes well.
Serves 6 as a main course
or 12 as a side dish
Mufleta
While Ashkenazi Jews spend the night after Passover packing and
unpacking dishes, Moroccan Jews have a party. Though no one is
sure how it developed, this custom, called Mimouna, dates back
centuries.
Some people say that it commemorates the Yahrzeit of Maimon,
the father of Moses Maimonides. (Jews believe that the day of death
signals the start of life in the next world.) “Mimouna” even sounds
like a contraction of Maimon and hiloula, or “death anniversary.”
Another theory relates Mimouna to the Hebrew word for “faith,”
emuna, and explains the festivities as an extension of the theme of
the Passover holiday.
On Mimouna night in old Morocco, the Muslims visited their
Jewish neighbors, bearing gifts of sourdough starter. They blessed
each other with the words tirbachu u’tis’adu, which in Judeo-Arabic
means “be blessed and be lucky.” (In European countries Jews also
got starter from their Gentile neighbors, but without festivities.)
holi days § 159
Before reliable commercial yeast was widely available, wild yeast

or sourdough starter was an essential supply. As starter is leavening,
hametz incarnate, Jews discard it before Passover.
On Mimouna night in old Morocco, the first leavened dish the
Jews made was mufleta, a fried flatbread similar to Indian chapatti.
Though it looks complicated, mufleta is simple to make — in fact, the
recipe could also be called “How to Cook Like a Moroccan without
Really Trying” — and it’s delicious, especially when topped with the
traditional accompaniment, melted butter mixed with honey. How-
ever, though simple, this is a dish that is best prepared by two cooks
working together. One cook can stretch the dough into pancakes
while the other works the frying pan.
It’s traditional to serve these with melted butter with honey, but
they are also tasty with savory dips like hummus or matboucha or
even with cottage cheese.
½ tablespoon instant yeast ⅓ cup vegetable oil

1 ½ cup lukewarm water (approximately)
1 ½ teaspoons granulated sugar 3 tablespoons honey melted
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour with 1 stick butter (optional)
1 ½ teaspoons salt
Dissolve yeast in water in a large bowl. Stir in sugar. Combine flour

and salt in another bowl, then mix this gradually into yeast mixture.
Knead in bowl or on lightly floured board until a soft dough forms.
Pour about a tablespoon of the oil on top of dough, so that it’s
covered by a thin film of oil. The dough should look shiny. Cover
dough with kitchen towel and let rest for 1 hour (don’t refrigerate).
After the dough has emerged from its nap, cut it into 12 pieces.
Each piece should be about the size of a medium-size apple. Let these
pieces rest, covered, for 10 minutes.
Pour a thin film of oil (about a tablespoon) directly onto your
work surface. You can pour the oil right onto a granite countertop
or marble cutting board. Place one of the dough balls on the work
surface. Using the palms of your hands, gently stretch dough ball
A B
C
D
I
holi days § 161
into a thin pancake about 8 inches in diameter (don’t worry about

tearing; the holes don’t matter).
While you are stretching the first ball, heat a tablespoon of oil
in a 10-inch nonstick skillet (you can also use a griddle). Slide first
pancake into hot pan and cook until it starts to brown on the first
side (about 1 minute). Using a pancake turner, flip pancake over (it
should take about 1 minute to brown). Slide next pancake on top of
first one and flip, so that new pancake is face down in pan (its second
side will cook from the heat of the pancake stack you are making).
Meanwhile, continue stretching dough balls into pancakes.
When second pancake is browned on the “down” side, flip stack
over and slide another pancake on top. Flip again so that new pan-
cake is face down in pan. Repeat until pancakes are formed and fin-
ished. You will end up with a tower of mufletot.
Separate pancakes — they should come apart easily — and serve
right away, accompanied by honey butter, if desired, or spread of
choice. The pancakes freeze well; you can also reheat leftover mufleta
in the toaster, though nothing beats fresh.
Makes about 12 pancakes;
serves 6 to 8
Key Challah
The Shabbat after Passover has become known as Shlissel, or Key
Challah Shabbat. That’s because this Shabbat is the anniversary of
the Shabbat when the manna ceased. The tribes had entered the
Promised Land. From now on they would feed themselves through
the sweat of their brow.
Making that switch must’ve been anxiety provoking. But Jews
don’t worry. The Talmud teaches that G-d holds the key to physi-
cal sustenance (parnossa). Because of this, the custom of making key
challah developed. The key is just a reminder that prayer is the key
to success.
Key challah has become very popular in recent years, and there are
a lot of ways to make it. Some people sculpt the challah dough into
the shape of a giant key. Others shape the challah into an oval and lay
a key fashioned from dough on top like a bas-relief. Still others press
an actual key, sterilized of course, into the dough.
and resting.
This shape should be assembled directly on a parchment-lined
baking sheet. Divide dough in half. Roll first piece into a 15-inch
rope; this will be the “shaft” of the key. Cut remaining piece of dough
into quarters. Form three of these pieces into balls. Flatten each ball
slightly and plunge a finger through each center to make a hole. Ar-
range “doughnuts” around top end of rope; it should now look like
a clover. Roll last piece into a rope and cut it into 4 uneven pieces.
Arrange these pieces on one side of “shaft” bottom to form “teeth.”
Since this challah is fragile, you are advised to serve it on the bak-
ing sheet. Freezes well, but wrap carefully.
Serves 8 to 10
holi days § 163
i L AG B’OM ER
Lag b’Omer is a holiday steeped in Jewish mystical traditions. It is
also the Yahrzeit, or anniversary of the death, of one of Jewish mysti-
cism’s founding fathers, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, and hundreds of
thousands of people journey to his grave in Meiron to mark this day.
Because Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai protested Roman oppression,
the Romans wanted to kill him. He fled Jerusalem and hid together
with his son in a cave in the Galilee, where they studied the Torah’s
esoteric wisdom. A carob tree grew at the entrance to their cave, and
father and son kept themselves alive by eating from its fruit.
Bar Yochai Carob Fudge Bars

Carob is good stuff. Not only is it virtually fat free, it’s also loaded
up with protein and pectin and has no oxalic acid to disturb calcium
absorption. This recipe comes from my good friend and carob lover
Varda Branfman.
It’s also yummy made with unsweetened cocoa powder.
⅔ cup honey
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 cup unsweetened carob powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
Combine honey and peanut butter in heavy saucepan and cook over
a low flame, stirring from time to time with a wooden spoon. After
honey and peanut butter are melted and thoroughly mixed (after
about five minutes), remove pan from heat and stir in carob powder
and vanilla.
Spread mixture in a 9 × 5 × 3-inch loaf pan. Line bottom and sides
with parchment paper Put pan in freezer for 30 minutes to harden
mixture.
Cut into 32 squares to serve. Store, tightly wrapped, in refrigerator
or freezer.
Makes 32
Tinted Eggs
Coloring eggs is an ancient Jewish custom, though the Jewish color
scheme doesn’t include anything close to pink, lilac, or lime green.
The eggs are a memorial to Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, whose righ-
teousness sustained his entire generation.
When Rabbi Shimon was alive, a rainbow never appeared in the
sky. Though rainbows are pretty, they are a reminder of the flood
and G-d ’s promise never to destroy the world through water. When
a rainbow appears, it means that G-d needs to be reminded of that
promise because people have been misbehaving.
After his death, Jews tinted the shells of hard-boiled eggs, the tra-
ditional mourner’s food, in colors to evoke Rabbi Shimon’s merit.
Their rainbow was relatively limited — onion skins and tea grounds
were the dye, so the eggs were tinted various shades of reddish brown.
This custom has been scrapped and should not be revived because
it is reminiscent of dyeing Easter eggs and Easter has such bitter as-
sociations for Jews. Easter was the time when the worst antisemitic
attacks took place in Eastern Europe from the Middle Ages until
the early twentieth century. The famous Kishinev pogrom, which
inspired a world uproar, took place on Easter 1903. But if you are
curious about dyeing eggs naturally, here’s how to do it.
Hard-boil white-shelled eggs (see page 148), putting plenty of red and
brown onion skins and tea grounds into the cooking water. Eggs will
take on a reddish-brown tint.
holi days § 165
i SH AV UOT
Shavuot has become known as the blintzes holiday, but it is far more.
Shavuot is among the year’s holiest and most joyous days because it’s
the day that the Jewish people received the Torah. The Torah is the
Jewish guide to living a good and holy life. On Shavuot the story of
Ruth, the Moabite princess who exchanged the creature comforts of
her native home in order to live as a Jew, is read in synagogue. Ruth
was the great-grandmother of King David, who was born and died
on Shavuot.
Compared to Passover and Sukkoth, Shavuot is a breeze. There are
no dietary changes and no requirements to leave one’s home. Shavuot
is celebrated with prayer and Torah learning. It’s a popular custom to
spend Shavuot night studying Torah. It’s also customary to decorate
the house and synagogue with flowers and greenery, because on the
day the Torah came down to the world, Mount Sinai was covered
with flowers.
Shavuot is a Yom Tov, a “good day,” which means a holiday. While
a Yom Tov menu traditionally includes wine and meat, on Shavuot
there is another element: dairy, which is served (not together with
meat) at one or both of the meals or at a kiddush reception.
That is because the Torah is compared to milk. Just as milk feeds
the body — babies can survive on milk alone — so too does the Torah
feed the soul. The letters in halav, the Hebrew word for “milk,” add
up to the number forty, which is the number of days Moses spent on
Mount Sinai receiving the Torah.
Heavenly Challot for Shavuot

