Chulent Book

Ilana’s Cholent

Wed, 13 Sep 2023 16:58:44 +0200

Ilana’s cholent

This is a mishmash of various cholents I’ve had over the years, tweaked to my personal preferences. It can easily be made vegetarian simply by omitting the meat, and vegan by omitting the eggs.

Cuisine Hungarian and Polish influence, no specific community

Servings ish

Author Ilana Hernandez

Ingredients

2 kg stew beef chopped
2 large onions chopped
2 cups pot barley
2 cups dried navy beans cannelini beans, or black beans (or a mixture)
1 kg chopped potatoes any kind except sweet potatoes
4 garlic cloves smashed
3 tbsp sweet paprika
1 tbsp hot or smoked paprika or half a tbsp of each
1 tbsp kosher salt
¼ cup tomato paste
2 tsp or more coarsely-ground black pepper more is better
¼ cup brown sugar
6 eggs in the shell
Water beef stock, or vegetable stock

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350F.
If using beef, brown the beef on all sides. Do this in batches if necessary.
Remove the beef to a plate.
Sautee the onions until soft, about five minutes.
Add the beef, onions, and all other ingredients except eggs to a large dutch oven. Mix to combine.
Add enough water (or stock if using) to cover the dry ingredients, plus an additional two inches.
Gently place the eggs into the water on top of the dry ingredients, which will have settled to the bottom.
Cover on the dutch oven with its lid, and place in the heated oven. After half an hour, reduce heat to 200F. Cook overnight.

Notes

The beef, eggs, and sugar are all optional.
Do not use kidney beans for safety reasons.
You can peel the potatoes before adding them if you want, but I don’t bother.

Meudah (Sofrito)

Sat, 02 Sep 2023 20:42:54 +0200

Meudah (Sofrito)

This recipe has been passed down for generations in my family from mother to daughter. No holiday or celebration lacks a giant pot of meudah with enough to satisfy everyone. No one in the family doesn't like this dish!

Place of Origin Syria

Author Yaakov C.

Ingredients

4 chicken thighs
6-8 potatoes peeled, and cut into medium cubes
1 onion diced
salt
baharat
oil

Instructions

Put 3 tablespoons of oil in a pot and fry the onion in it until translucent.
Add the chicken pieces and fry until they are well-browned on all sides.
Add some baharat spice blend, and cover with water. Cook for 40 minutes in a covered pot over a low flame.
Fry the potatoes and set them aside. You may put them in oil and place in the oven to get some color. Don't forget to coat them in oil.
An hour before serving, add the potatoes to the pot with the chicken. Add some water if necessary. Add some baharat and salt, and let it cook for about another 40 minutes. Serve warm.

Notes

This same method may be used with beef cubes in place of the chicken.

Vegan T’bit

Sat, 02 Sep 2023 20:35:21 +0200

Vegan T’bit

T'bit is an Iraqi Shabbat stew that stuffs a chicken with rice, and buries it in more rice. This is a Vegan take on the classic original.

Keyword Iraq, Israel, vegan

Place of Origin Iraq, Israel

Author Ashley G.

Ingredients

300 g seitan sliced
250 g short grain brown rice
1 large onion chopped
2 small-medium tomatoes chopped
1 medium potato sliced
1 small container tomato paste
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp soup powder
1 tbsp yellow shwarma spice mix
1 tbsp red shwarma spice mix
½ tbsp salt
½ tbsp black pepper
1 tsp turmeric
½ tsp ground cardamom
½-1 tsp baharat spice blend (more if it doesn't have a lot of cinnamon, less if it does)

Instructions

Mix all ingredients, except potatoes, in a baking tin or casserole.
Add water to the top of the tin.
Arrange potato slices around the edges.
Cover with foil and bake at 150-200℃ for at least 2 hours (until most of the water has been absorbed by the rice).
Lower temperature to 75℃ for 6-8 hours.

Notes

I prefer the brown rice, but my husband’s family usually uses medium/long grain white rice.

Traditional Chulent

Fri, 10 Feb 2023 07:21:32 +0200

Traditional Chulent

My mom taught me how to make this chulent and I woke up to its armor every winter shabbat morning growing up. It warms my heart and my belly!

Cuisine Poland with spicy twist

Servings + people depending on appetite and other courses

Author Talia Cohen

Ingredients

1 cup beans soaked
1 cup barley
1 potato per person, peeled
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Red pepper flakes
1 bay leaf
Thyme
Chile powder/creole seasoning
Paprika
1 tsp of beef soup mix per cup of water
2 lbs of chuck roast or more depending on size of crock pot and how many people you are serving preferably with bone; if no bone, add marrow bones
1 Kishka
1 spicy sausage per person I prefer Jack’s, but any sausage works and any flavor
1 egg
1 jachnun watch it so it doesn’t get soggy; goal is to get it dark brown

Instructions

Line the bottom of a crock pot with beans and barley. Layer rest of ingredients. Meat goes last and then add seasonings.
Add water until at least 3/4 of crock pot is full.
Turn crock pot on low and let it cook. I tend to turn on crock pot on Friday before shabbat so that it is cooking overnight and ready to be served when we get home from shul on Shabbat day. B'teavon!

