Vegan Pistachio Macaroons

 

Vegan Pistachio Chia Macaroons

1 ounce pistachio pulp (leftover from two batches of pistachio ice cream)

1 ounce sugar

2 tablespoons chia porridge (recipe below)

granulated sugar 

Dry out pistachio pulp in a cool oven (you can probably use ground pistachios and scale up the recipe if you 

A did not just make two batches of vegan pistachio ice cream, and 

B would like more than six cookies).

Heat the oven to 325

Pulverize the dried pistachio pulp with sugar  and mix in enough chia porridge to form a stiff dough. Form the dough into walnut-sized spheres and roll the spheres in additional granulated sugar if desired. This will yield 6 macaroons.

Bake the macaroons for 25 minutes or until lightly browned.

Chia Seed Porridge

1/2 cup chia seeds

3 cups water

cook the chia seeds in water for about 15 minutes.

Papaya Salad for Passover

 

Papayas want to be vegetables!

Sometimes, folks are disappointed by papayas.  Their flowery scent and deep orange-pink color seem to promise mango-like tropical lushness and sweetness, but in fact, papayas are low in sugar and acid and not especially fruity at all.  Their flavor is more peppery and vegetal.  When you start working with papaya as a salad vegetable, it gets a chance to shine.  For this salad, I pair papaya with avocados, another fruit with vegetable aspirations.

Papaya salad

Papaya
Avocados (so that there is about an equal volume of avocados and papaya)
A few very thin shavings of sweet onion, or regular onion (optional)
Watercress (optional)
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
lime
Salt

Cut the papaya and avocado into slices or chunks.  Add the onion if you are using it and toss or layer the vegetables together. Drizzle with olive oil and add a few drops of vinegar and juice from the lime and salt to taste.  Serve as is or on a bed of watercress.

For a Caribische Seder, serve with Cassavakoek and vegan Sancocho.

Cassavekoek A Passover Cake from Suriname

 

I am very excited to be trying this recipe, for which I am grateful to my brilliant colleague Eli Rosenblatt.

 

The word "cocosnoot" will never cease to delight me

 The recipe comes from “Teroenga” April 1942, the Jewish journal of Paramaribo Suriname.  While I have been arguing for years that cassava (yuca, manioc) is perfect for peysekh, I have not come up with any recipes other than yucas fritas.  This year I am making at least two yuca-centric preparations, this cake, and a vegan sancocho for a  Seder Caribeño or Caribische Seder .

If you have time, Prepare the cassava a day ahead so you can freeze the grated cassava overnight and thaw it out before baking.  Remember to thaw the cassava.  I almost skipped this step.

Cassavekoek (Cassava Bojo)

1 Cassava (about 1 pound to yield about 2 1/2 cups pulp)

1 ripe coconut

1 cup milk

8 ounces ( 1 cup) dark brown sugar (or any sugar, more or less, to your taste)

2 ounces (4 tablespoons, 1/4 cup) butter

5 eggs

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (I had no cinnamon this time, but 1/8 teaspoon would be good)

6 ounces (1 cup) raisins, soaked in 1/4 cup slivovitz, if desired

butter for the pan 

Heat the oven to 350F /180C, and butter a nine-inch cake or pie pan, and six muffin cups or a nine by thirteen pan.

Peel the cassava. You will need a sharp knife because the skin is tough and probably coated with wax. Cut the cassava lengthwise and remove the woody core. 

Grate the pulp or grind it up in a processor. If you have time, freeze the pulp (remmeber to thaw before baking).

 

Pierce the coconut and drain the water.  Bake for about 20 minutes. Smash open, and pry out the pulp.  You need not peel off the brown membrane for this cake. Grate the coconut pulp or grind it in a processor.  While the processor is running add the milk (water would probably be fine).

 

Melt the butter over low heat, and continue cooking a few minutes until it becomes deep brown and smells like the best bakery.