SHNEI LEHEM
This may be hard to believe, but the Torah doesn’t mention anything
about blintzes, cheesecake, cheese kreplach, or even sour cream for
Shavuot.
Bread is the only cooked food mentioned, as in the Shnei Lehem,
two loaves made from the wheat of the new crop and brought to the
Temple along with bikkurim, the first fruits. To recall this, it’s cus-
tomary to bake extra-special large loaves for Shavuot.
1 tablespoon instant yeast 7 cups flour (all-purpose white
⅓ cup granulated sugar or whole-wheat pastry flour
3 ½ cups tepid water or a mixture)
⅓ cup vegetable oil, plus oil 1 tablespoon salt
4 large egg yolks ¼ cup sesame seeds
In a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough
hook, dissolve yeast and sugar in water. Beat in 2 of the egg yolks, oil,
salt, and half the flour. Add rest of flour slowly, 1 cup at a time. Knead
dough either on a floured board until smooth and supple or in the
mixer until dough forms a ball.
holi days § 167
Tear off a 1-ounce piece of dough and say “Harei zeh challah,” then
discard piece in double wrapping (two baggies, two layers of foil, or a
combination); no need to recite the blessing for this amount.
Return remaining dough, if kneaded by hand, to bowl. Oil top of
remaining dough and leave to rise, covered with a dampened kitchen
towel or plastic wrap and set in a warm place until doubled in bulk
(about 2 hours).
Punch dough down and turn out of bowl. Cut off a third of
the dough and set aside. Working with larger piece directly on a
parchment-lined baking sheet, follow directions for braiding in rec-
ipe for Six-Braid Challah on page 9.
Working with smaller piece of dough, follow directions for braid-
ing in recipe for Three-Braid Challah on page 5.
Lay the smaller challah on top of the larger one and allow to rise
for 30 minutes.
Just before you are ready to bake, beat remaining egg yolks in
a small bowl and use a pastry brush to paint glaze over stacked
challahs.
Glaze challah with egg yolk, sprinkle with sesame seeds, and bake
for 45 minutes, until golden brown.
Four-Poled Shnei Lehem

This four-poled challah symbolizes Torah study. A common miscon-
ception is that Torah means “law.” In reality, it means “instruction.”
The Torah is G-d ’s instruction manual for humankind, a user’s guide
for a good life. Studying Torah is one of the Torah’s many mitzvahs.
The four poles on this challah represent the four paths to under-
standing the words of Torah.
Peshat is the plain (simple) or literal reading — the literal
meaning of the words.
Remez is an interpretation based on textual hints and allusions
(remez means “hint”).
Derash refers to a level of interpretation that includes homilies

and parables.
Sod is the deepest level. It refers to the study of the mystical
secrets of the Torah’s words, popularly known as Kabbalah.
Taken together, the first initials of each of these words — peshat,
remez, derash, sod — form the Hebrew acronym PaRDeS, meaning
“orchard,” a metaphor for Torah study. That is quite a lot for a loaf
of bread!
and resting.
Roll the dough into a thick rope and cut off one-third. Form larger
piece of dough into a ball, place on a parchment-lined baking sheet
and flatten slightly.
Divide smaller piece of dough in half and cut each half into 3
equal pieces. Use to make 2 three-strand braids. Cut each braid in
half across the middle. Tuck cut edge of each half braid under edges
of dough round on baking sheet, spacing equally.
ing, and baking.
holi days § 169
Siete Cielos Challah

For centuries, Sephardi women have been baking a bread called the
siete cielos in honor of Shavuot. In Ladino siete cielos means “seven
heavens.” This refers to a teaching that explains the seven celestial
spheres burst open when the Ten Commandments came down to the
world. Judeo-Spanish or Ladino is a blend of Hebrew and Spanish,
which was the language of the Jews expelled from Spain and scat-
tered through Turkey, Greece, and Morocco.
I discovered this challah in Nicholas Stavroulakis’s wonderful
Cookbook of the Jews of Greece.
The orb at the center represents Mount Sinai. Around it are seven
rings — made from ropes of dough — to represent the seven heavens.
Set on the rings are small dough sculptures representing Miriam’s
well, which was the water source for the Children of Israel during
their desert sojourn; the Ten Commandments; an open Torah scroll;
a dove (a symbol of the Jewish people); and the copper serpent stick
that G-d commanded Moses to fashion as an omen to the people that
they should repent and be healed.

and resting.
Roll dough into a thick rope and cut off one-third. Form the
smaller piece of dough into a ball. Place this ball in center of a
parchment-lined baking sheet. Using a serrated knife, score top of
ball with 3 parallel lines and then turn pan and score another 3 times
perpendicularly across first set of lines.
Roll larger piece of dough into a rope and cut off one quarter.
Reserve this quarter for the decorations at the end. Cut remaining
dough into 7 pieces in graduated sizes. Roll each of these into a thin
rope and stretch them around the ball, starting with the smallest
piece and using the next largest as you go along. Pinch the ends of
each piece together, forming individual rings around the center.
Fashion the remaining dough into tiny decorations to represent the
Tablets of the Law, a snake, Miriam’s well, a dove, and an open Torah
scroll. Lay these on top of the rings.
Ten Commandments Challah

On Shavuot, when the Ten Commandments are read in synagogue,
it’s customary to bake a challah in the shape of the Ten Command-
ment tablets.
and resting.
Divide dough in half. Using a rolling pin, roll out one piece of the
dough on a lightly floured board to a 12 × 12-inch square. On side of
square farthest from you cut a 1 ½-inch slit down toward the center.
This side will be the top of the tablets. Gently open the slit and mold
each side of the upper square into a rounded arch.
Roll remaining piece of dough into a rope and cut into thirds. Use
2 of these pieces to form the frame of the tablets, rolling into long,
thin strands, and the remaining piece to form the Hebrew letters
holi days § 171
aleph, bet, gimmel, daled, hey, vav, zayin, chet, tet, and yud. Place the
letters in the order as listed, 5 down the right tablet and 5 down the
left tablet.
ing, and baking.
Ladder Challah
A ladder-shaped challah is an old Ukrainian Jewish custom. The
Hebrew word for “ladder,” sulam, is the numerical equivalent of
the word “Sinai,” as in Mount Sinai, the place where the Torah de-
scended to Earth. Because it is a vehicle for spiritual ascent, the Torah
is compared to a ladder linking Heaven and Earth.
You can either form the entire challah into the shape of a ladder
or fashion an oval loaf and imbed a small dough challah on top, bas-
relief style.
and resting.
Divide dough into 3 equal pieces. Roll out 2 pieces into 12-inch
ropes. On a parchment-lined baking sheet, lay these pieces parallel to
one another leaving a 2-inch gap in between. Roll remaining dough
into a 20-inch rope and cut into 5 four-inch pieces. Drape these pieces
over parallel sides of ladder to form “rungs.” Firmly press the ends of
the rungs onto the sides of the ladder.
ing, and baking.
holi days § 173
David’s Harp Challah

Shavuot is King David’s holiday. David was the great grandson of
Ruth the Moabite, whose story is read in synagogue. David was born
and died on Shavuot. The challah resembles the harp that David
played so beautifully. It’s also traditional to serve this challah at the
Purim banquet.
David’s harp had twenty-two strings, which corresponded with
the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, but this harp has only three.
and resting.
Cut off one-fourth of the dough and set piece aside. Roll larger
piece into a 20-inch rope. Form into a U shape on a parchment-lined
baking sheet, with ends farthest away from you. Making sure there
are four fingers’ width at bottom of U, pull tops of the U outward
and a little down.
Cut off one-fourth of the remaining piece of dough and set aside.
Roll larger piece into a 4-inch oval and place at the base of harp.
Pinch 3 pea-size pieces off remaining dough and set aside. Press
larger piece into a 2-inch square. Place square in center of harp and
press to fill the space. Roll the 3 pea-size pieces into skinny ropes and
arrange on top of flattened center piece to form harp’s “strings.”
ing, and baking. If you want, sprinkle base of harp with poppy or
sesame seeds.
Cheese Kreplach for Shavuot

Cheese kreplach are a lot more than the Jewish answer to ravioli.
These triangular pasta pillows are nuanced with multiple layers of
meaning. Here are a few:
Shavuot occurs in Sivan, the third month counting from Nissan.
Moses was the third child to his parents. (The other children
were Aaron and Miriam.)
The Jewish nation divides into three parts: the priestly caste
or the Cohens, their helpers the Levites, and the rest of the
nation, who are called Israelites.
There are three patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
There are three pilgrim festivals (the Shalosh
Regalim) — Passover, Sukkoth, and Shavuot — when the Jews
of ancient Israel visited the Temple.
The Hebrew punctuation symbol, the segol, is three dots ar-
ranged in a triangular formation. Segol relates to segula and
Am Segula, which is the Hebrew phrase for the Chosen
People. Shavuot celebrates the Torah and the Jewish cove-
nant with G-d.
For best results rolling out the dough, use a hand-cranked pasta
maker. They are available online, and they are easy to use and thor-
oughly wonderful.
holi days § 175
Filling
⅔ cup farmer cheese
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dough
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 large eggs, at room temperature
¼ cup water
Sour cream and granulated sugar for serving (optional)
Bring large pot of lightly salted water to boil.

