Yom Yerushalayim, or Jerusalem Day, will be celebrated this week on Thursday night, May 21, and Friday, May 22, 2020. Jerusalem was established as the capital of Israel by King David almost 3,000 years ago, and the Jerusalem Antiquities Authority has just discovered more ancient ruins near the Western Wall.
My question is: What food should we eat to celebrate Jerusalem Day? I reached out for expert advice and received a few suggestions. The top winners were Jerusalem Mixed Grill (מעורב ירושלמי) and Jerusalem bagels.
Jerusalem Mixed Grill photo by Bridges for Peace
You can find great kiosks selling Jerusalem mixed grill around the city, but particularly near Mahane Yehuda. The smell of the greasy, spicy mixtures wafts through the streets, and here is a video about the originator of this fine fare.
Another contender, the Jerusalem Bagel, is found all over the city. During the Six Day War in 1967 Jerusalem was reunited by the Israelis. Tourism blossomed in the city and these bagels, sold by vendors became super popular. They are long and oval, and the bagel itself is softer and lighter than the usual bagels. They are covered with sesame seeds and served with zatar, an Israeli spice mixture, which is given in a little packet made of newsprint.
The bagel recipe is a closely guarded secret, but adding extra oil to a regular bread recipe will make the dough lighter.
Here are two recipes, one for zatar, and one for a homemade Jerusalem Grill.
Zatar: (from Janna Gur’s cookbook)
2 Tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted in a pan
1/2 cup dried hyssop
1 Tablespoon sumac
1/2 teaspoon salt
Grind the hyssop in a spice mill or blender until it is powder. If you don’t have hyssop you can use dried rosemary or thyme. Add all the other ingredients and you are ready to go!
Jerusalem Grill
about 1 1/2 lbs. chicken innards- liver, heart, spleens, plus some chicken breast or thigh.
For a vegetarian version chop up firm tofu & portobello mushrooms, and you can add blanched cauliflower
4 sliced onions
4 cloves garlic, chopped
olive oil
1 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. cardamom
1 tsp. salt
Cut the chicken into small pieces. Put into a bowl with the onions and the garlic. Pour on some olive oil and the spices, and leave to marinate in the fridge for 3 -24 hours.
Heat up a large frying pan and add some olive oil. Pour in the meat mixture. Fry until the meat is done. Serve in a pita with tehina, hummus, pickles, and olives. Enjoy!
Have a wonderful Jerusalem Day. I hope you found my Jerusalem food blog interesting and that you might even try something new!
Pesach is rapidly approaching. Many people are concerned with house cleaning, buying new pots, and unpacking the Pesach dishes. I’m most concerned with haroset recipes. I love having a variety of flavours at my seder table and integrating traditions from other cultures. haroset is a tasty way of doing both.
The making, distributing, and eating of haroset is a feature in a number of historical haggadot- so I’m not the only person devoted to that detail of our seder. Even the Rambam (Moses Maimonides) had a recipe for the tasty treat.In his 11th century Mishneh Torah, Moses Maimonides gives one of the first written recipes for charoset in which it is said to look like clay mixed with straw: In the Mishneh Torah he instructed [crush] “dates, dried figs, or raisins and the like…add vinegar, and mix them with spices”. stringy spices would help the fruit and nut mixture have the texture of straw.
The following interesting bit of history is from Moment Magazine, The Sweet Story of Charoset, Spring 2009. “The clay interpretation saw its most extreme expression in 1862 when some 20 Jewish-American Union soldiers in an Ohio regiment put a brick on their Seder plate. One of them, Joseph Joel, recalled the experience in the March 30,1866, Jewish Messenger, a New York weekly. He writes that although stranded in the “wilds of West Virginia,” the men in his regiment were able to obtain matzos and Haggadahs and successfully foraged for a weed “whose bitterness…exceeded anything our forefathers enjoyed,” as well as lamb, chicken and eggs. But they could find no suitable ingredients for charoset. “So, we got a brick,” Joel wrote, “which rather hard to digest, reminded us, by looking at it, for what purposes it was intended.” “
Making Haroset – Bird’s Head Haggadah
The last time I posted, I included two recipes for haroset. This week I am including recipes from a variety of places. Maybe you’ll try something new.
