Read 1,000 Jewish Recipes Online
Authors: Faye Levy
1,000 Jewish Recipes (259 page)
When I would like the flavor of stuffed cabbage but I don't have time to stuff individual leaves, I use an old formula from my husband's Sephardic family. You simply cook the cabbage and its rice stuffing together. Their stuffing is enhanced with ground beef but I use chicken to make it leaner. When I want it pareve, I omit the meat or I make it with soy ground "meat."
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 medium onions, sliced
12 ounces to 1 pound ground chicken
1 small head cabbage (1 to 1
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pounds), shredded (8 to 10 cups)
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
4 large cloves garlic, chopped
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teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
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teaspoon ground turmeric
2 cups long-grain white rice
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cups chicken or vegetable stock or water
Heat oil in a large stew pan or Dutch oven. Add onions and sauté over medium heat 5 minutes until softened. Add chicken and sauté, stirring to separate it into small pieces. Add cabbage and salt, cover, and cook over low heat, stirring often, 5 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, paprika, turmeric, and rice and sauté about 2 minutes. Add stock, salt, and pepper. Stir and bring to boil. Cover and cook over low heat, without stirring, 20 minutes or until rice is tender. Adjust seasoning. Serve hot.
Although risotto is generally served as a first course in restaurants, I like this one in smaller portions as an accompaniment for vegetable entrees or for a mild- flavored baked fish such as cod. It's a lovely dish to serve for Shavuot.
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter (optional)
12 ounces mushrooms, quartered
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 medium onion, chopped
3 large cloves garlic, minced
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cups Arborio rice or other round risotto rice
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cup dry white wine
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4
teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
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cups hot vegetable stock
1 teaspoon dried thyme
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teaspoon dried oregano
Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
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cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
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cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
1.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil, and if you like, 1 tablespoon butter, in a medium, heavy saucepan. Add mushrooms, salt, and pepper and sauté over medium-high heat for 5 minutes or until light brown. Transfer mushroom mixture to a bowl.
2.
Add 2 tablespoons oil to saucepan and heat it. Add onion and sauté over medium heat 5 minutes or until soft but not brown. Add garlic and rice and stir 2 minutes until coated. Add wine and stir. Simmer over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes until wine evaporates.
3.
Add pepper flakes and 2 cups hot stock and stir. Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, 9 to 10 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Add remaining stock, thyme and oregano. Stir and cook 5 minutes. Add mushrooms with their liquid and simmer 3 minutes or until rice is al dente and most of liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat. Add remaining tablespoon butter, if using, pepper, and nutmeg. Let stand 2 to 3 minutes. Add parsley and
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cup Parmesan. Adjust seasoning. Serve with more Parmesan.
RICE WITH FRUIT AND NUTS
For her family's Friday night meal, my neighbor Valerie Alon prepares two kinds of rice to please everyone in her family, as the younger children insist on plain white rice, while the adults prefer her delicious yellow rice with sautéed onions, pine nuts, and raisins. She has a special technique for preparing both kinds of rice from a single batch by dividing the white rice in half.
Unlike many versions of yellow rice, this method features onions with more of a sautéed flavor, as they do not cook with the rice from the beginning and don't come in contact with the water used to cook the rice. Valerie uses a wok to heat the spiced onion mixture with the rice, but you can use a deep skillet instead.
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cups long-grain white rice or basmati rice
3 cups water
2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion, minced
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teaspoon ground turmeric
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cup pine nuts
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cup raisins
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
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Combine rice, water, and a pinch of salt in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat 12 to 15 minutes or until rice is just tender.
2.
Heat oil in a wok or deep skillet. Add onion and sauté over medium heat, stirring often, about 7 minutes or until it begins to turn golden. Add turmeric and pine nuts and sauté over medium-low heat, stirring, 1 to 2 minutes to toast pine nuts lightly. Add raisins and heat 1 minute. Add 2 to 2
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cups cooked rice and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat, tossing very gently, 2 to 3 minutes or until ingredients are combined and rice is evenly colored; do not stir hard so rice grains don't stick together.
3.
Serve white and yellow rice in separate bowls.
Rice pilaf that gains a light red tint from the addition of tomatoes or tomato paste is a popular dish in Israel. Jews from Iraq and Kurdistan turn their red rice into a tasty side dish by embellishing it with raisins and often with toasted almonds. Some cooks add chickpeas as well and garnish the rice with fried onions. Red rice is delicious with roast chicken or braised beef, lamb, or veal, as well as with vegetable dishes such as eggplant stew, sautéed mushrooms, or turnips with spinach and garlic.
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 small onion, minced
1 cup long-grain white rice
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cups hot water
1 large ripe tomato, grated on large holes of grater
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Cayenne pepper, to taste
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cup golden raisins, rinsed and drained
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cup blanched almonds, toasted (optional)
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Heat oil in a deep skillet or sauté pan, add onion, and sauté over medium heat 5 minutes. Add rice and sauté, stirring, about 2 minutes. Mix tomato paste with hot water and add to pan. Add grated tomato, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Bring to a boil. Stir once. Cover and cook over low heat without stirring about 20 minutes or until rice is just tender. Add 2 tablespoons raisins without stirring. Let rice stand off heat, covered, 10 minutes.
2.
Fluff rice lightly with a fork. Adjust seasoning. Serve rice topped with remaining raisins and almonds, if using.
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to 7 cups, enough for a 10- to 12-pound turkey, or 6 to 8 servings
This delicious stuffing is wonderful for any holiday or for Shabbat. If you wish to serve it with a 3- or 4-pound chicken instead of a turkey, use half the ingredient quantities.
1 cup slivered almonds
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, minced
2 cups long-grain white rice
3 cups hot chicken stock or water
1 cup orange juice
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 large apple
1 cup golden raisins
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teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
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teaspoon ground cinnamon
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Preheat oven to 400°F. Toast almonds on rimmed baking sheet in oven, stirring once or twice, 4 minutes or until very lightly browned. Transfer to a plate and let cool.
2.
Heat oil in a deep skillet or sauté pan, add onion and cook over low heat about 5 minutes or until soft but not brown. Add rice and sauté over medium heat, stirring, 2 minutes. Add hot stock, orange juice, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat 10 minutes.
3.
Meanwhile, peel, halve, and core apple and cut it into small dice. Add apple and raisins to rice and stir very lightly with a fork. Cover and cook 5 more minutes or until rice is nearly tender. Stir in lemon rind, cinnamon, and almonds. Adjust seasoning. Let cool completely before stuffing turkey.
RICE KUGELS AND CASSEROLES
Use this simple rice
pashtidah
("casserole" in Hebrew), to make use of cooked rice you have on hand. In a Sephardic home, the rice is most likely to be pilaf of white rice but you can use boiled white or brown rice also.