Texas Cholent No 9

Cholent that has a Texas twang.

By Ari White on MyJewishLearning
Ingredients


1 lb Naval Pastrami
1 lb 2nd Cut Brisket or Flanken
1 lb Bullet of Salami
1-2 marrow bones
4 large potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 large sweet potato
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup mixed beans soaked in water overnight
2 onions
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon instant coffee
1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder or cayenne
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
1/2 lb kishke, cut into 3 slices
1 can Dr. Pepper
3/4 lb pearled barley, washed
water

Directions

Place your onions, quartered, marrow bones and brisket in a roasting pan and put under a broiler until both sides have good color, then place in crockpot.

Cut your potatoes into manageable pieces, usually 6-8 per potato and add to pot as well.

Add beans, remaining meats (whole), spices, ketchup, teriyaki, and BBQ sauce into the pot.

Pour as evenly as possible your washed pearled barley over everything else.

Add can of Dr Pepper.

Place the 3 slices of kishke in the center over your pile of barley.

Fill to the brim with water and cover with lid.

Set mode on high for six hours, then leave in warm mode overnight. Do not touch.

Before serving break up the large slabs of meat and allow to cool for about 10 minutes.

Unstuffed Cabbage

From The Shiksa in the Kitchen

Stuffed cabbage is one of my favorite Ashkenazi dishes, but it takes FOREVER to make. The leaves need to be boiled, then drained, then trimmed. Then the meat filling needs to be mixed. Then the filling needs to be rolled up into each cabbage leaf, and then it all needs to slowly cook. By the time it’s all done, I’m not just hungry, I’m super duper hungry!

I was on the phone kvetching about how long the process takes with my friend Beth, and she suggested I make Unstuffed Cabbage. A friend had served it to her once for dinner. She didn’t have the recipe, but she gave me the basic concept… make a bed of cabbage, make the filling into meatballs, cover it with sauce and cook. This idea was intriguing, so I went for it! Here’s what I came up with.

For the meatballs, I used a combination of ground beef and ground chicken. This allowed us to enjoy the flavor of the beef with a reduction in fat and calories. You can substitute ground beef only or ground chicken only if you prefer. If you use chicken, be sure to make it dark meat chicken, which will give you some extra flavor. Note that if you use ground chicken only, the meatballs will be quite sticky when you’re trying to form them, and you may need more matzo meal to help them hold together. Keep a wet towel handy!

Normally stuffed cabbage has rice in the filling, but I left it out of this dish because we’re watching our carb intake. It is very filling without the rice, making it a healthy comfort food option. It’s perfect for the colder months of the year, a warming and wonderful one pot meal. It’s also kosher for Passover– bonus!

Now, before you try this recipe, you should know that it’s not a Polish-style sweet and sour sauce (emphasis on the sweet). I prefer my stuffed cabbage on the savory side. If you’re looking for a more sweet and sour dish, try these: Sweet and Sour Meatballs. However, if you like savory meatballs, you will totally dig this dish! Guaranteed.

Update: I recently posted a recipe for traditional Stuffed Cabbage Leaves, click here to read.

Continue here for this recipe.

Zalabia

Hanukkah might be over, so this can be a great time to experiment with Jewish cooking customs from around the world.

This recipe has been adapted by Martha Stewart from "The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey From Samarkand to New York" by Claudia Roden.

FOR THE SUGAR SYRUP
5 cups sugar
2 1/4 cups water
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon rose or orange-blossom water

FOR THE BATTER
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 2/3 cups warm water
Light vegetable oil, for frying, plus more for coating spoons

DIRECTIONS

STEP 1
To make the syrup: Combine sugar, water, and lemon juice in a medium saucepan. Place over medium heat, and simmer until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 10 minutes. Add rose or orange-blossom water, and simmer for a few seconds longer. Remove from heat, and let cool. Cover, and refrigerate until ready to use.

STEP 2
To make the batter: Whisk to combine flour, salt, and yeast in a large bowl. Gradually stir in water, beating vigorously until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place for at least 1 1/4 hours. Uncover, and beat once more. Cover, and let rise again, about 30 minutes.

STEP 3
Heat 2 inches of oil in a deep saucepan over medium-high heat until the oil reaches 375 degrees. Dip two tablespoons in a small bowl of oil to coat. Working in batches, spoon about a tablespoon of batter into hot oil. Fry, turning occasionally, until puffed, crisp, and golden. Reduce the heat a little so that the fritters are thoroughly cooked without getting too brown. The light batter produces irregular rather than round fritters.