Combine all filling ingredients in blender, or if using immersion
blender, in bowl. Beat well to blend. Set aside, refrigerated if desired,
while you make the dough.
In food processor fitted with steel blade, process flour and eggs
together until crumbly, then slowly dribble in water and process until
dough is smooth and elastic.
On a heavily floured board, roll out dough as thin as it will stretch
or put dough through a pasta maker. Cut dough into 3-inch squares.
Place ½ teaspoon of filling in center of each. Wet edges of each square
with pastry brush dipped in cold water to keep kreplach from open-
ing up and fold diagonally into triangles. Press edges to seal.
Drop kreplach, in batches to avoid crowding pot, into the boiling
water and boil for about 20 minutes. Remove from water with a slot-
ted spoon and drain well.
Serve as is, with sour cream and sugar if you want, or refry in a bit
of butter. Freezes well.
Makes about 32; serves 8 to 10
Blintzes
There are magazine articles and YouTube videos teaching you how to
create the perfect blintz, as if this were rocket science. Cheese blin-
tzes are remarkably easy to make — my preteen kids make them quite
well. And they aren’t even outrageously fattening.
Enjoy one as you contemplate the sacred mysteries on Shavuot
night. You’ll be amazed at how many people you’ll delight by master-
ing this one simple dish. This recipe was taught to me by my beloved
adopted sister, Rivka Klein.
Crêpe Batter
1 cup sifted flour ½ cup cold water
(white all-purpose or 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
whole-wheat pastry flour) (any kind except olive)
2 large eggs 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
¾ cup whole milk
CHEESE FILLING
1 ⅓ cups farmer cheese
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Blend or process batter ingredients until smooth, adding flour last
and ⅓ cup at a time to avoid lumps. Batter should be loose and runny.
Set aside in a bowl.
In a clean blender or processor container, blend or process filling
ingredients until thick and smooth. Pour into another bowl and set
aside.
Spray a crêpe pan or medium-size skillet with nonstick cooking
spray. Set over a medium flame and pour in a half soup ladle full of
crêpe batter. Tilt pan so batter forms into as perfect a circle as you
can make.
holi days § 177
E F
Fry until edges of blintz begin to curl and top is dry. This will
happen sooner than you think, so hover over your pan.
Flip and let blintz cook briefly on the other side. (Some people
don’t flip. They just remove blintz from pan at this point and add
filling to cooked side.)
Remove blintz from pan with spatula. Place on a plate while you
fry remaining crêpes, stacking blintzes as they are done.
To fill blintzes, place each on work surface and spoon 2 teaspoons

of cheese filling into center. Fold top of each blintz one third of the
way down, like an envelope flap, then fold in the right side, left side,
and bottom, until filling is tucked inside. Or you can roll blintz up
like a Torah scroll.
Melt butter in skillet over moderate flame and fry blintzes until
golden brown on all sides.
Serve immediately, with a dollop of sour cream and/or sprinkling
of confectioner’s sugar. Or you can make and fill blintzes ahead of
time, refrigerate, and refry just before serving. Blintzes freeze well.
Makes about 8
Rochelle’s Cheesecake
Although cheesecake has been around for centuries it wasn’t until
the mid-twentieth century that the cheesecake morphed from a
dense lumpy mass to today’s creamy mousse-like delicacy. Nobody
knows whose stroke of genius it was to substitute cream cheese for
cottage or farmer cheese and replace the heavy pastry crust with
crushed graham crackers. It may have been Arnold Reuben, a Ger-
man Jewish restaurateur whose New York restaurant, The Turf, fea-
tured a creamy cheesecake back in 1942.
Cheesecake doesn’t have religious significance, although the Kab-
balistic understanding is that white symbolizes Divine Mercy. The
Hebrew word halav, which means “milk,” can be flipped to form an
acronym for the psalmist’s phrase lehagid baboker hasdecha, which
means “to tell of His kindness in the morning.” And there is noth-
ing that says “life is good” more strongly than a slice of rich, creamy
cheesecake. This recipe is adapted from a recipe developed by my
dear sister-in-law Rochelle. Like any good cheesecake, it’s creamy and
tangy and velvety soft and sweet, all at the same time.
holi days § 179
10 tea biscuits or 1 ½ cups 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

graham cracker crumbs 1 packet vanilla pudding mix,
¾ stick butter, melted such as Osem brand
2 large eggs, separated (2.8 oz or ¾ cup)
1 container (8 ounces) sour ¼ cup granulated sugar
cream
1 package (8 ounces) cream
cheese
In food processor, grind tea biscuits into crumbs. Combine biscuit
crumbs with melted butter in small bowl, then press mixture over
bottom of a well-greased 9-inch spring-form pan.
In small bowl using hand mixer or whisk, whip egg whites until
stiff peaks form. Reserve beaten whites.
In bowl of stand mixer combine sour cream, cream cheese, egg
yolks, and lemon juice. Beat, using paddle attachment, until smooth.
Beat in instant vanilla pudding and sugar. Gently fold in egg whites.
Spread mixture on top of crumb crust and bake for 45 minutes at
350°F until the center is firm but jiggles a bit and the top is slightly
browned.
Cool cake in pan at room temperature, then remove sides of pan.
Chill cake before serving. Delicious and freezes well.
Serves 10
i T ISH A B’AV
Tisha b’Av, the ninth day of the month of Av, is the saddest day of
the Jewish year. Here’s a short list of catastrophes that happened on
that day:
1. Both Temples were destroyed. The first Temple was burned
down by the Babylonians. On the very same day 655 years
later, the Second Temple was torched by the Romans.
2. B
etar, the last city to hold out against the Romans during the
Bar Kokhba revolt, fell.
3. In 1290 the Jews were expelled from England.

4. In 1306 Jews were expelled from France.
5. In 1492 the Jews were expelled from Spain.
6. In 1914 Germany declared war on Russia, which started
World War I, the prelude to World War II.
Tisha b’Av ends a three-week-long period of mourning. During
the last nine days before the fast, wine and meat, foods associated
with joy, are banned from the menu. For the pre-fast meal, the menu
is pared to the minimum. That meal consists of bread dipped in
ashes, and hard-boiled eggs, and it’s eaten in solitude while sitting
on the ground.
But the sadness doesn’t last for long. There is a Talmudic teaching
that the Messiah will be born on Tisha b’Av.
Rice and Lentil Pilaf

