Falafel
Organic Falafel in a Pita Pocket With Tomatoes, Cucumbers
and Leafy Lettuce. Falafel is a deep-fried ball or patty made from ground
chickpeas, fava beans, or both. Often drizzled with Tahini Sauce.
Matzah Ball Soup
Shakshouka
Poached
eggs in tomato sauce, chili peppers, onions and cumin.
Israeli Salad
The main ingredients are cucumber, tomatoes, onions and parsley.
Jerusalem Mixed Grill
Ingredients
are chicken hearts, spleens, liver and bits of lamb seasoned with onion,
garlic, black pepper, cumin, turmeric and coriander.
Challah Bread
A
yeast and egg bread eaten on the Sabbath, as well as feasts and other holidays.
Dough may be braided, or made into flower shapes, spirals, crowns, birds and
other shapes.
Challah Bread
Latkes (Potato Pancakes)
Made
from shredded potatoes, flour and egg. Seasoned with onion and garlic.
Shwarma
Shwarma
(lamb, beef, chicken or turkey cooked on a vertical rotating spit for several
hours). Often served in a pita with shredded cabbage (or other chopped
vegetables), tomatoes and condiments. Tahini sauce is drizzled on top. Often
served with hummus and chopped cucumbers.
Cholent
Cholent
(Stew Cooked Overnight in Slow Cooker and eaten on the Sabbath). The
ingredients are beef (or chicken or lamb), potatoes, beans and barley. Sometimes
hard-boiled eggs are added. Vegetables can be added.
Hummus Dip
Made
from cooked, mashed chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic.
Malawach
A fried bread that is a staple of the Yemenite Jews. Malawach
resembles a thick pancake, and it consists of thin layers of puff pastry
brushed with oil or fat and cooked flat in a frying pan. Traditionally served
with a crushed tomato dip, hard-boiled eggs and skhug. Skhug is made from
fresh hot peppers seasoned with coriander, garlic and various spices. Red
Skhug has tomatoes added.
Shashlik
A form of Shish Kebab, using meat, marinade and onions. Just meat only can be threaded on the skewers, or one could add mushrooms, tomatoes and bell peppers.
Israeli Breakfast
Eggs,
Israeli Salad, Bread, Yogurt or Cottage Cheese and Accompaniments.
Stuffed Vine Leaves
Filled
with rice and meat, onions, garlic and other spices. The leaves are edible.
Beef Brisket
Brisket can be
cooked in many ways: in the oven, in a slow cooker or smoked over charcoal
and wood. It is braised often with a tomato or BBQ marinade so that it comes
out tender. In traditional Jewish cooking, brisket is most often braised as a
pot roast. It is mostly eaten during Rosh Hashanah, Passover and Sabbath. Potatoes
and carrots can be added.
Chraime (Fish in Spicy Tomato Sauce)
Ingredients include fish filets, such as halibut, sea bass,
red snapper, white fish. Cooked with tomatoes, tomato paste, and seasoned with
salt, garlic, cumin, paprika, coriander, lemon juice, dried sweet red bell
peppers, red hot chili peppers, olive oil, parsley. Mostly prepared for the
Friday night Sabbath meal, Rosh Hashanah and Passover, but is also a popular
everyday entree. Usually served with Challah bread.
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Stuffed Eggplant
with Lamb
Ingredients
include cooked eggplant cut in half lengthwise with eggplant scooped out, cooked
lamb, olive oil, salt, black pepper, onion, red pepper, garlic, cut parsley
leaves, basil leaves, egg, bread crumbs, tomatoes. In a bowl, mix together
the cooked eggplant, vegetables, seasonings, bread crumbs and egg. Spread evenly
between two eggplant halves and top with tomatoes. Bake in oven for 50
minutes on 350 degrees F. The picture above shows romano cheese added to the
recipe, but most Jews eat Kosher (meat and dairy are not mixed in the same
meal, no pork, no shellfish). Ground beef or chicken can be substituted for
lamb.
