Faith Kramer - 52 Shabbats: Friday Night Dinners Inspired by a Global Jewish Kitchen

Text copyright 2021 Faith Kramer

Photographs copyright 2021 Clara Rice

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher.

Some of the recipes in this cookbook previously appeared in a modified form in j, The Jewish News of Northern California

ISBN: 978-1-951412-18-0

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-951412-26-5

LCCN: 2020915638

Manufactured in Hong Kong.

Design by Andrea Kelly

Food styling by Bebe Black Carminito

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The Collective Book Studio

Oakland, California

www.thecollectivebook.studio

To my mother, mother-in-law, grandmothers, and the generations of Jewish cooks before me who created and preserved the taste of Judaism.

Around the world, at sunset on Friday night, Jews, their families, and their friends come together to celebrate with food, wine, bread, community, and ruach (spirit). Its the start of Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, the holiday that comes once a week. For some, this dinner is just a festive meal. For others, it is part of their religious observance. For most, Shabbat is a space to celebrate, recharge, and share with those you care fora time to look at our relationships with ourselves, with others, and with the world at large.

The arc of Jewish beliefs and observances is large, but sitting down and eating a meal together for Shabbat is one of the most basic and connects us back to ancient rituals and customs. Today, our Friday night dinners may or may not be traditional or observe all the Jewish religious laws, but they add meaning and sustenance to our lives. We may add new twists, and make them more individualized, inclusive, and multicultural. (Thats why the books title uses the English Shabbats rather than the Hebrew Shabbatot.)

No matter what your Friday night custom is (or even if you dont really have one), embracing this weekly Shabbat ritual brings an element of understanding as the activities and food can connect us, through history, geography, and tradition, to Jewish communities and ways other than our own.

The recipes in this book are drawn from ingredients and techniques from around the Jewish world, ranging from ancient cultures to modern Chabad outposts in Southeast Asia and from thriving communities to ones that no longer exist in their homelands. I didnt try to replicate regional recipes. Instead, I started with the traditional foods and preparations and found new ways to add flavor and meaning to my table and now to yours. Much like our ancestors adapted the food of their homelands, I adapted their food ways and ingredients into recipes that reflect those values and traditions while creating dishes full of life, flavor, and heritage that work for our tables today.

The 52 primary recipes are organized by season, starting with fall. The introductions to the seasonal chapters address the major Jewish holidays that fall within each one, such as Rosh Hashanah in fall, Hanukkah in winter, and Passover in spring, and offer recipe suggestions for each. In the recipe introductions and short essays within the chapters, I discuss special ingredients and detail some stories, customs, history, and current facts from and about different international Jewish communities. And after each seasonal recipe, I offer a Make It Shabbat menu, with suggestions for how build the dish into a full Shabbat dinner. Whenever appropriate, tips for making dishes ahead are offered to help you manage the time-consuming part of holiday and Shabbat cooking.

This book shares flavors from around the Jewish world: seasonings from Libya and Ethiopia; sauces from Morocco, Lebanon, and Yemen; and herbs, spices, and more from the Middle and Near East. Standbys are transformed: Pomegranate molasses brings a sweet-tart taste to brisket; falafel makes a crispy crust for a pizza; baked potatoes are stuffed with ground turkey, cumin, cinnamon, cloves, and other spices; roasted chicken is enhanced by fresh herbs or shawarma seasoning; and a spicy beef stew with dried fruit becomes the filling for tamales, to name just a few.

The state of Kerala inspired the South IndianInspired Fish Cakes with Coconut-Cilantro Chutney ().

There are vegetarian and plant-based choices, too, from Almost Homemade Hummus ().

There are also more than forty other recipes for sauces, side dishes, accompaniments, and desserts, as well as some American and Eastern European Jewish food fundamentals, including some of the classics I have been asked for most often such as Chicken Soup with Matzo Balls ().

Follow the suggested menus, mix and match the recipes, or add favorite dishes to create your own Friday night dinner. How you enjoy Friday night is up to you. Try adding in different traditions and observances. Add discussions or learning sessions. Play games. Sing songs. Make it a party. Make it all about family. Invite new friends and old. Celebrate the joy of Friday night whenever you can. It is your Friday night dinner.

From my table to yours,
Shabbat Shalom.

Often called Eastern European Jews, Ashkenazi Jews have migrated far beyond those borders. In many Western countries, they form the largest groups of Jews. The Ashkenazi originally settled near the border of what is now Germany (Ashkenazi comes from the ancient Hebrew name for that area) and France and moved eastward through Central Europe to Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, the Ukraine, and Russia. Many of these Jews migrated to America, Canada, England, and Australia during the last decades of the nineteenth century and first decades of the twentieth century.

These are North African Jews from the Maghreb region of western North Africa under Arab, Moorish, and Ottoman rule. They include Jews from Morocco, Libya, Algeria, and Tunisia. (Some include Egyptian Jews in this grouping.) While Maghrebi communities go back 2,000 years, they were heavily influenced by Sephardic Jewish migration.

Those that remained settled in the Middle and Near East, with ancient roots in the Fertile Crescent (part of which is now Israel) as well as Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, and Central Asia are considered Mizrahi. Many Mizrahi (from the Hebrew word for Eastern) communities existed alongside Sephardic ones after the Spanish and Portuguese expulsion of the Jews. Some Jews from Iraq settled in India (particularly around Kolkata and Mumbai), forming what became known as the Baghdadi Jews. Business opportunities eventually lured some of the Baghdadi Jews to Shanghai, where they remained until the Communist takeover of China.