M AJA DA RA H
Majadarah, the Arabic name for a delicious rice and lentil pilaf, liter-
ally means “having smallpox.” The brownish lentils allegedly resem-
ble the disease. Don’t let that put you off. Majadarah is incredibly
healthy, full of fiber and iron and low in fat.
Majadarah is eaten before Tisha b’Av and also after funerals, be-
cause lentils are closed spheres without an opening or a mouth, and
under Jewish law a mourner lacks a mouth; mourners aren’t allowed
to initiate a conversation, although they can respond. On Tisha b’Av
all Jews are mourners.
Use brown or green lentils only for this — red will turn to mush.
1 cup brown or green lentils 3 medium-size Vidalia onions,
1 ½ tablespoons plus ¼ cup sliced into thin crescents
vegetable oil (olive oil is fine) ¼ teaspoon cumin
2 cups basmati rice ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Salt Greek yogurt for serving,
6 cups boiling water or stock optional
holi days § 181
Cover lentils with water in a saucepan and simmer, covered, for 20

minutes until tender. Drain.
Heat 1 ½ tablespoons oil in a large saucepan over a medium flame
and sauté rice briefly, stirring. Add lentils and 2 teaspoons salt. Pour
boiling water or stock over rice and lentils. On a low flame simmer,
covered, for 20 minutes.
Heat remaining ¼ cup oil in a skillet over a medium flame and
sauté onions, stirring frequently, until dark brown, about 10 minutes.
Add pepper, cumin and salt to taste.
To serve, spoon rice and lentils onto a serving platter and top with
the fried onions. Serve, if you wish, with Greek yogurt. Can be fro-
zen, but better fresh.
Serves 4
Mama’s Mamaliga
As warm as a mother’s embrace, as soft as a baby’s blanket, mamaliga,
a cornmeal mush that is a close relative to polenta, is the ultimate
comfort food. In Romania, mamaliga was eaten round the clock,
and in the early twentieth century immigrants from that country
brought it to the U.S. and sang about it in the Yiddish theater. Since
it’s meatless, it’s great for the pre-Tisha b’Av period, though you can
eat it anytime.
This recipe comes from my mother, who still remembers her own
mother standing over the stove and stirring the mamaliga carefully
for twenty minutes or more, to make sure that it was velvety smooth.
For a more solid mamaliga, cook longer, then spread it out on a board
and cut it into slices.
3 cups water Salt to taste
½ cup milk 1 cup best-quality cornmeal
1 tablespoon butter Sour cream for serving
Bring water, milk, butter, and salt almost to a boil in a heavy saucepan.
Lowering flame to keep at a gentle simmer, gradually dribble in corn-
meal, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to avoid any lumps.
Continue stirring for 10 to 15 minutes, until you have a thick pudding
that tastes cooked. You can add more water if it feels too thick.
Serve immediately, with a dollop of sour cream. Doesn’t freeze well.
Serves 3 to 4
Hungarian Jewish “Pleated” Potato Casserole

RA KOT T KRUM PLI
A Jewish take on a Hungarian peasant classic, rakott krumpli, or

“pleated potatoes,” is a savory sour cream, potato, and hard-boiled
egg casserole. The “pleating” refers to the layering of the ingredients.
Jews often remake regional foods to conform to the Jewish dietary
laws. You can also serve this on Shavuot or Hanukkah, when dairy
foods are featured, or any other time.
6 medium-size boiling potatoes 2 Vidalia onions, sautéed
3 eggs, hard boiled (see page in 2 tablespoons butter
148) and peeled (optional)
1 teaspoon paprika (optional) 1 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)
2 handfuls grated yellow cheese, ⅛ teaspoon white pepper
any kind (optional) 2 cups sour cream
Cook potatoes, in their skins, in a saucepan of simmering water until
fork tender, about 20 minutes.
holi days § 183

Drain potatoes and slice into ¼-inch rounds. Slice eggs into
rounds. In a greased casserole or baking dish (9 × 13 is a good size),
layer potatoes, eggs, optional grated cheese, and optional sautéed on-
ions, sprinkling salt and pepper over potato layers.
Continue layering until casserole is full and ingredients are used
up. Top with sour cream.
Bake at 350°F for 40 minutes, or until top is brown.
Serve immediately. Doesn’t freeze well, but will keep in fridge for
up to 4 days and reheats nicely in the microwave.
Serves 6
Cabbage Noodles
In my family, “cabbage noodles” was the name we gave to an arche-
typically European combination of spicy, savory Savoy cabbage and
small pieces of pasta. If the phrase “cabbage noodles” doesn’t ring a
bell, know that this dish is called káposztás tészta in Hungarian and
kraut lokshn, or kraut pletzlach, in Yiddish.
Though it was among my father’s favorite foods, my mother made
it only rarely, because she insisted on using the square egg pasta sold
at Cousin Duvid’s Brooklyn grocery store. My family lived in Man-
hattan, an hour’s subway ride away.
Duvid’s grocery had sawdust on the floor and a large can of
schmaltz herring on the counter, and Duvid, wearing a stone-colored
peaked cap and a gray grocer’s jacket, greeted his customers by name.
Duvid was always smiling — no small thing for a man who lost al-
most every relative in World War II.
The cabbage noodles were wrapped in clear cellophane, with cook-
ing instructions in Yiddish. Made with flour and untold numbers of
egg yolks, they were the perfect foil to the gossamer weightlessness
of the sautéed cabbage.
I’ve never found a noodle quite as good, but even with ordinary
noodles this dish is a winner.
2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 p ackage (12 ounces) egg
1 large onion, finely diced noodles, cooked according
1 ¾ cups shredded cabbage to package directions and
1 ¼ teaspoons salt (or to taste) drained.
¼ teaspoon coarsely cracked
black pepper
Heat oil in large skillet over a medium flame and sauté onion until
translucent. Add cabbage and seasonings. Reduce heat to low and
cook, uncovered, until vegetables are soft (about 25 minutes), stirring
from time to time so they don’t burn.
Add noodles to skillet and toss just until noodles are heated
through.
Serve immediately. (I’ve never frozen this, but you probably could
if you wanted to.)
Serves 6
Existential Lentil Soup

Remember how Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of lentil
soup? That transaction wasn’t really about soup. It was about the
eternality of the soul. That’s why Jacob made such an odd payment
request — Esau’s birthright. That birthright wasn’t the family jewels
or stock certificates. It was the right and responsibility to perform the
Divine service. Esau exchanged that for a bowl of soup. In Jewish tra-
dition the round lentils symbolize eternity, so Esau traded his share
of eternity for a soup flavored with eternity.
holi days § 185
Thousands of years later Esau’s descendants, the Romans, burned

down the Temple where that very same Divine service was con-
ducted. Even without a Temple, Jacob’s descendants still carry on
the Divine service in their daily prayers at synagogue and at home.
2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 potato, peeled and diced
1 medium-size onion 8 cups vegetable stock
2 cloves garlic 1 ½ cups red lentils
2 celery stalks 1 cup tomato sauce (optional)
2 medium-size carrots, Freshly cracked black pepper
peeled and diced to taste
2 medium-size zucchini (green
or yellow), sliced or diced
Heat oil in stockpot over a medium flame and sauté onion and celery
until onion is translucent. Add remainder of the vegetables, stock,
lentils, and tomato sauce, if using. Cook, covered, on a low flame for
2 hours, or until lentils have melted.
Remove from heat, season to taste, and serve hot. Freezes well.
Serves 6 to 8
LIFE CYCLE EVENTS
....................................
c3
Along with holidays, the Jewish year overflows with celebrations:

circumcisions, bar and bat mitzvahs, engagements, and weddings.
While these events don’t share their own cuisine, a few specific dishes
have become associated with personal celebrations.
i SH A LOM ZACHOR

On the first Friday night following the birth of a male child, the
infant’s family throws a party called Shalom Zachor, which means
“welcome male.” On the menu are cakes and fruit, as well as beer and
arbes. Arbes is the Yiddish name for chickpeas, which are boiled up
and seasoned heavily with salt and pepper. In many places there are
arbes gemahim, charitable societies (gemah is an acronym for gemilat
hesed, which means “to do good”) where the family of a newborn boy
can be stocked with chickpeas at no cost.
For the recipe, see Chickpeas for Purim on page 134.
i W EDDI NGS
In the Jewish life cycle, a wedding is the most joyous of events. Two
young people come together to start a new life and create a new home
and a new link in the chain of tradition that started at Mount Sinai.
In the shtetl, the wedding meal was eaten on Friday night at home.
The new couple feasted on turtledoves, which symbolize marital fi-
delity. I am told that even today turtledoves can be ordered at Jeru-
salem’s Machane Yehuda market.
Jerusalem Wedding Beigel