Making Haroset – Nuremberg Haggadah
French Provencal Style (about 8 cups)
1 pound chestnuts 1 cup blanched almonds 2 medium tart apples, cored and chopped 1 cup pitted dates 1 cup dried figs 1 cup raisins 1 to 3 tablespoons grated fresh ginger wine vinegar
1. Cut an X in the shell of chestnuts. Place in boiling water and cook for 15 minutes. Drain. When able to handle, peel off shells. 2. Finely chop chestnuts and almonds. Add fruits and finely chop. Stir in enough wine vinegar to make a thick paste. Add ginger.
Source: Sefer Ha’Menuha, a work of the 13th century Provencal scholar, Rabbi Manoach, as cited in an article by Gil Marks in the Jewish Communications Network archives
Distributing Haroset – Sister Haggadah
Curacao Charoset Balls (Garosa)
14 pitted dates 10 pitted prunes
8 figs, stems removed
cup golden raisins cup cashew nuts lemon, unpeeled and cut in chunks
cup sweet red wine cup honey, or more as needed
2 tablespoons cinnamon to coat
Place dates, prunes, figs, raisins, nuts and lemon in food processor.
Chop coarsely.
Add the wine and cup honey. Process to chop finely.
Mixture should be moist but firm enough to shape. Add a little extra honey if needed.
Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Roll into balls about 1 inch in diameter. Toss in cinnamon to coat. Cover and refrigerate until needed. Makes 25 to 30 balls. Note: If you prefer, the mixture can be spooned into a serving dish and dusted with cinnamon before serving.
Source: “Celebrating Passover with dishes of Curacao” Ethel Hofman and Myra Chanin PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER (on-line edition), 3/25/99
Italian Style
3 apples, sweet or tart 2 pears 2 cups sweet wine 1/3 cup (50 g) pine nuts 2/3 cup (50 g) ground almonds 1/2 lb (250 g) dates, pitted and chopped 1/4 cup (100 g) yellow raisins or sultanas 4 oz. (100 g) prunes, pitted and chopped 1/2 cup (100 g) sugar or * cup (125 ml) honey or to taste 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Peel and core the apples and pears and cut them in small pieces. Put all the ingredients into a pan together and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 1 hour, until the fruits are very soft, adding a little water if it becomes too dry.
Variations: Other possible additions: chopped lemon or candied orange peel, walnuts, pistachios, dried figs, orange or lemon juice, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.
Source: The Book of Jewish Food by Claudia Roden
Israeli Style (makes 10 side-dish servings) 2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped 2 bananas, peeled and chopped Juice and grated peel of 1/2 lemon Juice and grated peel of 1/2 orange 15 dates, pitted and chopped 1/2 cup ground pistachios 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 cup sweet Passover wine 5 tablespoons matzo meal
In large bowl, combine apples, bananas, lemon juice and peel, orange juice and peel, dates and nuts; mix well. Add cinnamon, wine and matzo meal; blend thoroughly. Source: “A Passover Seder With Israeli Flavor,” from the St. Louis Post Dispatch by Judy Zeidler
Surinam—Seven Fruit (Sephardic Style) (makes 5 cups)
8 oz. unsweetened coconut 8 oz. chopped walnuts or grated almonds 1/4 cup sugar 1 tablespoon cinnamon 8 oz. raisins 8 oz. dried apples 8 oz. dried prunes 8 oz. dried apricots 8 oz. dried pears 4 oz. cherry jam sweet red wine
Combine everything except the jam and wine in a pot. Cover with water and simmer over low heat. Periodically, add small amounts of water to prevent sticking. Cook at least 90 minutes. When it is cohesive, stir in the jam and let stand until cool. Add enough sweet wine to be absorbed by the charoset and chill.
Source: The Jewish Holiday Kitchen by Joan Nathan
Enjoy your Pesach preparations.
Be healthy, be positive. All the best to you and yours. By the way, if you love haroset and all its history you will love the book “Haroset: A Taste of Jewish History” by Susan Weingarten.
