Jewish Communities Take Root Around the World
When G-d said, “I will scatter you among the nations” (Leviticus 26:33), He wasn’t kidding around. Throughout the ages, Jewish communities have taken root in such far-flung places as China, Japan, Botswana, Gibraltar, Siberia and even India.
In “660 Curries” (Workman, $25.95), the late Raghavan Iyer—chef, master teacher and award-winning cookbook author—describes three distinct Jewish communities in India. Jews are believed to have settled in Cochin, in southwestern India, as early as 370 CE. Today, the historic neighborhood known as Jew Town preserves that legacy, with an active synagogue dating to the 1700s and a cemetery that traces its roots to the 1300s.
Better known is the larger community of Bene Israel, or Children of Israel, who settled on India’s west coast south of Bombay, now Mumbai. A third Jewish community, the Baghdadis—Sephardic Jews from Iraq—settled along the eastern coast. Today, only a handful of Cochini Jews remain, and while Mumbai still has an active synagogue, most of its Jewish residents have emigrated to Israel.
Like Jewish communities everywhere, India’s Jews absorbed the flavors of their homeland while maintaining their religious traditions. Their cuisine reflects a fascinating blend of Jewish practice and Indian ingredients.
It would be hard to think of a culinary term more misunderstood than the word “curry.” “The word ‘curry’ itself is unknown in the Indian vocabulary,” writes Iyer. To most Americans, curry means a spice blend or a fiery dish. In reality, “curry” is simply a catch-all term for India’s countless sauce-based dishes. “Every sauce we do we punctuate with flavor,” he explains. “There are many curries in parts of India that are flavored not with spices, but herbs. For heat we use peppercorns and chiles—that’s about it. So, when I say ‘spicy,’ I mean well-seasoned, not hot. That’s the beauty and complexity of curries.”
Much of Indian cuisine lends itself naturally to kosher cooking because of its emphasis on fresh vegetables and use of coconut milk and coconut byproducts – a pareve and sadly underused ingredient in the kosher kitchen – which provide richness traditionally supplied by dairy in other cuisines, like the Coconut Chicken with Potatoes included here.
“There is an agreement that the concept of this sauce-based, spice-laden dish has been India’s legacy for thousands of years,” he writes. “Spices, you see, are the backbone of these dishes, and with India’s 6000-year tradition of using them in cooking, I consider the Indian subcontinent to be their master. In my India, curry is never added – it just is!
Not so long ago, exploring international cuisine often meant choosing between Chinese and Italian food. Today, home cooks can travel the world without leaving their kitchens, thanks to readily available global ingredients and a wealth of cookbooks, websites and cooking shows. One of the most transporting culinary journeys arrives in “Stella’s Sephardic Table” (Hoberman, $45), a cookbook by Stella Cohen that is as rich in history and culture as it is in recipes.
Lavishly photographed and deeply personal, the book preserves the food traditions of the Jewish community of Rhodes, the Greek island once known as La Chica Yerushalayim – little Jerusalem.
Located just off the coast of Turkey and along the sea route to Israel, Rhodes was home to a thriving Sephardic Jewish community for centuries. That world was largely destroyed by economic upheaval, emigration and the Holocaust, which claimed many of Cohen’s relatives. Today, fewer than 20 Jews remain on the island. Cohen’s family eventually settled in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, where she was born. “My mother’s ancestors include my great-grandfather, Yaacov Capouya, the rabbi of Rhodes,” she told me. “It was my children who urged me to document not only our Sephardic family recipes, but also our vanishing customs.”
What her children longed for was the comfort food of their childhood: simple stews, flaky borekas, baklava, stuffed grape leaves, fragrant rice pilafs and creamy rice pudding. “They remembered how we used to sprinkle their initials on the rice pudding with cinnamon,” Cohen recalled, “just as my parents did for us.”
Cohen credits her mother as her greatest culinary inspiration. “When I came home from school, I would be mesmerized watching her fingers shape savory pastries. As a small child, I watched her roll filo dough paper-thin and drape it over pillows to dry.” Those memories helped her understand the Ladino word “necutchera” — an accomplished woman blessed with taste, wisdom and intuition. “My mother took pride in creating something beautiful made with love,” Cohen said. “I wanted to preserve our Rhodesli food as a tribute to the extraordinary skills of our foremothers.” For Cohen, cooking was never simply about nourishment. “It involved not just feeding the body, but nurturing the soul.”