While beigel (more commonly spelled “bagel”) usually means a
chewy boiled doughnut-shaped roll smeared with lox and cream
cheese, in old Jerusalem a beigel was a wreathlike, round challah pre-
pared for wedding feasts.
At Yerushalmi (Jerusalem old-timer) weddings, the fathers of
the bride and groom hold the beigel over the heads of the bride and
groom and break off pieces as they make their way from the hup-
pah (the wedding canopy) to their private quarters (heder yichud),
the room of unification where the new couple are alone for the first
time. The beigel is eaten by the bride and groom to break their fast —
in Ashkenazi tradition a bride and groom fast on their wedding day
— and the leftovers are shared with guests. Eating from the beigel is
said to bring prosperity.
This recipe comes from my assistant, Batya Lieberman.
2 tablespoons instant yeast ½ cup vegetable oil
2 ½ cup tepid water 1 tablespoon salt
7 tablespoons granulated sugar 1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
7 cups all-purpose flour Sesame seeds
Mix yeast with water in a large bowl. Stir in oil, sugar, flour, and salt.
Knead together, in bowl or on a lightly floured board, for about 5
minutes until you have a smooth dough. Oil dough, cover it with a
dampened kitchen towel, and let rise until it doubles (about 2 hours).
li f e c ycl e ev en ts § 189
Punch dough down, divide dough into three equal pieces and roll
each into a long rope. Let ropes rest, covered, for 10 minutes.
Braid ropes together (if you need help, look at the directions in
the recipe for Three-Braid Challah on page 5), placing the completed
braid on a parchment-lined baking sheet before attaching ends to
create a wreath. There should be a large space in the center of the
wreath. Let braided loaf rest, covered lightly, for another 20 minutes.
Glaze loaf with beaten egg yolk and sprinkle sesame seeds on top,
then bake at 350°F for 35 minutes or until brown.
Freezes well.
Serves 8 to 10
Grape-Cluster Challah
IN VEI HAGEFEN
In the Psalms, a bride and groom are likened to invei hagefen — grapes

on a vine — because just as grapes increase in value as they merge into
wine, so too do two people when they join together to form a family.
A grape-cluster challah looks beautiful on the table, and it’s not very
complicated to make.
and resting.
Roll dough into a rope. Cut off one-fifth of dough and set piece
aside. Using remaining dough, cut off small, olive-size pieces and roll
them into balls. Arrange these balls into shape of a cluster of grapes;
some will sit on top of others. Top of the cluster should be wider
than base.
Using remaining dough, shape the letter T. Place T upside down
against wide end of cluster.
l i f e c ycl e ev en ts § 191
Moroccan Wedding Fish

During the final day of Sheva Brachot, the seven days of feasting fol-
lowing a wedding, Moroccan Jews serve the new couple a meal of fish
as an omen for fertility. The association of fish with fertility dates
to Jacob’s biblical blessing on his grandsons Ephraim and Menashe.
In his blessing, the Patriarch used the word vayidgu, from the He-
brew root dag, which means “fish,” to bless his grandsons with many
descendants.
This wonderful and remarkably easy recipe is full of fresh vegeta-
bles that coat the fish in spicy, savory gravy.
2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 onions, finely diced 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 clove garlic, minced 1 tablespoon turmeric
3 large or 5 small tomatoes, 1 tablespoon cumin
diced Juice of ½ lemon
1 red bell pepper, seeded 6 tilapia, sole, flounder,
and diced or salmon fillets (about
1 chili pepper, seeded if desired 4 ounces each)
and diced
2 t ablespoons chopped fresh
cilantro
Heat oil in large skillet over a medium flame and sauté onion until
translucent. Add remaining ingredients, except for fish, and cook
until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes. Arrange fish fillets over
vegetables and spoon some of the vegetables and cooking liquid on
top of the fish. Continue to cook until fish flakes easily when prod-
ded with a fork (about 10 minutes).
Serves 6
i BOTAHER
R M I TZ VA HS A N D
CEL EBRAT IONS
Jewish life is one big celebration — weddings, engagements, bar mitz-
vahs, bat mitzvahs, circumcisions — it seems like there’s always some-
thing to celebrate. Any of the recipes in this book can be used for
celebration. What follows are a few stand-out favorites.
Tefillin Cake
In recent years, it has become increasingly popular to honor bar mitz-
vah boys with cakes decorated with chocolate tefillin, replicas of the
phylacteries worn during prayer, bar mitzvah being the time when
boys begin to wear them. There are even plastic molds available for
this purpose (shop for them easily online, though you can improvise
with cube-shaped chocolate molds).
The cake and frosting recipes come from my dear friend Ruth
Nalick. It’s a wonderful all-purpose cake, perfect for bar mitzvahs,
birthdays, anniversaries, or any other reason you could think of to
bake a large, easy-to-frost sheet cake.
li f e c ycl e ev en ts § 193
The frosting may seem shockingly artificial, but it’s pareve and
works well for a decorated cake. For the tefillin decorations, use the
cheapest kind of sweet baking chocolate. For whatever reason, expen-
sive chocolates don’t work well with this.
Ruth’s Basic White Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup black coffee, orange juice,
1 ¾ cups granulated sugar or water
2 ½ teaspoons of baking powder ¾ cup vegetable oil
Pinch of salt 3 large eggs
“Tefillin”
2 ounces sweet baking chocolate
Instant Chocolate Ganache Frosting
⅓ cup best-quality chocolate chips
1 ¼ cups nondairy whipped topping
Black licorice strings or narrow black ribbon for decoration

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into large bowl. Beat cof-
fee (or orange juice or water), oil, and eggs in second bowl to blend
thoroughly. Stir wet ingredients into dry to blend well.
Spray 9 × 13-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Pour
in batter and bake for 50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into
center of cake comes out clean.
While cake bakes, prepare “tefillin.” Have ready two tefillin molds
or other small, square molds.
In microwave or top of double boiler over simmering water, melt
chocolate. Pour melted chocolate into molds. Freeze until solid,
which could take under an hour in a very cold freezer.
Turn cake carefully out of pan to wire rack to cool.
Meanwhile, make frosting. Combine chocolate chips and whipped
topping in small, heavy saucepan over a low flame. Stir until chips are
melted and mixture is smooth. Don’t allow to boil. Remove from
heat and cool completely.
Place serving platter on top of cooled cake on rack. Carefully in-

vert so cake is right side up on platter. Remove rack and spread cooled
frosting on cooled cake. Unmold tefillin decorations and arrange on
top of cake. For the tefillin straps use black licorice strings or black
ribbon.
Serves 12
Yerushalmi Kugel
According to local legend, the recipe for Yerushalmi (Jerusalemite)
kugel was brought to Jerusalem from Lithuania by the students of the
Vilna Gaon during the eighteenth century. Even now their descen-
dants continue to prepare this intriguingly sweet and spicy kugel to
serve on Shabbat and at celebrations.
1 package (14 ounces) extra-thin 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
egg noodles (angel hair pasta) 1 teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups granulated sugar 2 teaspoons black pepper
½ cup vegetable oil
Cook noodles according to package directions and drain thoroughly.
Combine oil and sugar in a heavy 2-quart saucepan and cook over
a medium flame, stirring with a wooden spoon, until mixture be-
comes a brown syrup (about 15 minutes). Don’t leave pot unattended.
Remove from heat and stir into noodles right away (to avoid syrup
hardening and becoming unusable).
Stir in eggs and spices, then pour mixture into 9 by 13-inch baking
pan coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake at 350°F for 1 ½ hours,
or until brown and crusty.
Serves 12
BIBL IOGRA PH Y
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Berg, Gertrude, and Myra Waldo. The Molly Goldberg Jewish Cookbook.
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Cooper, John. Eat and Be Satisfied: A Social History of Jewish Food.
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Finkel, Sara. Simply Delicious. Jerusalem: Targum Press, 2010.
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Hersh, Joan Feiss, ed. Recipes Remembered: A Celebration of Survival.
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Kasdan, Sara. Love and Knishes: An Irrepressible Guide to Jewish Cooking.
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in the Numbers. Brooklyn, NY: Mesorah Publications, 2013.
Lewy, Yosef. MinhagYisrael Torah. Brooklyn, NY, 2006.
Marks, Gil. Encyclopedia of Jewish Food. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and
Sons, 2010.
Meisels, Rabbi Dovid. Shabbat Secrets, Rosh Hashana Secrets, Succos
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Mohoran Breslov Publications.
Rieder, Freda. The Hallah Book: Recipes, History and Traditions.
Hoboken, NJ: KTAV, 1987.
Roden, Claudia. The Book of Jewish Food. New York: Alfred A. Knopf,
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I N DEX
Adafina (Sephardi Cholent), 35–37 Fleish), 23–24; Ruota di Fara-

Anglo-Jewish Gefilte Fish Balls, one, 109–10; Sephardi Cholent
106–7 (Adafina or Hamin), 35–37;
apples: Apple and Plum Compote, Tongue for Second Day of Pass-
26; Apple Kugel, 115; Baked over, 152; Tongue for the New
Apples with Honey, 54–55; Year, 62; Unstuffed Cabbage,
Indian Jewish Rosh Hashana 80
Apple Confit, 59; seeds in, 113. beets: Homemade Borscht, 154;
See also haroseth Homemade Chrain Made Easy,
Ashkenazi Haroseth, 146 18; Intergeshlugenah Borscht,
Asian Fusion Fish (Dag Marok- 152–53; silka (beet greens), 52, 53
nazy), 19 beitza (eggs for Seder plate), 145
Bird Challah, 68–69
Bagels, 42–43 Black-Eyed Peas for the New Year
Baked Apples with Honey, 54–55 (Rubiya), 50
Baked Garlic Is for Lovers, 14–15 blessings: for challah, 6, 167; for
bar mitzvahs, 192–94 honey-dipped apples, 54; She-
Bar Yochai Carob Fudge Bars, 163 yikartu sonenu, 49, 51; tikun
Batya’s Chopped Liver, 33 Chava, 2 (See also kiddush)
Batya’s Sweet Rosh Hashana blintzes: basic recipe for, 176–78;
Chicken Liver Sauté, 63 with Batya’s Fresh Tomato
beef: Cabbage Soup (Kohl Mit Sauce, 88; Pareve Blintzes with
Vasser), 82–83; Cholent, 34– Glingl Filling, 87–88
35; Classic Kreplach, 70–72; borscht: Homemade, 154; Inter
Frankfurter Goulash, 76–77; geshlugenah, 152–53
Galicianer Stuffed Cabbage breads: Bagels, 42–43; Kubaneh,
for Purim, 136–38; Hungar- 27–28; Mufleta, 158–61; One
ian Stuffed Cabbage, 90–92; Two Three Bread, 74–76. See
Kreplach for Purim, 134–35; also challah
Meat Pie, 21–22; Pot Roast à Buckwheat Pancakes for Hanuk-
la Molly Goldberg (Gedempte kah, 94
198 § i n de x
cabbage: Cabbage Noodles, 183– Chicken Balls, 151; Curried