Hamin Toscana

Fri, 06 Jan 2023 16:08:16 +0200

Hamin Toscana

A classic hamin from Livorno that has been quoted and slightly modified in most Italian Jewish cookbooks since the first one published, Poesia Nascosta, by Ines De Benedetti. This combines a few versions.

Cuisine Italy

Author Joel Haber

Ingredients

3 cups cannelini or white beans (soaked overnight, if using dried)
1 tsp salt
2 lbs fresh chard or spinach leaves
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
1½ cups tomato sauce
unshelled eggs (1 per person)

For meatballs:

1 lb ground chicken, beef, or veal
½ cup breadcrumbs or matzo meal
2 eggs
½ cup fresh parsley chopped fine
½ tsp ground black pepper

Instructions

Put beans into a pot, covered with water and salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer for 15 minutes. Set aside when done.
If using chard, remove the hard stems from the leaves. Reserve the stems for another use, or discard.
Heat olive oil in a pot and add chard or spinach leaves. Salt slightly. Stir periodically until the leaves begin to wilt, approximately 3-5 minutes. Then cover, reduce heat to low, and continue cooking for approximately 10 minutes, stirring periodically to avoid burning. Set aside when done.
Make the meatballs by combining all meatball ingredients in a bowl. Roll them into balls about 2 inches across (a bit smaller than a biliard ball).
In a pot, combine the beans, chard or spinach, meatballs, onion, garlic, and tomato sauce. Add water to just barely cover. Gently insert eggs around the top of the stew. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat.
Continue cooking overnight by any standard method (slow cooker, pot in a low oven, or pot on an electric hotplate, for example).

Notes

Optional:

Add ½ lb of beef chunks or 3-4 Italian sausages in with the rest of the ingredients.

Grünkern Soup

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 19:38:50 +0200

Grünkern Soup

This yekkisheh (German-Jewish) stew uses grünkern — green spelt. It is simple, but delicious.

Cuisine Germany, Washington Heights, NY, USA

Servings

Author Esther G.

Ingredients

8 oz grünkern
2 quarts water
1 large onion chopped roughly
4 cloves garlic sliced
4 marrow bones
1½ lbs beef cut into chunks
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Mix all of the ingredients in a large pot. Stir and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to simmer.
Leave cooking from at least Friday midday. (Grünkern requires a long cooking time.)

Notes

The consistency should be more liquidy than chulent, but not as thin as a soup. Adjust water before Shabbat, as needed.
If making into a full meal, use more beef.
I typically make this in the crock-pot.

Chulent

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 19:37:00 +0200

Chulent

This is the recipe that I grew up with. Though mymom didn’t like to eat chulent, she was kind enough to make it for therest of us. And much of what my mother cooked for holidays and Shabbat wasbased on what her mother (from Galicia, the region that spanned southernPoland, Austria-Hungary, and Ukraine) cooked. This is the basic recipe, butover the years I have made numerous substitutions and additions at differenttimes. See the notes for a few options.

Cuisine Poland, United States

Servings

Author Joel Haber

Ingredients

1 cup barley
1 cup beans (any variety or a mix)
2 onions peeled, and cut into quarters
3-4 medium potatoes cleaned and cut into chunks (optional: peeled)
3-4 marrow bones
1½-2¼ lbs beef (or 3 lbs flanken on the bones, or a combo) cut into chunks
2 tsp salt

Instructions

My mother insisted on placing the ingredients into her slow-cooker in the following order: barley, beans, onions, potatoes, bones and beef. Sprinkle the salt and pepper on top and add water to cover. She claimed the meat flavor would then permeate the barley better.
Bottom line, No fancy steps here. Just add all of the ingredients to the pot and cook overnight, using any standard method (slow-cooker, stovetop, or oven).

Notes

Common in America are the use of barbecue sauce or ketchup for flavoring.
Some use beer in place of all or part of the water. I don’t taste a noticeable difference.
I have replaced barley with buckwheat (kasha) as the (equally traditional) grain. The result is slightly lighter, a bit sweeter, oddly somewhat smoky, and gluten free for those who need it.
Add in a peeled turnip, cut into chunks, and/or 1-2 chopped carrots. Both will add a bit of sweetness into the overall dish.
For an earthier flavor, a handful of mushrooms, or some rehydrated and cut up dried wild mushrooms can be a good addition.
All-beef hotdogs in addition to, or in place of part of the meat add a nice smoky taste.
Popular “bonus food” additions include a kishke or small potato kugel cooked inside the chulent. Wrap in foil and puncture with a fork before resting on top of the stew.
Other possible flavorings include: garlic cloves or powder, black pepper, paprika, sugar, honey or prunes.

