Cafe Liz
Kosher vegetarian recipes from my kitchen in Tel Aviv
Matzo balls with vegetable soup and Middle Eastern spices
April 14, 2009 at 1:00 am | Tags: Jewish, matzo meal, parve, Passover, soup
Sorry Maneschevitz, but I see no reason to make matzo balls from a mix — they’re pretty simple to make from scratch. I also think that the whole search for the perfect matzo ball recipe is a bit overrated. Matzo (matzah) balls are basically matzo meal mixed with egg, and everything else is simply a matter of taste. Maybe I’m saying this because I haven’t tried the world’s best matzo ball yet, but until that time comes, I’m happy with my own modest version.
Since there’s no chicken in our kitchen, this soup’s flavor had to come from something else. I put a bit of hot paprika in my matzo balls, and made a vegetable-intensive soup with Middle Eastern spices to go with them. There’s something to be said for matzo balls with a spicy kick. Continue reading Matzo balls with vegetable soup and Middle Eastern spices…
Bimuelos (sweet Passover dumplings)
April 10, 2009 at 1:00 pm | Tags: brunch, dairy, dessert, honey, Jewish, matzo meal, parve, Passover, Turkish
My mother learned to make bimuelos from her maternal grandmother, who brought the recipe with her from Istanbul, along with her special bimuelo pan. I don’t know anyone else who makes bimuelos for Passover, beyond my immediate family. And it’s a pity. They’re quite good. The word bimuelo merely means a fried dough delicacy in Judeo-Spanish. You could consider my family’s version a kind of Sephardi matzo ball — the batter is similar, but instead of being cooked in chicken broth, we fry ours, boil them in honey-sugar syrup, and then serve them doused in sweet cream. We eat them for breakfast every day of Passover. How could you go wrong?
Passover bimuelos have made the holiday for me ever since I can remember, yet they seem to be a lost art. Over the years, I’ve tried searching for the word on Google. In 2003 I turned up a whopping three hits. By last year things had slightly improved, up to about 20, including a Judeo-Spanish dictionary, a lecture in Ladino, a few articles about Hanukkah sweets, and a dozen photos I’d posted over the past few years. This leads me to think the world is in need of a bimuelo revival. Continue reading Bimuelos (sweet Passover dumplings)…
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