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Matbucha
A sauce containing tomato puree, diced tomatoes, and bell
peppers (red, yellow, and green) with the seeds included. It is seasoned with
fresh garlic, basil, oregano, paprika, cajun seasoning, crushed red pepper,
parsley, olive oil, and possibly some additional seasonings. Sometimes referred
to as Turkish Salad. Served as an appetizer. Can be used as a dip for bread.
Mujadara
Middle Eastern Rice and Lentils topped with sauteed onions. Seasonings
are generally cumin, coriander and mint.
Albondigas (Sephardic Meatballs)
The Meatball recipe includes ground beef or turkey, egg,
matzah meal, salt, black pepper, garlic, cumin, pine
nuts, parsley, olive oil. The Sauce recipe includes onion, garlic, salt, black
pepper, tomatoes, parsley, cinnamon, honey, water.
Mutabbal (a variation of Baba Ghanoush)
Baba Ghanoush is a Levantine dish of cooked eggplant mixed
with onions, tomatoes, olive oil and various seasonings. The Arabic term means “pampered
papa”. The Arabic preparation method is for the eggplant to be baked or broiled
over an open flame before peeling, so that the pulp is soft and has a smoky
taste. Often, it is eaten as a dip with khubz or pita bread, and is sometimes
added to other dishes. The Egyptian version, known in the Levant as Mutabbal,
is made of roasted, peeled, and mashed eggplant, blended with tahini, garlic,
salt and lemon juice. Cumin and chili powder can be added. It
is normally served with a dressing of olive oil and pomegranate concentrate.
Couscous (Ptitim)
Couscous was brought to Israel by Jews of North Africa. Couscous
is used in salads, main courses, and even some desserts. Ptitim is an Israeli
pasta which now come in many shapes, including pearls, loops, stars and hearts,
but originally was shaped like grains of rice. Couscous originated in the early
days of the State of Israel as a wheat-based substitute for rice, when rice, a
staple of the Mizrahi Jews, was scarce. Israel's first Prime Minister, David
Ben-Gurion, is reputed to have asked the Osem Company to devise this substitute
for semolina and rice, and it was thus nicknamed “Ben-Gurion's rice”. Ptitim
can be boiled like pasta, or prepared pilaf style by sauteeing and then boiling
in water or stock, or baking them in a casserole. Like other pasta, ptitim can
be flavored in many ways with spices, herbs and sauces. Once considered a food
primarily for children, ptitim is now prepared in restaurants both in Israel
and internationally.
Schnitzel
A Schnitzel is a boneless meat, thinned with a meat
tenderizer, coated with flour, beaten eggs and bread crumbs, and then fried in
oil. An Israeli Schnitzel is made with veal, lamb, beef, chicken or turkey (as
pork is non-kosher). The Schnitzel was brought to Israel by Jews from Central
Europe, especially Germany and Austria. In Israel, street vendors offer
Schnitzel in a pita pocket.
Holishkes
(Stuffed Cabbage)
Holishkes is a
traditional Jewish cabbage roll dish. It is often served on Sukkot and
Simchat Torah. Holishkes are prepared from lightly boiled (“blanched”)
cabbage leaves wrapped in a parcel-like manner around minced meat and then
simmered in tomato sauce. Often times rice is added to the meat filling. While
the dish is eaten all year round, often it is served on Sukkot to symbolize a
bountiful harvest, and on Simchat Torah because two stuffed cabbage rolls
placed side by side resemble Torah scrolls.
Pashtidot
The Israeli Quiche
It is a baked dish composed of eggs, cheese (or meat), and
vegetables. You can choose to make it with or without a crust. A cheese-based
Pashtidot is a staple in most Israeli homes.
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Gefilte Fish
Gefilte Fish topped with carrot slices and horseradish on
the side. Gefilte Fish is an Ashkenazi Jewish dish made from a poached mixture of
ground, deboned fish, such as carp, whitefish, pike, salmon, mullet, Nile
perch. Fish is ground with eggs, onions, bread crumbs/matzah, pepper and other
seasonings, and then boiled in fish stock. It can be formed into patties (as
shown above) or balls. This dish is popular on the Sabbath and Passover. Jews
are not permitted to pick out fish bones on the Sabbath, so this dish is
suitable for the Sabbath as it is deboned already.
St. Peter’s Fish served at a restaurant in Tiberias
The most famous native fish in Israel is called “St.