This year we are preoccupied with the covid-19 virus. Everyone is worried, careful, and wondering how long the anxiety will last. However, covid-19 virus notwithstanding, Pesach will begin on Wednesday night, April 8, 2020. In preparation for that day, I am thinking a lot about charoset. Charoset is one of the fabulous unique flavours we have on that most special night. Maybe it’s an escape, but at least it’s an innocent escape.
Charoset (חרוסת) is a sweet brown paste generally made of fruits, nuts, wine, and spices. The word Charoset may be from the word cheres- חרס, the Hebrew word for clay. The brown sticky spread is designed to remind us of the mortar that the enslaved Israelites used in ancient Egypt. There are many recipes from all over the world each delicious in its own right.
Ashkenazi charoset from Wikipedia
Ashkenazi Jews from eastern Europe tend to have a charoset made of chopped apples, chopped walnuts, cinnamon, sweet red wine and honey. Whether your family came from Russia, Poland, Romania or Hungary, they probably made it that way and that’s what you grew up eating at your seder table.
Mizrachi Jews – whose families come from the Middle East and North Africa Have many different recipes. It seems that each community made its own style of charoset, one that is very different from the Ashkenazi flavour.
Hardy apples walnuts are the main ingredients in the European version. Dates are a staple in the Arab world, and so they are found in nearly every Mizrachi recipe. The European version uses cinnamon as its spice. The Mizrachi flavours include ginger, cardamon, and nutmeg. The Eastern charoset recipes will use pistachios, almonds, pine nuts and/or hazelnuts in the mix.
Figs, cinnamon, cardamon, lemon, ginger – perfect if there is a nut allergy
Each year I make a few different recipes for charoset. I do the traditional Ahkenazi flavour, a Mizrachi flavour, and my favourite- a Shir haShirim creation. Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs), is read on the Shabbat during Pesach. It is a very romantic love song which describes two lovers seeking and longing for each other. (In traditional Judaism it is regarded as an allegory for God’s love toward the Jewish people.) Throughout this love poem there are numerous descriptions of nature. One of my favourite verses describes the scent of spices wafting on the soft breezes. Rabbi Yitzchak Luria from Tzfat, who lived in the 16th Century suggested making charoset from the nuts, fruits, and spices mentioned in the Song of Songs.
Over each of the next weeks leading up to Pesach I will include a recipe from another culture. Below I have listed the fruits, nuts and spices mentioned in Shir haShirim (Song of Songs) with their sources- you can create your own recipe. I have also included the traditional Ashkenazi recipe.If you want to send on YOUR charoset recipe it would be lovely to find out what you do.
Stay safe, and be healthy. This too shall pass. Have a good week and a good Shabbat, Laya
Ingredients for a Shir haShirim Charoset (with quotations from the original text. )
APPLES 2:3 Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men.
APPLES 2:5 Feed me with dainties, refresh me with apples
FIGS 2:13 The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
POMEGRANATE 4:13 Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates GRAPES 2:15 …our vineyards (grape vines) are in blossom.
WALNUTS 6:11 I went down into the walnut grove…
DATES 7:7 This thy stature is like to a palm-tree… ADDITION OF WINE 1:2 For thy love is better than wine. SPICES 4: 13, 14 henna with spikenard plants, Spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spice
Traditional AshkenaziCharoset
3 medium apples- Canadians prefer macintosh (!) peeled, cored, and finely diced
This year, 2020, Pesach begins on Wednesday night, April 15. There is a lot of preparation for Pesach- cleaning, shopping and preparing. Many of us are distressed by the current covid-19 virus scare. Some people distract themselves with movies, others with cleaning, but I distract myself with charoset flavours from other traditions. Charoset is one of the fabulous unique flavours we have on that most special night.
Charoset (חרוסת) is a sweet brown paste generally made of fruits, nuts, wine and spices. The word Charoset is from the word cheres- חרס, the Hebrew word for clay. The brown sticky spread is designed to remind us of the mortar that the enslaved Israelites used in ancient Egypt. There are many recipes from all over the world each delicious in its own right.