Beat the eggs, beat in the sugar, and drizzle in the brown butter. Fold in the coconut and cassava and the raisins. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans.  Bake for forty minutes until the surface is golden and a knife emerges clean

 Some notes on the original recipe and my adaptations

1. I do not know any Dutch

2. The recipe calls for a sweet cassava.  Fortunately, all the cassava available in the United States is sweet cassava.

3. I browned the butter, because brown butter.

4. Yes, even without knowing Dutch, I can sort of see that the original recipe calls for only three spoons of sugar, but I just have a strong feeling that they are large English-style dessert spoons, about four teaspoons 1 1/3 tablespoon each. Maybe even larger.

5. Traditionally you might soak the raisins in rum, rather than Slivovitz

6. This might be prettier in a cake pan, but one leniency I allow myself is to make all Peysekh cake in aluminum pie pans.

װעגאַנישע יויך Vegan Gold

 

 

װעגאַנישע יויך

פֿאַרשטײט זיך אַז װען מע מאַכט אַ יויך מעג מען מקיל־זײַן. דער־אָ רעצעפּט מעגט איר בײַטן לויט אײַער געשמאַק.  אַלע מאָסן אָדער מעסטונגען מעגט איר בײַטן.

 

װאַרעמט אָן 3 קװאַרט װאַסער אין אַ טאָפּ. גיט צו:

3 מערן

1 סעלעריע

1 ציבעלע

5 צײנדלעך קנאָבל

1 גרויסע (אָדער 3 קלײנע) פּעטרישקעס אָדער שטענגלעך פֿון גרינע פּעטרישקע

10 פֿעפֿערלעך

1 אָדער 2 קלײנע קאַבאַק אָדער קירבעס (אַנ ערך 2 פֿונט)

1 בינטל (1 פֿונט) ציגן־בערדל (סאַלסיפֿײַ אָדער אויסטער־פּלענט)

סטענגלעך פֿון אַ בינטל קאָפּער (קריפּ)

1 טעפּל קאַשו־ניס

1 פּאַסטערנאַק, אויב מע װיל

װאַלד־הון שװעמעלעך, אָדער סתּם שװעמעלעך, אויב מע װיל

 

אין אַ צװײטן טאָפּ, קאָכט אָפּ די קערעלעך פֿונעם קאַבאַק און אַ צװײ־דרײַ קאַטשענעס אין גוט געזאָלצנעם װאַסער

 

קאָכט אָפּ די גרינסן אַ 40 מינוט זײ זאָלן װערן װײך און די יויך זאָל גוט שמעקן

                                                                                                          

דערװײַל

 

װאַרעמט אָן מאַסלינע בוימל אין אַ דריטן טאָפּ.  גיט צו:

 

3 צעשניטענע ציבעלעס

אַ ביסל צעשניטענע גרינע סעלעריע

5 צײנדלעך צעשניטנעם קנאָבל

 

פּרעגלט אָפּ די גרנסן אַ 3־4 מינוט

 

גיסט די יויך דורך אַ דורכשלאַק אַרײַן אין די ציבעלעס.

גיסט אַרײַן אויך די יויך פֿון די באַניע קערן און קאַטשענעס.  בראָט אָפּ די געזאָלצענע באַניע קערנ אין אויװן אויף 350 אַ 20 מינוט.

 

אין אַ בלענד־מאַשין שלאָגט איבער 2 געל פֿעפֿערס מיט 2 צײנדלעך קנאָבל און די אָפּגעפּרעגלטע קאַשו־ניס, און גענוג יויך צו מאַכן אַ געמיש.  גיסט די פֿעפֿער־יויך צוריק אין דער יויך.

צעשנײַדט בלעטער פֿון אַ קלײן בינטעל קאָפּער און אַ ביסל פּעטרישקע און גיט צו די בלעטלעך צו דער יויך.

פֿאַרזוכט די יויך און גיט צו זאַלץ, פֿעפֿער, און פּאַפּריקע לויט אײַער געשמאַק.