Coconut Chicken with Potatoes
Batata Murghi
Yield: 6 servings
1 can (13.5 ounces) unsweetened coconut milk
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh ginger
2 tablespoons unsalted dry roasted peanuts
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse kosher or sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
5 large cloves garlic
4 to 6 fresh green Thai, cayenne, or Serano chilies, stems removed
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon cardamom seeds from green or white pods
1 or 2 cinnamon sticks (each 3 inches long), broken into smaller pieces
1 chicken (3 1/2 pounds), skin removed, cut into 8 pieces
2 medium-size potatoes, such as russet or Yukon Gold, peeled, cut into 1-inch cubes, and submerged in cold water to prevent browning
2 tablespoons peanut or canola oil
1 medium-size red onion, cut in half lengthwise and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems
12 to 15 medium-size to large fresh curry leaves
1. Pour 1/2 cup coconut milk into blender jar. Add ginger, peanuts, salt, turmeric, garlic, and chilies. Purée, scraping inside of jar as necessary, to make a slightly smooth but still gritty paste. Transfer paste to medium-size bowl.
2. Preheat small skillet over medium-high heat. Add coriander, cardamom, and cinnamon, and cook, shaking pan occasionally, until coriander turns reddish brown, cardamom looks ash-gray, and blend smells fragrant, about 30 seconds. Transfer spice mixture to a plate and cool about 5 minutes. Grind mixture in spice grinder until it has texture of finely ground black pepper. Fold ground spices into coconut-milk mixture.
3. Place chicken pieces in baking dish and thoroughly coat with this marinade. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes up to overnight.
4. Drain potatoes and pat dry.
5. Heat oil in non-reactive wok (if it isn’t non-reactive, the coconut milk, which you will add later, will discolor), large skillet, or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add potatoes and cook, stirring, until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer to a plate.
6. In same pan, cook onion until light brown around edges, 5 to 8 minutes; add onion to potatoes.
7. Arrange chicken pieces in single layer in same pan (make sure you reserve marinade), and cook until underside is golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes; turn pieces over and sear that side to a golden-brown color, 3 to 5 minutes.
8. Stir potatoes, onion, remaining coconut milk, reserved marinade, cilantro, and curry leaves into pan. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer, turning chicken occasionally and basting with sauce, until meat in thickest parts is no longer pink inside and juices run clear, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove chicken pieces and arrange on serving platter. Skim off any excess oil that may be floating on surface of curry, and then ladle sauce, along with vegetables, over chicken pieces.
Source: ‘600 Curries” by Raghavan Iyer
Orange Spanish Sponge Cake Pan d’Espana
8 large eggs
1 cup super fine sugar
1/2 cup vegetable or sunflower oil
2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
3/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon orange blossom water
2 cups sifted cake flour
2 heaping teaspoons baking powder
Pinch salt
3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar.`
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. You will need a 10-inch ungreased tube pan.
2. Separate eggs and place 6 yolks in bowl. Put 8 egg whites in large clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap, keeping at room temperature. In bowl of electric stand mixer, beat sugar and egg yolks at high speed until pale and creamy. Stir in oil, orange zest, orange juice and orange blossom water.
3. In separate bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture to sugar-egg mixture. Beat to combine, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
4. Beat egg whites in clean bowl with whisk attachment until foamy and shiny. Add cream of tartar. Continue to beat until they hold stiff peaks. In 2 batches, gently fold egg whites into batter with large silicone spatula or metal spoon. Pour batter into ungreased tube pan and smooth surface with spoon. Bake until cake is firm to the touch and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 55 to 60 minutes. Immediately invert cake pan on wire rack. Let cool completely before removing from pan (about 1 1/2 hours). To remove cake from pan, loosen outer edges of cake with a long, thin knife around inside of pan and center core. Gently ease out onto a wire rack.
Rose water syrup: 2 cups of water, 1 cup superfine sugar, 2 teaspoons rosewater, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. In small pan over high heat, bring ingredients to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Add whole and halved strawberries and syrup and serve warm.
Source: “Stella’s Sephardic Table” by Stella Cohen
Jlife Food Editor Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Cooking Jewish” (Workman) and “The Perfect Passover Cookbook” (an e-book short from Workman), a columnist and feature writer for the Orange County Register and other publications and can be found on the web at www.cookingjewish.com.