84; Cabbage Soup (Kohl Mit Chicken for the Shabbat, 24;
Vasser), 82–83; Galicianer Deboned Chicken Thighs
Stuffed Cabbage for Purim, Stuffed with Kasha, 111–12;
136–38; Hungarian Stuffed Glingl, 87; Gribenes and
Cabbage, 90–92; Sweet-and- Schmaltz, 107–8; Old-Fashioned
Sour Red Cabbage, 25–26; Un- Chicken Soup with a Whole
stuffed Cabbage, 80 Chicken, 85–86; Pareve Blin-
cakes. See desserts tzes with Glingl Filling, 87–88;
Carob Fudge Bars, Bar Yochai, 163 Spiritual Chicken Soup for the
Carrot Tzimmes, 61 Frugal, 20–21
challah: about, 3–4, 11; Bird, 68– Chickpeas for Purim, 134
69; Challah Kugel, 14; Crown, cholent: basic recipe for, 34–35;
56; David’s Harp, 173–74; Mehl Kugel for, 116; Sephardi
Fish, 129–30; Four-Poled Shnei Cholent (Adafina or Hamin),
Lehem, 167–68; Grape-Cluster 35–37
(Invei Hagefen), 190; Haman’s Chrain Made Easy, Homemade, 18
Noose, 132; Hamentasch, 133; Classic Kreplach, 70–72
Hand, 83–84; Jerusalem Wed compote: Apple and Plum, 26;
ding Beigel, 188–89; Key, 161– Quince, 60
62; Ladder, 171–72; Menorah- confit: Etrog, 113–14; Indian Jew-
Shaped, 105–6; Ojos de Haman, ish Rosh Hashana Apple, 59
131–32; Round, 55; Scales of cookies. See desserts
Justice, 58–59; Shofar, 57; Siete cornmeal mush (Mama’s Mama-
Cielos, 169–70; Single, 8–9; liga), 181–82
Six-Braid, 9–10; Strings of couscous: aux Sept Legumes,
Pearls, 12; Ten Commandments, 63–64; Microwave, 64–65
170–71; Three-Braid, 5–7; crêpes. See blintzes
Torah Scroll, 89–90; Vav, 11; Crown Challah, 56
Yud Bais, 13 Curried Chicken for the Shabbat,
cheese: Cheese Kreplach for 24
Shavuot, 174–75; Heavenly
Cheese Latkes, 104; Judith’s Dag Maroknazy (Asian Fusion
Lasagna, 102–3; Rochelle’s Fish), 19
Cheesecake, 178–79 dates, 49
chicken: Batya’s Chopped Liver, David’s Harp Challah, 173–74
33; Batya’s Sweet Rosh Ha- Deboned Chicken Thighs Stuffed
shana Chicken Liver Sauté, 63; with Kasha, 111–12
i n de x § 199
desserts: Bar Yochai Carob Fudge Fusion Fish (Dag Maroknazy),

Bars, 163; Eyer Kichel, 29–30; 19; Doctored-Up Gefilte Fish,
Haman’s Ears, 126–28; Ha- 17; Homemade Gefilte Fish, 47–
man’s Fleas, 128–29; Honey 48; Moroccan Wedding Fish,
Cake, 72–73; Hungarian Purim 191; Rabbi Freifeld’s Pickled
Kindl, 124–26; Israeli Hanuk- Herring, 39; Sardine Salad, 40
kah Doughnuts, 100–102; Mag- Fish Challah, 129–30
ical Marvelous Marble Cake, Floaters (Fluffy Knaidlach), 150
30–31; Mandelbrot, 78–79; Flour Kugel (Mehl Kugel), 116
Matzo Layer Cake, 154–55; Mo- Fluffy Knaidlach (Floaters), 150
roccan Hanukkah Doughnuts, Four-Poled Shnei Lehem, 167–68
97–98; Quince Compote, 60; Frankfurter Goulash, 76–77
Rochelle’s Cheesecake, 178–79; fruit: Apple and Plum Compote,
Tefillin Cake, 192–94; Teiglach, 26; Apple Kugel, 115; Baked
66–67; Wine-Poached Pears, 65 Apples with Honey, 54–55;
Doctored-Up Gefilte Fish, 17 dates, 49; Etrog Confit, 113–14;
doughnuts: Israeli Hanukkah, Indian Jewish Rosh Hashana
100–102; Moroccan Hanukkah, Apple Confit, 59; Lekvar Ha-
97–98 mentaschen, 122–23; Lekvar
(prune butter), 122; pomegran-
eggs: beitza (eggs for Seder plate), ates, 49; Quince Compote, 60;
145; egg bread (See challah); for Tu Bishvat, 112–13. See also
Eggs and Onions (Tzibeleh Mit haroseth
Eyer), 32–33; Intergeshlugenah
Borscht, 152–53; Matzo Brei, Galicianer Stuffed Cabbage for
155–56; Persian Herbed Omelet, Purim, 136–38
99; Quajado, 157–58; Seder Garlic Is for Lovers, Baked, 14–15
Night Hard-Boiled Eggs, 148; Gedempte Fleish (Pot Roast à la
Tinted Eggs, 164 Molly Goldberg), 23–24
Etrog Confit, 113–14 gefilte fish: Anglo-Jewish Gefilte
Existential Lentil Soup, 184–85 Fish Balls, 106–7; Doctored-Up
Eyer Kichel, 29–30 Gefilte Fish, 17; Homemade
Gefilte Fish, 47–48
Fabulous Farfel, 25 gifts, at Purim, 118
Firm Matzo Balls (Sinkers), Glingl, 87
148–49 Gourd Pancakes, 52
fish: about, 15–16; Anglo-Jewish Grape-Cluster Challah (Invei
Gefilte Fish Balls, 106–7; Asian Hagefen), 190
200 § i n de x
Green, Green Rosh Hashana Lat- holidays, 45–185; about, 45; Ha-
kes, 53 nukkah, 92–108; Hoshana
greetings: for Hoshana Rabbah, 83; Rabbah, 82–84; Lag b’Omer,
for Rosh Hashana, 46 163–64; Passover, 139–62;
Gribenes and Schmaltz, 107–8 Purim, 118–39; Purim, Shabbat
Parshat Zachor, 115–18; Rosh
Haman’s Ears, 126–28 Hashana, 46–67; Shabbat
Haman’s Fleas, 128–29 Shira, 109–12; Shavuot, 165–79;
Haman’s Hair: Purim Pasta Salad, Shmini Atzeret, 85–88; Simchat
135–36 Torah, 89–92; Sukkoth, 74–81;
Haman’s Noose, 132 Tisha b’Av, 179–85; Tu Bishvat,
Hamentasch Challah, 133 112–14; Yom Kippur, 68–73
Hamentaschen: basic recipe for, Homemade Borscht, 154
119–21; Lekvar, 122–23; Mohn Homemade Chrain Made Easy, 18
Filling, 122 Homemade Gefilte Fish, 47–48
Hamin (Sephardi Cholent), 35–37 Homemade Sweet Red Wine, 2–3
Hand Challah, 83–84 Honey Cake, 72–73
Hanukkah, 92–108; about, 92–93; horseradish: Homemade Chrain
Anglo-Jewish Gefilte Fish Balls, Made Easy, 18; maror for Seder
106–7; Buckwheat Pancakes plate, 143
for Hanukkah, 94; Gribenes Hoshana Rabbah, 82–84; about,
and Schmaltz, 107–8; Heavenly 82; Cabbage Soup (Kohl Mit
Cheese Latkes, 104; Israeli Ha- Vasser), 82–83; Hand Challah,
nukkah Doughnuts, 100–102; 83–84
Judith’s Lasagna, 102–3; Latkes, Hungarian Jewish “Pleated” Po-
95–97; Menorah-Shaped Chal- tato Casserole, 182–83
lah, 105–6; Moroccan Hanuk- Hungarian Purim Kindl, 124–26
kah Doughnuts, 97–98; Persian Hungarian Stuffed Cabbage,
Herbed Omelet, 99; Persian 90–92
Potato Latkes, 98–99
haroseth: about, 144; Ashkenazi, Indian Jewish Rosh Hashana
146; Iraqi, 147; Persian, 146–47 Apple Confit, 59
hazeret (herbs), 145 Intergeshlugenah Borscht, 152–53
Heavenly Challot for Shavuot, Invei Hagefen (Grape-Cluster
166–67 Challah), 190
Heavenly Cheese Latkes, 104 Iraqi Haroseth, 147
Herring, Rabbi Freifeld’s Pickled, Israeli Hanukkah Doughnuts,
39 100–102
i n de x § 201
Jerusalem Wedding Beigel, 188–89 life cycle events, 187–94; about,