 

מיטן אָפּגעקאָכטן ציגן־בערדל און גרינסן, מאַכט װעגעטאַרישע געפֿילטע פֿיש װעגעטאַרישע געפֿילטע פֿיש אָדער װעגאַנישע געפֿילטע פֿיש

 

 

 

מקיל־זײַן meykl zayn to interpret the rules leniently 

בײַטן to change

לויט אײַער געשמאַק according to your taste , לויט ענקער געשמאַק

קאַשו־ניס cashews

 מערן carrots

 סעלעריעceleriac

 ציבעלע onion

 צײנדלעך קנאָבל cloves of garlic

פּעטרישקע parsley root 

פֿעפֿערלעך peppercorns

קאַבאַק squash or pumpkin

באַניע קערןpumpkin seeds

ציגן־בערדל (סאַלסיפֿײַ אָדער אויסטער־פּלענט)salsify

סטענגלstem

קאָפּער (קריפּ)dill

פּאַסטערנאַקparsnip

װאַלד־הינדל שװעמעלעך chicken-of-the-woods mushrooms

סתּם שװעמעלעך any old mushrooms

 

איבערשלאָגן blend

אויסמישן mix

Flumpkin פֿלאַבאַק

יאָ, אונדז'אָמער ליב פֿלאַן, און יאָ, אאונדז'אָמער ליב קאַראַמעל, און יאָ, אונדז'אָמער אָן־אַ־שיעור קאַבאַק, אָבער נישט דאָס בין איך אויסן. אויסן בין איך אַז ס'פֿעלט אונדז פֿלאַבאַק, און פֿלאַבאַק גײט זיך אַלײן נישט מאַכן. דער פֿלאַבאַק איז זײַדן־זיס און פּאַרפֿומירט נאָר מיט קאַבאַק און װאַניל. אויב עץ װיט'ץ צוגעבן צימערינג און אַנדערע געװירצן איז מהיכא־תּיתי, נאָר טו אַ פּרוװ װי ער שטײט און גײט. קאַבאַק האָט אַ טעם. זאָל לעבן קאַבאַק 

 

Yes, we love flan, and we love caramel, and yes we have lots of pumpkin, but that's not the point. The point is that the world needs flumpkin, and it isn't going to make itself. This flumpkin is satin sweet and perfumed only with pumpkin and a little vanilla. I will you to add some cinnamon and other spices if you really like, but try it as is. Pumpkin has a flavor. Let pumpkin be pumpkin.  

Flumpkin 

For the Caramel 

3/4 cups (150 g) sugar 

juice of one lemon 

Have ready two nine-inch pyrex pie pans or about eight individual ramekins. Place the sugar in a small saucepan and squeeze the lemon juice onto the sugar. Mix the juice with the sugar to the texture of wet sand. Place the pan over medium heat and allow the sugar to melt without stirring until caramel-colored, about five minutes. Refraining from stirring is the only hard part of this recipe. When the caramel is melted and close to the desired color lift the pot off the heat and yes, now you may give it a swirl, but only a swirl. Quickly pour the hot caramel into the pans or ramekins. Place the pans or ramekins in a larger baking dish.

For the Flumpkin 

1 cup milk 

1 cup cream 

2/3 cup (6 ounces) cooked mashed or pureed pumpkin or squash 

3/4 cups sugar 

2 teaspoons vanilla 

5 eggs 

Warm the oven to 325 F. Bring a kettle of water to the boil. Combine the milk, cream, pumpkin, and sugar in a sauce pan and bring to a simmer, whisking together. Remove from heat and add vanilla.  whisk the eggs in a largish bowl.  When the cream has cooled slightly, whisk it into the eggs. Strain and pour onto the caramel-coated pans. Place the baking pan containing the flan-pans in the oven and pour the hot water into the larger pan so the flumpkin bakes in a hot bath. Bake for about one hour.It will still seem a little jiggly when you take it out.

Remove the Flumpkin from the oven and allow to cool or chill. Unmold onto a flat plate.