STEP 4
Using a slotted spoon, remove fritters, and transfer to a paper towel-lined baking sheet to drain. Dip fritters in the cold syrup for a few seconds to coat and soak up some syrup. These are best served hot, but they may also be served at room temperature.

Jews From Cochin Bring Their Unique Indian Cuisine to Israeli Diners

On a moshav in southern Israel, the women behind Matamey Cochin keep alive the flavors of an ancient Jewish community

By Dana Kessler for Tablet Magazine
One of Israel’s well-known traditions is “the great trip to the East” that young adults take after completing their army service—whether it’s to “find themselves” in ashrams, lie on the beach in Goa, or smoke weed all day far from their parents’ observing eyes. This tradition is one of the reasons Israelis think they know all about India (the other being the fact that Israelis think they know all about everything). But many Israelis don’t know that Jews have a history in India that dates back to antiquity.

While there are different groups of Jews in India, living in different areas, the Cochin Jews of South India are the oldest, dating back to biblical times. These Jews, whom the Hindu Raja granted their own area in the southern Indian port city of Cochin (known today as Kochi) during the Middle Ages, lived peacefully in what is now part of the state of Kerala. Even though they never suffered persecution, most of them immigrated to Israel in the 1950s and early ’60s. The majority settled in moshavim around the country, while some moved to various cities. In the 1960s, there were between 2,000 and 3,000 Cochin Jews in Israel. Nowadays, there are very few Jews left in Cochin, while the community in Israel, which grew due to intermarriages, totals between 7,000 and 8,000 members.

One of the moshavim where most Cochin Israelis are situated is Nevatim, in the south of Israel. Nevatim used to be an agricultural settlement, but since the local agriculture died down in the 1980s, the moshav has been striving to revive its economy by turning it into a tourist attraction, based on the heritage of its Cochin Jews. Tourists, from Israel and abroad, visit Nevatim for its beautiful synagogue, cultural center, and museum, as well as for the traditional food cooked and served by the women of Matamey Cochin.

Matamey Cochin (“Cochin delicacies”) is a business operated by eight local women between the ages of 55 and 65 who host Cochin-style meals in their homes or in the local hospitality tent, for groups who make reservations. When the idea of hosting traditional meals in the moshav came up, the women of Nevatim turned to Smadar Kaplinsky, who develops small businesses for women in Israel. She helped them get their enterprise off the ground four years ago this month, and, with the assistance of Partnership 2000 and the Jewish Agency, the women of Nevatim started holding cooking workshops for Taglit-Birthright Israel and other youth groups, as well as hosting meals for visitors. In addition to providing traditional meals for groups from the United States and Canada a few times a year, they cater mainly to groups from Israel.

 Continue reading.

Thanksgivukkah Watch: Pumpkin Custard Kugel

By Scott Kearnan for Zagat Boston


This is getting big - in Boston, anyway. Last week we took a look at Thanksgivukkah, November's unusual calendar alignment of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah, via Kitchen Kibitz: a new Jewish cuisine pop-up that's throwing an early celebration on November 10. But we've just scratched the surface of what's turning into quite a craze. Not only has Boston's Combined Jewish Philanthropies launched an entire website dedicated to the day, but it includes a new (hilarious) video with Mayor Menino promising that November 28 will be proclaimed "Thanksgivukkah Day" in Boston. As they say in the comments section: First!

Naturally, area restaurants are getting in on the action with Thanksgivukkah-apropos dishes. Among them is the pumpkin custard kugel chef Marjorie Druker is serving at the Modern Rotisserie annex of her New England Soup Factory in Newton. Druker shared the recipe for the dish, so at-home chefs can start celebrating early.

Pumpkin Custard Kugel

Ingredients:

1 pound of cooked wide egg noodles (slightly undercook noodles by 2 minutes)
1 stick of butter
16 oz. of cream cheese
1 pint of sour cream
1 15-oz. can of pumpkin purée
8 extra-large or jumbo eggs
1 3/4 cups of sugar
1 tablespoon of pure vanilla extract
1 quart of whole milk
1/2 cup molasses
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon allspice

For topping:
3/4 cup of chopped pecans
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
2 tablespoons sugar

Directions:

In a mixing bowl whip together the butter and cream cheese. Add the sour cream, pumpkin purée and sugar, and mix again. Add the eggs one at a time, beating a little after each one. Add the milk, salt, molasses, nutmeg, ground cloves and allspice, and mix to incorporate the custard.