Peter's Fish,” known in the United States and Pacific coast as “Tilapia” or
“Sunfish.” It's nickname comes from a New Testament reference to when Jesus'
follower Simon Peter had no success fishing all night long, and Jesus told him
to cast his net again, and this time it came up so full of fish that the nets
were breaking and they had to signal for help from their partners in a
different ship to help them, and both ships were so full of fish that the ships
began to sink (Luke 5:4-7).
Pomegranate Chicken
Pomegranate juice makes an excellent marinade for
chicken. Its sweet, tart flavor works really well, especially with Middle
Eastern spices.
The
Recipe calls for 12 Chicken Drumsticks, 3 T. Ground Cumin, 3 T. Ground
Coriander, 1 T. Herbes de Provence, 1 T. Ground Black Pepper, 2 tsp. Ground
Cinnamon, 1 tsp. Ground Ceyenne Pepper, 2 Cloves of Garlic (Minced), 1 (16 fl.
oz) Bottle of Pomegranate Juice, 1 ½ tsp. salt, 2 T. Olive Oil.
1. Mix the cumin,
coriander, herbes de Provence, black pepper, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper
together in a small bowl. Place the chicken and garlic in a bowl; sprinkle
about 2/3 of the spice mixture over the chicken and toss to coat. Transfer the
chicken to a resealable plastic bag. Pour in the pomegranate juice. Seal and
refrigerate at least 12 hours. Remove the chicken from the bag, reserving the
marinade.
2. Preheat oven to 400
degrees F (200 degrees C).
3. Pat chicken dry with
a paper towel. Season with the remaining spice mixture and salt. Coat with
olive oil, then arrange the chicken in a large baking dish in one layer.
4. Bake the drumsticks
until no longer pink at the bone and the juices run clear, 45 to 50 minutes. An
instant-read thermometer inserted near the bone should read at least 165
degrees F (74 degrees C).
5. While the chicken is
baking, bring the reserved marinade to a boil in a saucepan over high heat.
Reduce heat to medium-low, and continue simmering until reduced by 2/3. Stir
often. Pour over chicken before serving.
Torshi (Pickled
Vegetables)
Torshi are the
pickled vegetables of the cuisines of many Balkan and Middle East countries. The
word torshi comes from torsh, which means “sour”. In some families, no meal
is considered complete without a bowl of Torshi. Torshi is made with garlic,
chili peppers, celery, cauliflower, carrots, beets, shallots, olives, cabbage,
eggplant and other vegetables, and dried aromatic herbs pickled in vinegar,
salt, and different spice mixtures, which usually include whole black
peppercorns, ginger, etc. Served as Hors d'oeuvre.
Bourekas
Bourekas filled with savory potatoes (spinach or meat can
also be used as a filling). Made out of thin slices of dough and topped with
sesame seeds.
Mahane Yehuda Market, Jerusalem
Samosa
A fried or baked pastry filled with savory filling, such as
spicy potatoes, spinach, peas, lentils, ground meat (beef, chicken, turkey). Served
as an appetizer.
Blintzes
A Blintz is a very thin pancake that could be filled with
chocolate, cheese, meat, rice, mushrooms, mashed potatoes, bean sprouts, green
cabbage, onions. Then it is fried in oil.
Jerusalem
Bagels
Baklava
A rich, sweet pastry made of layers of filo filled with
chopped nuts,
and sweetened and held together with syrup or honey. Other
ingredients are sweet butter, cloves and cinnamon.
Jewish Apple Cake
Ingredients include white flour, white sugar,
baking powder, salt, vegetable oil, eggs, apples, vanilla extract, orange juice,
cinnamon.
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Sufganiyot
Sufganiyot (donuts filled with jelly or custard, and
sprinkled with powdered sugar). Eaten on Hanukkah (fried foods are eaten to
symbolize the Temple oil which kept the Menorah lit for 8 days).
Hamantaschen Cookies (filled with fruit) eaten on Purim.
Purim celebrates Queen Esther, Mordecai and the deliverance
of the Jews from wicked Haman. The three-cornered cookies represent Haman's
three-cornered hat.
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