Shulva Shabbati

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 19:36:04 +0200

Shulva Shabbati

This dish comes from Esfahan, in Persia. Other Persians might call it shorba, but we have always said "shulva."

Cuisine Esfahan, Persia

Servings

Author Shirin A.

Ingredients

1 Chicken whole, cleaned
3 tbsp basmati rice
2 tbsp yellow split peas
1 medium onion
A few cloves garlic
1 tsp olive oil
salt
pepper
turmeric
cumin
½-¾ cup jasmine rice
½ cup dry white beans soaked overnight
water

Instructions

Mix together the basmati rice, split peas, ½ of the onion (chopped), 1 garlic clove, olive oil, salt, pepper, turmeric, cumin.
Stuff the chicken and sew it closed to keep stuffing inside.
Fill large pot 2/3 of the way with water and bring to boil. Put stuffed chicken, white beans and the other half of the onion (unchopped) into pot. Let it boil, skimming foam from the surface.
When no more foam rises to the surface, add jasmine rice, salt, pepper, 2-3 garlic cloves, turmeric, cumin. Cover and cook on low overnight.

Notes

Serve the stuffed chicken separately from the soup. Chicken is kept whole, served on a shallow dish, opened a bit to show stuffing. Soup is served in bowls.
Option: Add whole eggs into the soup when soup is half cooked, and cook on blech/plata overnight.

Skhena

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 19:32:51 +0200

Skhena

A Moroccan Shabbat stew, filtered through London tastes.

Cuisine England, Morocco

Servings

Author Moshe M.

Ingredients

2-3 Onions chopped
3-4 cloves garlic crushed
1 head garlic kept whole
turmeric
paprika
cumin
sugar or honey
1 ½ lbs beef (preferably well-marbled)
4-5 potatoes and/or sweet potatoes
2-4 dates
6 eggs optional, but highly recommended
1 tin chickpeas optional
2-3 marrow bones optional, but highly recommended
1 cup rice
1 cup barley

Instructions

Fry the onions in a frying pan large enough to accommodate the meat (I use a wok for this) in a bit of oil until soft, then add the crushed 3 garlic cloves and generous amounts of the spices to the onions, together with the sugar/honey.
When the sugar has melted, add the meat and braise it, as this seals the meat for the long cooking time.
Prepare the pot (a crock pot also works for this) with the potatoes/sweet potatoes, the head of garlic, the dates, the bones and the chickpeas. Over this put the meat and spices.
Rinse the barley and place in a soup bag. The rice should be rinsed and cooked until "al dente", when you bite into it, there should be a small circle of white in the rice. Once it is at this stage, place it in a second soup bag. Add the two soup bags and the eggs to the pot and cover with water.
On Shabbat, the rice and barley are served separately, as are the eggs, and the meat, chickpeas, potatoes, etc are all brought out on one plate.

Notes

When the skhena is brought out, the potatoes and the rice should be brown. If they are still white, then there was too much water in the pot.
The rice must be cooked to al dente if you are putting it in a bag, otherwise it becomes a soccer ball.
Alternatively, you can just throw the barley and rice into the pot, but many Moroccans will judge you for this.

Hungarian Sólet

Thu, 15 Dec 2022 02:52:00 +0200

Hungarian Sólet

In Hungary, sólet may be eaten during the week as well, so this recipe features both a “weekday” version and a slow-cooked Shabbat version.

Servings

Author Joshua P.

Ingredients

16 oz Lima Beans
16 oz Pearl Barley
16 oz Cannelini or Kidney Beans or a prepackaged “cholent mix”
1 lb Smoked Beef usually shin
1 Goose Quarter leg and thigh, preferably smoked
2 Medium Onions diced
5 Garlic Cloves minced
1 tbsp Good quality sweet paprika (or Hungarian paprika paste)
1 tbsp Salt
1 Dash of Pepper
3-4 tbsp Rendered goose or chicken fat (or Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
3-4 Eggs (In their shells)

Instructions

Cover and soak beans overnight if preparing on stovetop or in oven. Skip this step if using slow cooker.
Sautee onions and garlic in melted fat or oil in a Dutch oven or large pot, over a low flame.
Add in beans and liquid they were soaked in. (“This can be a point of contention. Alternatively, drain most and cover with clean water.”)
Place meat on top of beans and then add eggs.
Add water until covered. Bring the mixture to a low boil.
If making for Shabbat, transfer to a slow cooker set to Low for the night. If making for weekday use, cook covered on the stovetop over a low flame for two hours.
Before serving, remove and shell the eggs, and slice them in half.
For the weekday stovetop version, uncover the pot and put into the oven on broil/grill for about five minutes to crisp the top layer.
When serving either version, serve the sliced eggs alongside the stew.

Notes

The ideal meat blend is beef and smoked goose. Smoked turkey thigh is a decent substitute. Kabanos (dry smoked sausage) also works.
If no smoked meat is available, add more plain beef plus 3-4 drops of liquid smoke.