Jewish Student Weekly

Lamb pilaf is basically a variant of pilaf with meat in it. It is a slightly flavored rice with generous chunks of lamb in it. This is how to make it:

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 4 lb boneless lamb shoulder, well trimmed, cubed
• 2 lg. onions, thinly sliced in rings
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 2 c raw rice
• 1 c golden raisins
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 can condensed consommé
• 2 c water
• 1/4 c lemon juice
• 1 c blanched, slivered, almonds, toasted
• 3 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped

PROCEDURE:

Heat half the oil in a very large skillet and sauté half the quantity of lamb over very high heat until brown. Place the lamb to a bowl with paper towels so that the excess oil is soaked. Drain the excess fat from the pan. Repeat with the remaining oil and lamb.

Once done, lower the heat to medium. Sauté the onions along with cinnamon and pepper in the same skillet until the onions are tender.

Lightly oil a casserole or a baking dish. Layer rice, raisins, lamb and onions and sprinkle salt on the top. Mix together consommé and water and pour it over the top. Cover the dish and bake at 400 degrees F. Remove the cover and sprinkle lemon juice and almonds over it. Bake it for another ten minutes without covering.  If you are preparing for a lot of guests you can prepare the dish in advance uptil the point of adding the consommé.

This dish is relatively easy to make and delicious. It is made on the occasion of Shabbat and on other such festive occasions.

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Like we all know, for Jews the Sabbath is a day where special attention is paid to food and a great variety of delicacies come out of each kitchen. To go with all the delicious curries and side dishes, it is necessary to have flavored rice. Today’s dish is the perfect thing to make on the Sabbath.

Ingredients

1 bay leaf

¼ tsp of saffron threads dissolved in 1/4^th cup of boiling water

2 cups of long grain rice

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tsp salt

4-5 cups of chicken or vegetable stock

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Over a medium flame heat the olive oil and then sauté the rice in the oil until it begins to turn brown.  Sprinkle salt over the rice, add in the saffron dissolved and then pour in the stock.  Cover tightly and put in the oven. Allow it to bake for 35-40 minutes for white rice and 1 hour for brown rice. When all of the liquid has been absorbed, it means the rice is done.

Remove the bay leaf before serving. Serve as a main course along with a side dish such as meat, fish or a vegetarian entrée.

When there is a lot of flavoring in the side dishes it is preferable that the rice and bread are not flavored too heavily. Thus just a mild sprinkling of spices and other flavoring should be perfect. Overdoing it with too many dishes does not allow you to appreciate the taste of even one.

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Falafel is a very popular fast food in the Middle East and is slowly becoming popular all over the world. Falafel comes in the shape or balls or are slightly flattened and served along with pita bread. It is an important part of a Jewish diet and is the national food of Israel. It is served along with humus on a salad.  Here is how to make your own falafel:

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup of                dried chickpeas

1 large onion

2 cloves of garlic chopped finely

3 tsp of fresh parsley chopped

1 tsp of coriander

1 tsp of cumin

2 tbsp flour

Salt

Pepper

Oil for frying

PROCEDURE

Place the chickpeas in a bowl and cover with water. Allow to soak overnight.  Drain the chickpeas, place in a pan with fresh water and allow to boil.  Boil for 5 minutes and thereafter let it simmer on low for about an hour.  Drain and allow it to cool for about an hour.  Combine the chickpeas, garlic, onion, cumin, salt and pepper in a medium sized bowl. Now add the flour.

Mash the chickpeas together and make sure to mix the ingredients together well. The result should be in the form of a thick paste.  Make small balls with this paste. Flatten them slightly. Deep fry until golden brown.  This should take around 5 minutes.

Falafel can be served with humus and tahini. Stuff the pita bread with falafel, lettuce, tomato or whatever salad you like and the seasoning of your choice. Falafel is healthy and has high protein content owing to the chickpeas. Also if you find that your falafel doesn’t have the right consistency and is not staying together you can add a little more flour until you feel the consistency is correct. Also vary the salt and pepper as per your taste.

