Matzo Ball Soup

Dried fruit cake recipe

The perfect cake for Tu-Bishvat and any other day.
The first time I had this cake was at my friends' Anat. Her friend made it for her after she had her baby, a perfect energy cake for any nursing mom. Shameless me, I was sitting next to her, slowly slicing the cake away, one sliver slice at a time.
Before we knew it was nearly gone.

I was waiting patiently to share this cake with you for Tu-Bishvat, so here it is - the recipe... via an Israeli site: the good life

The advantages of this cake:

• delicious
• very quick to make
• It lasts for a relatively long time (not that it would…in my house anyways)
• perfect with tea and/or espresso
• I consider it as a healthy cake I hope you will agree with me on that one

OK, now for the recipe:

You will need:
3/4 cup whole almonds
3/4 cup half walnuts
3/4 cup whole hazelnuts
1 cup black grapes
1 cup golden grapes
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup dates
optional: few pieces of dried ginger (will make it a little spicy)

10 spoons of whole wheat flour
8 spoons of brown sugar
3 eggs
2 spoons of squeezed lemon
2 spoons of almond extract or amaretto liquer

Note: when I was making the cake, I wasn't very precise about the dried fruit and nuts quantities. I did it according to what I had at home. and I also didn’t add any almond extract but used some vanilla extract instead.

How to:

• slice apricots, dates and ginger
• mix together with nuts and raisins
• add flour+sugar, stir using your hands
• add eggs, lemon juice and almond extract
• mix well till you can’t see any flour on the fruits and nuts
• pour into a pan (elongated rectangle pans are best for this cake)
• tighten the mixture into the pan

Bake for approximately 45 minutes at 320 ˚f  if the raisins start to burn a little, cover with aluminum foil

Let cool down before slicing.

When you serve the cake, slice it really thin.

enjoy.

tali

I know what’s for dinner…

Do you remember the story of Jacob and Esau the twins, the children of Rebeca and Isaac. One was red headed, a hunter, and hairy and the other was smooth and clever.
Esau (the hunter) was selling his birth rights to Jacob for a bowl of a red lentil soup; can you imagine…it probably smelled really good.
Later in the story Jacob, with the help of his mother, tricked his father and Esau for the blessings.  Well… I am not criticizing Jacob; he did what he needed to get what he wanted.  What can I say; the guy had a vision…or was it his mom’s dream?

After reading Beth’s post in upper west side mom, I knew what I was making for dinner: Lentil stew/soup garnished with some story telling of Jacob and Esau. Check out her recipe for hot red lentil soup.

You can read the story of Jacob and Esau in the Torah (of course) genesis 25-29, you may also get jacob's story at wikipedia

Enjoy your dinner

tali

My moms cheese cake

Jewish holidays are all about food, don’t you think? One of my truly favorite is Shavuot. I just love anything cheese, especially my mom’s cheese cake. It is the kind of cake you eat with a spoon straight from the pan. I am very stingy about sharing that cake, but I will gladly share the recipe (see below).

It was not until my uncle invited us to a barbecue on Shavuot that I started wondering about the tradition of eating dairy on Shavuot. I was a bit puzzled with the offer I must say. Looking for an answer, I was not surprised to find several different explanations (you know what they say 10 Jewish people, 100 different Opinions). The practical explanation for eating dairy originated when the Jewish people received the Torah at Mount Sinai on Shavuot; which included instructions for how to slaughter and prepare meat for eating. Until then, the Jews had not followed these laws, therefore all their meat including the cooking pots were now considered "not kosher". Since the revelation of Mount Sinai occurred on Sabbath, when slaughter and cooking is prohibited, the only option the Jewish people had was to eat dairy; and I am thankful for that…as for the barbecue proposal, I have also learned that on the holiday of Shavuot, a two-loaf bread offering was brought in the Temple. To commemorate this, we eat two meals on Shavuot, first a dairy meal, and then, after a short interruption, we eat the traditional holiday meat-meal. I guess I will also be barbecuing this year…

For other explanations follow this link

My moms cheese cake:

Preheat oven to 350 °F / 180 °C

Mix all the following ingredients in a bowl:
750 grm / 1.5 lb soft cheese*
200 grm/ 8 ounce Sour cream
6 spoons self rising flour
6 spoons vanilla instant pudding (the powder) usually makes one pack
5 egg yolks
2 spoons of oil

In a separate bowl:
Beat 5 egg whites gradually and add 2/3 cup of sugar till mixture is firm. Fold egg white mixture gently in to the cheese mixture.

Pour mixture into an oiled pan, place pan in a bigger pan filled with water (keeps the cake moist while baking), place in oven

Bake for about 1 hour
Cake is ready when it is firm yet fluffy; make sure you get a golden brown color on top. (My mom always burns it a bit…my favorite part of the cake)
Turn off oven and leave cake inside to cool down.

*soft cheese can be farmer’s cheese, or light fluffy cream cheese. The best is to use the Israeli soft white cheese by Tnuva or Strauss (Ski) can be found in any local Israeli/ kosher market.

get the spoons ready...

If you have any other MUST Shavuot recipes, please share.

How can it be Friday again….?

Before I had kids, Friday nights used to be movie nights accompanied with some nice wine and what ever takeout food we felt like (usually Persian or Thai), unwinding from a hectic week. Having 2 kids made things a LITTLE different. What stayed the same was that feeling of coziness, and the ‘letting go’ after along and active week, oh, and the wine of course.
We try to keep our Fridays as easy as possible. We mostly spend the afternoon at home. I am in the kitchen with a big plan for an elaborated dinner. The girls play, and they argue, and draw, and then they realize I am making something exciting in the kitchen so they join in. both of them sitting on my 4’ foot long counter. And they spill, and they giggle, and argue some more.
And then comes baking time, our new challenge is baking a Challa. The dough smells so delicious, for a second I can imagine my self standing in my grandmother’s kitchen. The flour is everywhere. Ori is eating the dough, while Zoe is trying to concentrate on her braiding, and I have to guard the chocolate chips and the raisins so they will be some left for the Challa. The girls usually braid few Challas, some are extra small and they call them “the babies”, Ori insists of having an Abba Challa, and if I get really lucky there is even an Ima Challa with raisins.
 
   

 

This is a recipe I haven’t tried yet, but I just got it from my mom who got it from my aunt Rivka, who is the most incredible cook, she got it from a very nice religious woman in Israel. So it must be really good.

Aunt Rivka’s Challa:
Ingredients:
1 kilo (4 ½ cups) Flour
1 flat tbsp. Salt
3 tbsp. Sugar
50 grm Yeast
½ cup Oil
2 cups Luke-warm water
Some Love
Lots of memories

Optional:
1 egg
Sesame seeds
Poppy seeds
Raisins
Chocolate chips

In a big bowl create a mountain from the flour, dig a hole in the middle, like a volcano, add the yeast, sugar , and oil in the middle, mix together, Slowly adding the water. Sprinkle flour onto the dough and knead with a closed fist for about 5 minutes.  Cover the bowl with a towel; leave the dough to rise until it doubles in size (for approximately two hours). Then take the dough and roll it into 6 long tubes. Separate and braid three tubes together to make 2 loaves. Beat an egg and baste the top of each loaf (makes the Challa shiny). Place in oven on a flat, nonstick pan for approx 25 minutes- until golden on top.

Extra:
You may sprinkle sesame seeds or poppy seeds on top of the egg before baking.
We usually add the chocolate chips and the raisins while braiding the Challas.

let me know if you have any questions...

I dare you try a six strand Challa

Shabbat shalom