Place the cooked noodles in a large mixing bowl. Pour the custard over the noodles and mix well. Pour into a large baking dish that has been generously buttered. Place this dish in an even larger roasting pan and add water so that you create a water bath for the pudding. Add enough water so that it comes halfway up to the pan of kugel.

Sprinkle with the pecan and cinnamon topping and place in a 350 degree pre-heated oven for one hour uncovered. Remove from the oven and let rest a day before serving. Cut into pieces and warm up in a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes before serving.

Thanksgiving with a side of Hanukkah: recipes for a once-in-a-lifetime event

by Vered Guttman for Haaretz

The delicious combinations are endless between the fall flavors of Thanksgiving and the extravagance of Hanukkah, which begin this year on the same day.

I can still remember the first time I heard about Thanksgivukkah. Well, it happened only three weeks ago. Thanksgiving and Hanukkah, the most American of holidays and the most extravagant of Jewish holidays, coincide to make the once-in-a-lifetime mother of all holidays. What a concept! Little did I know that I would then hear about it again and again, at least three times a day, every day, from excited Jews and their media outlets.

Oy, the pressure. If this is indeed a once-in-a-lifetime, or for accuracy’s sake, a once-in-a-77,000-years experience, the meal too should be the best one ever made. And it should combine the fall flavors of Thanksgiving - pumpkins, green beans, turkey and pies, with those of Hanukkah (meaning, fry everything).

The combinations are endless: Latkes topped with cranberry sauce; yam latkes; brussels sprouts latkes; soufganiya stuffed with turkey and cranberry sauce; gelt pie; turkey in Manischewitz brine, stuffed with gefilte fish and roasted carrots and served with chrein.

My head is spinning!

Trying to make more sense of this unnatural situation, I’ll give a few more reasonable recipes in the upcoming weeks before Thanksgivukkah. This week, I’ll focus on side dishes, my favorite part of Thanksgiving. And this time with a Hanukkah twist: Brussels sprouts mini soufganiyiot, roasted tzimmes, and kasha with smoked turkey and butternut squash in bourbon.

 Continue here for recipe.

Israeli Chefs Bring a New Spin on Middle Eastern Food to America

Shakshuka is on menus all over the country, and za’atar appears in Rachael Ray’s recipes. Can America love Israeli cuisine more?

By Leah Koenig for Tablet Magazine
Einat Admony is gearing up for a busy autumn. The Tel Aviv native and longtime New York-based chef already runs two bustling eateries: Taïm, a celebrated Greenwich Village falafel restaurant with a partner food truck, and a Middle Eastern trattoria in SoHo called Balaboosta, which does wonderful things like top-grilled lamb chops with Persian lime sauce, and nestle-fried olives in a pool of creamy labneh.

But next month, Admony’s life will kick into warp speed. That’s when her cookbook, also called Balaboosta, drops—a vibrant and inviting collection of personal stories and recipes designed, as the book puts it, “to feed people you love.” Shortly after that, Admony will add a new restaurant to her mini-empire, Bar Bolonat in Greenwich Village. As is the case with Taïm and Balaboosta, its menu will center around the Israeli flavors that Admony has said “are my comfort zone, my heart and core.” But it will be the most playful of the three restaurants, deconstructing familiar Israeli flavors and liberally incorporating ingredients from other ethnic cuisines. Case in point: a dessert of tahini cookies that she will serve alongside green-tea gelato. “I want to put the gelato in those gold-rimmed Moroccan tea glasses, which will look beautiful without being gimmicky,” she said.

Admony is an established champion of “new Israeli cuisine,” a term that refers to Israel’s emerging food scene and vigorous recent embracing of its many overlapping food cultures. And she is far from alone. Over the last decade, a new crop of wandering Israeli chefs and food purveyors has begun to make a significant mark on the way Americans cook and eat. The vision of Israeli food that they are bringing moves far beyond falafel or the Sabra brand hummus that sell like gangbusters across the country; it is fine dining—elevated and innovative.

Consider the following: Admony’s first restaurant, Taïm, opened in 2005. Three years later, the Israeli-born, Pittsburgh-raised chef Michael Solomonov launched his restaurant Zahav in the heart of Philadelphia. Within months, his inspiring take on new Israeli cuisine—dishes like fried haloumi cheese with carrots and pine nuts, grilled ground lamb served with pickled ramps, and halvah mousse with chickpea praline—was being lauded on must-eat lists in Philadelphia and beyond.

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