My love affair with Mizrachi and Sephardic food began as a child in my friend Vivian’s kitchen. Her abuela (grandmother) was always at the stove turning out fragrant, aromatic dishes that were so unlike the food my mother and grandmother cooked.
Vivian’s family came from Turkey, and Abuela tried to preserve her culinary heritage in everyday meals and especially for the holidays. She made her own phyllo dough and turned it into delicacies such as cheese and calabaza turnovers called bourekas. Speaking only Ladino, Abuela would persuade me to eat and Vivian would translate.
When reader Sarah Levin contacted me several weeks ago, asking if I would write about the culinary traditions of Mizrachi and Sephardic Jews, I was only too delighted to comply. Here are two culinary delights contributed by members of S.F.-based JIMENA (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa) that will liven up your Shabbat and holiday menus.
Plau B’jeej (Red Rice with Roasted Chicken)
1 whole chicken, cut into sections and skinned
2 Tbs. oil
2 small onions
1⁄2 tsp. pepper
1⁄4-1⁄2 tsp. cayenne
2 heaping tsp. of tomato paste
1 tsp. salt
1⁄2 tsp. turmeric
2 1⁄2 cups long–grain white basmati rice
1⁄4-1⁄2 cup almond slivers or pine nuts
1⁄4 cup raisins (optional)
Lay chicken pieces, fleshier sides down, in a heavy pot. Add oil, onions (whole), pepper, cayenne and 1⁄4 cup of water. Set on a medium flame and cover. When the water evaporates, uncover and allow the chicken to slightly brown. Repeat process. When a reddish-brown color is achieved, turn off the flame, remove chicken and onions and place them on a place.
Dissolve tomato paste in 21⁄2 cups of water and add to pot with salt and turmeric. Set pot on a medium flame and cover. When the water boils, add the rice, stir and cover. When the liquid evaporates, lower flame to low, stir and cover. When the rice is ready, place the chicken and onions on top of the rice (do not mix), cover, and place on a very low flame. Let sit for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Sauté almond slivers or pine nuts and raisins (if using) in an oil-glazed pan. When nuts are brown, remove and set aside.
To serve: Remove chicken and onions from the rice and set aside. Scrape rice out of the pot, or if using a nonstick pot, invert pot over a serving platter and remove rice. Arrange chicken pieces around the rice and place the onions on top. Sprinkle toasted nuts and raisins over the rice.
Nona’s Pumpkin Filas
Filling:
1 15-oz. can pure pumpkin
1 cup brown sugar
1⁄4 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon (or more if you like)
1⁄2 tsp. baking powder
1⁄4 tsp. nutmeg
1⁄4 tsp. vanilla
1⁄4-1⁄2 cup matzah meal to help firm
Phyllo:
1 box frozen phyllo dough
1 stick unsalted butter
1⁄2 cup virgin olive oil
Mix all filling ingredients together in a bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight.
To prepare the phyllo dough for the pumpkin filling, defrost and cut vertically into 4 equally wide strips (about a palm’s width). Melt the butter and mix equal parts olive oil with the butter.
To prepare each fila, place individual phyllo strips onto wax paper and brush two layers of the olive oil–butter mixture onto the strip with a pastry brush. Drop a tablespoon of the filling on the bottom of one strip and fold into a triangle. Place fila triangles on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until golden.
Louise Fiszer is a Palo Alto cooking teacher, author and the co-author of “Jewish Holiday Cooking.” Her columns alternate with those of Faith Kramer. Questions and recipe ideas can be sent to j. or to [email protected].