Judith’s Lasagna, 102–3 187; bar mitzvahs and other cele-
brations, 192–94; Grape-Cluster
karpas, 142 Challah (Invei Hagefen), 190;
Kartofl Kugel, 117–18 Jerusalem Wedding Beigel, 188–
Kasha, Deboned Chicken Thighs 89; Moroccan Wedding Fish,
Stuffed with, 111–12 191; Shalom Zachor, 187; Tefillin
Key Challah, 161–62 Cake, 192–94; weddings, 188–
kiddush, 2, 3, 11, 12, 23, 27, 29, 46 89; Yerushalmi Kugel, 194
Kindl, Hungarian Purim, 124–26 liver: Batya’s Chopped Liver, 33;
knaidlach (matzo balls): Firm Batya’s Sweet Rosh Hashana
(Sinkers), 148–49; Fluffy (Float- Chicken Liver Sauté, 63
ers), 150; with a Neshoma, 150 Lokshen Kugel, 116–17
Kohl Mit Vasser (Cabbage Soup),
82–83 Magical Marvelous Marble Cake,
kreplach: Cheese Kreplach for 30–31
Shavuot, 174–75; Classic, 70– Majadarah (Rice and Lentil Pilaf),
72; for Purim, 134–35 180–81
Kubaneh, 27–28 Mama’s Mamaliga, 181–82
kugel, 37–38; Apple, 115; Challah, Mandelbrot, 78–79
14; Kartofl (Potato Kugel), 117– maror (horseradish), 143
18; Lokshen (Noodle Kugel), matzo: DIY Matzo, 140–41;
116–17; Mehl (Flour or Cholent Matzo Brei, 155–56; Matzo
Kugel), 116; Yerushalmi, 194 Coffee, 156; Matzo Layer Cake,
154–55
Ladder Challah, 171–72 matzo balls: Firm (Sinkers), 148–
Lag b’Omer, 163–64; about, 163; 49; Fluffy Knaidlach (Floaters),
Bar Yochai Carob Fudge Bars, 150; Knaidlach with a Neshoma,
163; Tinted Eggs, 164 150
latkes: basic recipe for, 95–97; Meat Pie, 21–22
Green, Green Rosh Hashana, 53; Mehl Kugel, 116
Heavenly Cheese, 104; Persian Menorah-Shaped Challah, 105–6
Potato, 98–99; Rosh Hashana Microwave Couscous, 64–65
Leek, 51 Mimouna, 158–59
Leek Latkes, Rosh Hashana, 51 Moroccan Hanukkah Doughnuts,
lentils: Existential Lentil Soup, 97–98
184–85; Rice and Lentil Pilaf Moroccan Wedding Fish, 191
(Majadarah), 180–81
202 § i n de x
Noodle Kugel (Lokshen Kugel), Potato Kugel (Kartofl Kugel),

116–17 117–18
numerology, Hebrew and, 2, 3 potato pancakes. See latkes
Pot Roast à la Molly Goldberg
Ojos de Haman Challah, 131–32 (Gedempte Fleish), 23–24
Old-Fashioned Chicken Soup with Povidl Purim, 122
a Whole Chicken, 85–86 prune butter (Lekvar), 122
One Two Three Bread, 74–76 pudding. See kugel
Purim, 118–39; about, 118–19;
pancakes: Buckwheat Pancakes Chickpeas for Purim, 134; Fish
for Hanukkah, 94; Gourd Pan- Challah, 129–30; Galicianer
cakes, 52. See also blintzes; latkes Stuffed Cabbage for Purim,
Pareve Blintzes with Glingl Fill- 136–38; Haman’s Ears, 126–
ing, 87–88 28; Haman’s Fleas, 128–29;
Passover, 139–62; about, 139–40; Haman’s Hair: Purim Pasta
Ashkenazi Haroseth, 146; Salad, 135–36; Haman’s Noose,
Chicken Balls, 151; DIY Matzo, 132; Hamentasch Challah, 133;
140–41; Firm Matzo Balls Hamentaschen, 119–21; Ha-
(Sinkers), 148–49; Fluffy Knaid- mentaschen, Lekvar, 122–23;
lach (Floaters), 150; Homemade Hamentaschen, Mohn filling,
Borscht, 154; Intergeshlugenah 122; Hungarian Purim Kindl,
Borscht, 152–53; Iraqi Haroseth, 124–26; Kreplach for Purim,
147; Key Challah, 161–62; 134–35; Ojos de Haman Chal-
Knaidlach with a Neshoma, lah, 131–32; Shabbat Parshat
150; Matzo Brei, 155–56; Matzo Zachor, 115–18; Turkey Roast,
Coffee, 156; Matzo Layer Cake, 138–39
154–55; Mufleta, 158–61; Persian
Haroseth, 146–47; Quajado, Quajado, 157–58
157–58; Seder Night Hard-
Boiled Eggs, 148; Seder plate for, Rabbi Freifeld’s Pickled Herring,
142–45; Tongue for Second Day 39
of Passover, 152 Rice and Lentil Pilaf (Majadarah),
Persian Haroseth, 146–47 180–81
Persian Herbed Omelet, 99 Rochelle’s Cheesecake, 178–79
Persian Potato Latkes, 98–99 Rosh Hashana, 46–67; about,
Pistou, 81 46–47; Baked Apples with
pomegranates, 49 Honey, 54–55; Batya’s Sweet
i n de x § 203
Rosh Hashana Chicken Liver Shabbat, 1–43; about, 1–2; Apple

Sauté, 63; Black-Eyed Peas for and Plum Compote, 26; Asian
the New Year (Rubiya), 50; Fusion Fish (Dag Maroknazy),
Carrot Tzimmes, 61; Couscous 19; Bagels, 42–43; Baked Garlic
aux Sept Legumes, 63–64; Is for Lovers, 14–15; Batya’s
Crown Challah, 56; dates for, Chopped Liver, 33; challah,
49; Gourd Pancakes, 52; Green, about, 3–4; Challah Kugel,
Green Rosh Hashana Latkes, 53; 14; Cholent, 34–35; Curried
Homemade Gefilte Fish, 47–48; Chicken for the Shabbat, 24;
Indian Jewish Rosh Hashana Doctored-Up Gefilte Fish, 17;
Apple Confit, 59; Microwave Eggs and Onions (Tzibeleh Mit
Couscous, 64–65; pomegranates Eyer), 32–33; Eyer Kichel, 29–
for, 49; Quince Compote, 60; 30; Fabulous Farfel, 25; Friday
Rosh Hashana Leek Latkes, 51; night recipes, 15–26; Home-
Round Challah, 55; Scales of made Chrain Made Easy, 18;
Justice Challah, 58–59; Shofar Homemade Sweet Red Wine, 3;
Challah, 57; Teiglach, 66–67; Kubaneh, 27–28; lunch recipes
Tongue for the New Year, 62; for, 31–38; Magical Marvelous
Wine-Poached Pears, 65 Marble Cake, 30–31; Meat Pie,
Round Challah, 55 21–22; Melaveh Malka, 42–43;
Rubiya (Black-Eyed Peas for the morning breakfast recipes for,
New Year), 50 27–31; Pot Roast à la Molly
Ruota di Faraone, 109–10 Goldberg (Gedempte Fleish),
23–24; Rabbi Freifeld’s Pickled
salads: Haman’s Hair: Purim Pasta Herring, 39; Sardine Salad, 40;
Salad, 135–36; Sardine Salad, Sephardi Cholent (Adafina or
40; Sweet-and-Sour Cucumber Hamin), 35–37; Shalom Bayit
Salad (Uborka Salata), 40–41 Kugel, 37–38; Single Challah,
Sardine Salad, 40 8–9; Six-Braid Challah, 9–10;
Scales of Justice Challah, 58–59 Spiritual Chicken Soup for
Seder Night Hard-Boiled Eggs, 148 the Frugal, 20–21; Strings of
Seder plate, 142–45. See also Pearls Challah, 12; Sweet-and-
Passover Sour Cucumber Salad (Uborka
Sephardi Cholent (Adafina or Salata), 40–41; Sweet-and-Sour
Hamin), 35–37 Red Cabbage, 25–26; third meal
seudah, 118 recipes for, 38–41; Three-Braid
“sevens,” significance of, 2, 3 Challah, 5–7; Vav Challah, 11;
204 § i n de x
Shabbat (continued) silka (beet greens), 52, 53

