1,000 Jewish Recipes (256 page)
Read 1,000 Jewish Recipes Online
Authors: Faye Levy
1
â
4
cups, 4 to 6 servings
Flavored with fresh ginger, garlic, and chili oil, this rich, lively dressing is delicious with noodles, raw or cooked vegetables, chicken, and turkey. It's ready in no time.
1
â
2
cup creamy peanut butter
1
â
2
cup warm vegetable stock, or more if needed
2 or 3 tablespoons sesame oil
3 tablespoons soy sauce, or more if needed
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon Asian chili oil or Tabasco sauce, or to taste
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1 teaspoon sugar
Combine peanut butter,
1
â
2
cup stock, 2 tablespoons sesame oil, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, rice vinegar, chili oil, garlic, ginger, and sugar in a blender or food processor. Process until well blended. If dressing is too thick, add another tablespoon or two of vegetable stock. Taste and add more sesame oil, soy sauce, or chili oil if you like.
1
â
2
cups, about 6 servings
Serve this creamy fat-free sauce with
Low-Fat Sweet Noodle Kugel
or with fruit for dipping.
3
â
4
cup nonfat yogurt
3
â
4
cup nonfat sour cream
3 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 to 3 teaspoons strained fresh lemon juice (optional)
Mix yogurt, sour cream, honey, and vanilla in a bowl. Stir in lemon rind. Taste, and add lemon juice if you like. Serve cold.
Rice and Other Grains
Rice is so popular among Sephardic Jews that some include it in their menu every day to accompany whatever they are eating, whether it is meat, fish, or vegetables. It appears on Ashkenazic tables also but not as often.
The favorite Sephardic way of cooking rice, which has been adopted by most Israelis, is as pilaf. Pilaf is more richly flavored than boiled or steamed rice. People also like it because the rice grains stay separate and fluffy and do not stick together. First the rice is sautéed in oil, often with minced onion, then cooked with stock, broth, or water in a covered saucepan over very low heat. Kosher cooks generally use chicken broth for cooking the rice for
fleishig
meals; this way it gains an especially rich taste.
Besides the basic white rice pilaf, Sephardic Jews often prepare red and yellow pilaf. Red pilaf is flavored with tomato, and yellow with turmeric or saffron and sometimes cumin as well. Pilaf might be a simple accompaniment or might become a more substantial dish by being mixed with a variety of vegetables or sometimes meat. A popular holiday garnish is fried or toasted almonds or other nuts as well as raisins.
For festive menus, many people now cook with aromatic basmati rice, which has become widely available in Israel as well as in kosher grocery stores in the United States.
Another grain used often by Jews from eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries is bulgur wheat. This quick-cooking form of wheat is made into pilaf, just like rice. It is especially common in the cooking of Jews from Iraq, Kurdistan, and Lebanon.
Whole wheat berries also appear on the Jewish table. Because of their long cooking time, they are most often included in the overnight Shabbat stew called
cholent
(Yiddish) or
hamin
(Hebrew). During the long, slow cooking, they absorb the aromas of the meat in the stew.
Barley, like wheat, has been known since biblical times. It also is cooked in
cholent
and made into casseroles and side dishes. Its best-known use is in soups.
A favorite grain in the Ashkenazic kitchen is buckwheat, or kasha. This healthful grain is cooked with broth as an accompaniment for meat and chicken. Because kasha's flavor is assertive, many people mix it with pasta and with sautéed onions to balance its taste. Kasha is also used to fill pastries or is simmered in milk as a breakfast cereal.
= Pareve  = Dairy  
= MeatBASIC RICE DISHES
 or
Â
Pilaf is the favorite way of cooking rice in Israeli homes as well as in restaurants. The Sephardic Jews brought this technique to Israel and it has been adopted by nearly everyone else. The reason it is so popular is that the rice grains stay separate and do not clump together. Most often the rice is left white but yellow and red versions also appear on many tables.
The principle of making rice pilaf is to sauté the rice. Some people sauté the rice until the grains turn milky white; others continue to sauté until it browns. Whether to flavor the rice with a sautéed onion depends on the family's taste.
2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped (optional)
1
1
â
2
cups long-grain white rice
3 cups hot chicken, beef, or vegetable stock or water
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1.
Heat oil in a large sauté pan or wide casserole. Add onion, if using, and cook over low heat, stirring, about 7 minutes or until soft but not brown. Add rice and sauté, stirring, about 2 minutes or until the grains turn milky white, or a few more minutes if you want rice to brown.
2.
Add stock, salt, and pepper. Stir once with a fork and cover. Cook over low heat, without stirring, for 18 minutes. Taste rice; if not yet tender, simmer 2 more minutes. Adjust seasoning. Cover and let stand for 10 minutes or until ready to serve. Gently fluff with a fork. Serve hot.
 or
Â
Molding cooked rice into small cakes or mounds is an easy and elegant way to serve it. You can use this technique for white, yellow, or red rice pilaf, as long as there aren't many chunky ingredients mixed with the rice. The rice looks pretty with tomato sauce or a vegetable or meat stew spooned around or next to it.
6 to 8 small sprigs curly parsley (optional)