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Everyone’s heard of Humus and Falafel and they’re available in restaurants all over the world, even in countries where there are no Jews. Humus is a kind of dip made by the Jews and is extremely popular. Here’s how to make it:

(Serves around 5)

INGREDIENTS

1 ½ cups of dried chick peas

2 tsp of salt

3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped finely

1/4^th cup of lemon juice

1 cup of taratoor (sesame) sauce

PROCEDURE

Wash the peas in cold water and put in a large plan. Cover with water and leave to soak at room temperature for 12 hours.  Add salt and enough fresh water to completely cover the peas. Cover and bring to a boil for 2-3 hours or until the peas are very tender. Change the water in the pan from time to time. Drain the peas and keep the cooking liquid aside.

In a small bowl mash the garlic and then add the peas and ½ a cup of the cooking water to form a smooth paste.  With a large spoon keep adding in the lemon juice and blending.  Beat constantly and add the taratoor sauce until the mixture is smooth. The humus should ideally be thin so that it can be spread easily. If is it not thin enough add some more of the cooking liquid and beat until smooth.

Put the humus into a bowl and serve.

Humus is generally served with falafel and bread and is a delicious accompaniment to food. It is relatively easy to make and the ingredients are easily available. In case you don’t have fresh chick peas you can also use dried ones or canned ones. If you use the dried ones you will need to soak them the previous day so that they can recover the lost moisture.

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Everyone loves cookies and this particular one is quite a delicious one. They can be served on any occasion or just munched anytime. Cookies go great with milk or with some other things and are a great accompaniment. These cookies that I’m telling you about today are called Maple Sugar Cookies and they are quite delicious.

INGREDIENTS

4 cups of flour

½ tsp of salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup coconut oil

1 cup granulated maple sugar

1 cup white sugar

1 egg

4 egg yolks

1 ½ tsp of vanilla extract

½ a tsp of maple extract (optional)

PROCEDURE

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Mix together the flour, salt and baking powder. Cream the coconut oil together with the sugars. Beat in the eggs and the yolks and the extracts also if you’re using them. Mix the flour while remembering to scrape it off the sides of the dish also. Chill the dough briefly for about 20 minutes or so.  Divide the dough into batches and roll out to around ¼ inch thick.  Cut it with biscuit cutters into whatever shape you fancy.  Bake them two sheets at a time, the time varying slightly with the size of the cookie.

You could try variations like colouring the sugar differently to make the cookie fancier.  In this recipe coconut oil has been substituted for butter and the results are fairly pleasing.  Coconut oil is also quite good for health so you can always take a break from butter and add it in here this time. These cookies are quite sweet and you can serve them as an accompaniment with almost anything. It’s a big hit among kids and the adults don’t complain either.

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Although most food that are thought of as being Jewish food are not unique to Jews but the combinations and innovations brought to them by the Jewish community make them special to the Jews. I shall now guide you through the basic and most popular Jewish dished.

A lot of Jewish cooking revolves around the Shabbat (Sabbath) and thus special attention is paid to food cooked on this day.

One of the most basic of all Jewish foods is Challah. The Challah is a sweet bread traditionally used on festival and other special days. The bread is sweet and tastes a bit of egg. On most occasions the bread is braided but the shape may vary according to the occasion.

Another favourite is the Matzah Ball soup. It consists of chicken dumplings in soup.  It consists of thin chicken broth with a few large balls and in some cases carrots or celery or other variations may also be added to the broth.

Knishes are also extremely popular and served on most occasions. The word ‘knish’ stems from the Ukrainian word which means dumpling. Knishes are basically dumplings made out of potato and flour and stuffed with an assortment of things. The dumplings are baked not fried until they are nicely browned on the outside. They could be filled with potato and onion, beans, cheese or anything that catches the cook’s fancy.  They can be served as an appetizer or also as a side dish.

Many of the very common American food items including bagels are Jewish, though the ones available in most bakeries and stores are very different from the authentic Jewish bagel. Jewish food is symbolic to the occasion and different food items are served on different festivals. The food is also an amalgamation of food that is made in different countries of the world which the Jews have added their own touch to in order to make it their own.

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