wine, 2–3; Yemenite Grated Simchat Torah, 89–92; about, 89;
Tomato Dip, 28; Yud Bais Hungarian Stuffed Cabbage,
Challah, 13 90–92; Torah Scroll Challah,
Shabbat Parshat Zachor: about, 89–90
115; Apple Kugel, 115; Kartofl Single Challah, 8–9
Kugel, 117–18; Lokshen Kugel, Sinkers (Firm Matzo Balls), 148–
116–17; Mehl Kugel, 116 49
Shabbat Shira, 109–12; about, “Song of the Sea” (Shira), 109
109; Deboned Chicken Thighs soup: Cabbage, 82–83; Existential
Stuffed with Kasha, 111–12; Lentil, 184–85; Homemade
Ruota di Faraone, 109–10 Borscht, 154; Intergeshlugenah
Shalom Bayit Kugel, 37–38 Borscht, 152–53; Old-Fashioned
Shalom Zachor, 187 Chicken Soup with a Whole
shank bone, 143 Chicken, 85–86; Spiritual
Shavuot, 165–79; about, 165; Blin- Chicken Soup for the Frugal,
tzes, 176–78; Cheese Kreplach 20–21; Tomato, 77–78
for Shavuot, 174–75; David’s Spiritual Chicken Soup for the
Harp Challah, 173–74; Four- Frugal, 20–21
Poled Shnei Lehem, 167–68; Strings of Pearls Challah, 12
Heavenly Challot for Shavuot, stuffed cabbage: Galicianer Stuffed
166–67; Ladder Challah, 171– Cabbage for Purim, 136–38;
72; Rochelle’s Cheesecake, Hungarian, 90–92; Unstuffed
178–79; Siete Cielos Challah, Cabbage, 80
169–70; Ten Commandments sufganiyot, 93. See also doughnuts
Challah, 170–71 Sukkoth, 74–81; about, 74; Frank-
Sheva Brachot, 191 furter Goulash, 76–77; Hoshana
Sheyikartu sonenu, 51 Rabbah, 82–84; Mandelbrot,
Shira (“Song of the Sea”), 109 78–79; One Two Three Bread,
Shmini Atzeret, 85–88; about, 74–76; Pistou, 81; Shmini
85; Blintzes with Batya’s Fresh Atzeret, 85–88; Tomato Soup,
Tomato Sauce, 88; Glingl, 87; 77–78; Unstuffed Cabbage, 80
Old-Fashioned Chicken Soup Sweet-and-Sour Cucumber Salad
with a Whole Chicken, 85–86; (Uborka Salata), 40–41
Pareve Blintzes with Glingl Fill- Sweet-and-Sour Red Cabbage,
ing, 87–88 25–26
Shofar Challah, 57 Tefillin Cake, 192–94
Siete Cielos Challah, 169–70 Teiglach, 66–67
i n de x § 205
Ten Commandments Challah, Uborka Salata (Sweet-and-Sour

170–71 Cucumber Salad), 40–41
Three-Braid Challah, 5–7 Unstuffed Cabbage, 80
Tinted Eggs, 164
Tisha b’Av, 179–85; about, 179– Vav Challah, 11
80; Cabbage Noodles, 183–84;
Existential Lentil Soup, 184–85; weddings, 188–91; Grape-Cluster
Hungarian Jewish “Pleated” Po- Challah (Invei Hagefen), 190;
tato Casserole, 182–83; Mama’s Jerusalem Wedding Beigel, 188–
Mamaliga, 181–82; Rice and 89; Moroccan Wedding Fish,
Lentil Pilaf (Majadarah), 180–81 191
Tomato Soup, 77–78 willows, significance of, 82
tongue: for the New Year, 62; wine: about, 2–3; Homemade
for Second Day of Passover, 152 Sweet Red Wine, 3; Wine-
Torah: Shabbat and, 15–16; Shab- Poached Pears, 65
bat Shira and, 109, 111; Shavuot
and, 165, 167–68 Yemenite Grated Tomato Dip, 28
Torah Scroll Challah, 89–90 Yerushalmi Kugel, 194
Tu Bishvat, 112–14; about, 112–13; Yom Kippur, 68–73; about, 68;
Etrog Confit, 113–14 Bird Challah, 68–69; Classic
Turkey Roast, 138–39 Kreplach, 70–72; Honey Cake,
Tzibeleh Mit Eyer (Eggs and 72–73
Onions), 32–33 Yud Bais Challah, 13
Tzimmes, Carrot, 61

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J E W ISH SOU L FOOD

BRA N DEIS U N I V ERSI T Y PRESS

For permission to reproduce any of the material in this book,

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Preface: Kitchen Alchemy — A Life at the Table, xi

Shalom Zachor, 187

on Skype. Many people grow up without knowing the delights of the

Shabbat is a taste of the world to come. The Talmud relates that

grapes, a plastic wine-­making vat or barrel, and patience. Don’t ex-

Homemade Sweet Red Wine

one-­ounce piece of dough from a large (5 pound) amount of dough

String of Pearls Challah

Yud Bais Challah

Baked Garlic Is for Lovers

Doctored-­Up Gefilte Fish

Homemade Chrain Made Easy

Asian Fusion Fish

Ever since my daughter married

Spiritual Chicken Soup for the Frugal

Cook, partially covered, on low flame for 90 minutes. During last

Pot Roast à la Molly Goldberg

Curried Chicken for the Shabbat

Sweet-­and-­Sour Red Cabbage

Apple and Plum Compote

i SHABBAT MORNING BREAKFAST

Yemenite Grated Tomato Dip

Magical Marvelous Marble Cake

Preheat oven to 350°F.

i SH A BBAT LU NCH

Eggs and Onions

Batya’s Chopped Liver

2 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 tablespoons consommé

Of all the different slow-­cooking Shabbat stews, adafina — which is

Shalom Bayit Kugel

Rabbi Freifeld’s Pickled Herring

Serves 4 to 6, or many more if served

Sweet-­and-­Sour Cucumber Salad

Uborka salata, Hungarian Jewish sweet-­and-­sour cucumber salad,

5 medium-­size cucumbers, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

twenty-­four hours from start to finish, though most of that is waiting

Rosh Hashana Greeting

Homemade Gefilte Fish

According to tradition, a pomegranate has 613 seeds,

On Rosh Hashana black-­eyed peas

Rosh Hashana Leek Latkes

Green, Green Rosh Hashana Latkes

Baked Apples with Honey

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Scales of Justice Challah

Use ingredients for dough as listed in Single Challah recipe on page

Indian Jewish Rosh Hashana Apple Confit

Tongue for the New Year

Batya’s Sweet Rosh Hashana Chicken Liver Sauté

Couscous aux Sept Legumes

Couscous, a grainy pasta made of tiny specks of semolina, is a fa-

In eighteenth-­century Ukraine, where life could be harsh, Jewish

When ready to make kreplach, bring a large pot of salted water

One Two Three Bread

him with a life-­sustaining whole-­wheat bread. I wonder if they knew

grapes, a plastic wine-making vat or barrel, and patience. Don’t ex-

one-ounce piece of dough from a large (5 pound) amount of dough

Doctored-Up Gefilte Fish

Sweet-and-Sour Red Cabbage

2 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 tablespoons consommé

Of all the different slow-cooking Shabbat stews, adafina — which is

Sweet-and-Sour Cucumber Salad

Uborka salata, Hungarian Jewish sweet-and-sour cucumber salad,

5 medium-size cucumbers, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

twenty-four hours from start to finish, though most of that is waiting

On Rosh Hashana black-eyed peas

In eighteenth-century Ukraine, where life could be harsh, Jewish

him with a life-sustaining whole-wheat bread. I wonder if they knew

2 tablespoons vegetable oil 4 to 5 medium-size russet

Heat oil in a 5-quart saucepan over a medium-high flame. Stir in

Old-Fashioned Chicken Soup with a Whole Chicken

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour 1 cup warm water

Anglo-Jewish Gefilte Fish Balls

When I was a young bride, my mother-in-law presented me with her

1 cup (2 sticks) margarine 3 cups all-purpose flour

Seder Night Hard-Boiled Eggs