Standard Ashkenazi ingredients
Ashkenazi Jews from eastern Europe tend to have a charoset made of chopped apples, chopped walnuts, cinnamon, sweet red wine and honey. Whether your family came from Russia, Poland, Romania or Hungary, they probably made it that way and that’s what you grew up eating at your seder table.
Mizrachi Jews – whose families come from the Middle East and North Africa Have many different recipes. It seems that each community made its own style of charoset, one that is very different from the Ashkenazi flavour.
Hardy apples walnuts are the main ingredients in the European version. Dates are a staple in the Arab world, and so they are found in nearly every Mizrachi recipe. The European version uses cinnamon as its spice. The Mizrachi flavours include ginger, cardamon, and nutmeg. The Eastern charoset recipes will use pistachios, almonds, pine nuts and/or hazelnuts in the mix.
Dates, figs, cinnamon, cardamon, lemon, ginger – perfect if there is a nut allergy
Each year I make a few different recipes for charoset. I do the traditional Ahkenazt flavour, a mizrachi flavour, and my favourite- a Shir haShirim creation. Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs), is read on the Shabbat during Pesach. It is a very romantic love song which describes two lovers seeking and longing for each other. (In traditional Judaism it is regarded as an allegory for God’s love toward the Jewish people.) Throughout this love poem there are numerous descriptions of nature. One of my favourite verses describes the scent of spices wafting on the soft breezes. Rabbi Yitzchak Luria from Tzfat, who lived in the 16th Century suggested making charoset from nuts, fruits, spices mentioned in the Song of Songs.
Below I have listed the fruits, nuts and spices mentioned in Shir haShirim (Song of Songs) with their sources- you can create your own recipe. I have also included the Ashkenazi standard.
I will post a different charoset recipe each week as we approach Pesach. If you want to share YOUR recipe please send it on. It would be lovely to find out what you do.
In the meantime, stay safe and good wishes to you , your family and your friends. This too will pass. Have a good week and a Shabbat Shalom. Laya
Ingredients for a Shir haShirim Charoset (with sources from the original text. )
APPLES 2:3 Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men.
2:5 Feed me with dainties, refresh me with apples
FIGS 2:13 The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
POMEGRANATE 4:13 Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates GRAPES 2:15 … our vineyards (grape vines) are in blossom.
WALNUTS 6:11 I went down into the walnut grove…
DATES 7:7 This thy stature is like to a palm-tree… ADDITION OF WINE 1:2 For thy love is better than wine. SPICES 4: 13, 14 henna with spikenard plants, Spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spice
Traditional Ashkenazi
3 medium apples- Canadians prefer macintosh (!) peeled, cored, and finely diced
There were a number of occasions when the Israelites complained about their food choices while in the desert. They complained about the lack of water and longed for the “melons, cucumbers, leeks and garlic” they remembered from Egypt. Israel and the Middle East is know for its abundance of wonderful fruits and vegetables in the summer. Israel particularly, with its use of drip irrigation has a fabulous choice of delicious produce during the summer.
Gazpacho is a cold soup made with fresh vegetables and/ or fruit. Here is an easy vegetable gazpacho recipe. If you are looking for an easy, refreshing appetizer for a Shabbat or summer lunch, this is it.
Laya’s Easy Gazpacho:
1 onion
1 cucumber
1 green pepper
1 packed cup parsley
4 cloves garlic
1 lemon
1 large tin tomato juice
salt and pepper to taste
Cut all the vegetables into large chunks. Toss them all into your food processor, add a little tomato juice, and blend it until it is the consistency you like . (I like mine to be a little chunky- not completely smooth)
Add the crushed garlic, the juice of half a lemon, and salt and pepper to taste. You may want to add the rest of the lemon juice or more garlic, depending on your palate. Add the remainder of the tomato juice and voila, it’s ready to serve.
A great thing about these basic ingredients is that they are the foundation for a number of recipes including Israeli salad and tabouli. When you try it let me know how you like it!
Enjoy these days of summer and have a Shabbat Shalom!
Laya Crust 