 

 מהיכא־תּיתי If you wish

 װי ער שטײט און גײט as is

Yiddish pumpkin vocabulary is here

Honey Cake for Everybody אַלגעמײנער לקח

 

I am anticipating your question.  If this is a honey cake, where's the honey? The honey is in the dates.  Many of the scriptural references to the honey flowing through the Land of Israel are not to bee honey at all but to the lush syrup exuded by the dates.  I did not set out to make a vegan, wheat-free honey cake, but it was inspired when I bought several young coconuts for the juice and needed to do something with the pulp and my beautiful neighbor gave me a box of succulent dates from the Holy Land (These fabulous vegan brownies were inspired by the same windfall).  You can probably make this with any kind of dates, just re-hydrate them a little if they are very dry.

If you have not yet tried green coconuts, or young coconuts, you might just love them. The flavor is very mild, so if you do not care for the flavor of mature coconuts, they will be your cup of tea.  The pulp is soft and jelly-like, making them a natural for vegan baking. 

Universal Honey Cake

12 Medjool Dates (about one cup, 8 ounces)
2 ounces raw almonds
4 ounces raw walnuts (about one cup)
4 ounces cocoa butter (about one cup depending on how coarsely it is chopped.
Pulp from 2 young coconuts (about one cup, 8 ounces)
2 ounces almond flour

(optional: 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon ginger, 1/8 teaspoon allspice, 1/8 teaspoon cloves) 

1/2 cup toasted pecans for garnish, or leave them raw to make this an all-raw dessert. 

Remove the pits from the dates.  Place almonds and walnuts in a processor and pulse to a powder.  Add  the remaining ingredients except the pecans and grind to combine.  Pat the batter into a nine-inch pie plate and arrange the pecan halves on top.  Chill to set.

 

 

 

The Chocolate Lady’s 2020 Vegetarian Peysekh Survival Guide

"Preparedness" A common theme in the Yiddish press in 1916.  Frequently Uncle Sam and doughboys are seen taking up arms against the enemy.  Here Jewish women and girls arm themselves against khomets.

Oh, my beautiful ones, how do I even send a document with the word "survival" in it? Survive.  Make whatever you want.  When I started this guide in 1995, it was my intention to share ideas for meals my friends would be able to make easily with minimal ingredients and equipment, but somehow over the intervening years, as my experience and batterie de cuisine have grown, it got to the point where I was telling you to make corn-free cornflakes with plantain flour. Now folks who have never baked a potato find themselves staring into the bumpy, russet abyss.  Take my hand.

How to Bake a Potato

Potatoes

Scrub potatoes thoroughly.  If you wish, you may coat them lightly with butter or oil.  Place in an oven heated to 450F.  If you have something in the oven baking at 400F or even 350F that is fine.   Bake for an hour or slightly longer.
You need not pierce the potato, and you may not wrap it in aluminum foil (all right, just this year, because of extraordinary  circumstances I will allow you to wrap your potatoes, I will even allow you not to peel your asparagus, just don't get used to it). 



Here is my recipe for Unplugged Ajvar, and links to sixteen fabulous recipe videos.

Here is the delicious Melitsana Matzo Pita that has been the star of the final nights of Peysekh Chez Chocolat for many years.

Here in the most wonderful vegan spinach thing ever.

Some valuable paraliturgy has emerged.  I have found these helpful.

Tkhine for a plague from 1916

Prayer to stop the plague in Bombay 1896. Deliverance was brought by Dr. Waldemar Mordecai Hafkine.

Minimalist guide to Passover  

Eggplant Matzo Pie מצה־געבעקס מיט פּאַטלעזשאַנעס μελιτζάνα-μαζω πίτα

שוין 15 יאָר מאַך איך דעם מצה־געבעקס אַלע פּסח.  ער לענט זיך אונטער דאָס האַרץ  

מצה געבעקס מיט פּאַטלעזשאַנעס

2 גרויסע פּאַטלעזשאַנעס

2 מצות

2 אײער

¼ טעפּל זונרויז־סעמישקע בוימל

8 אָנצן פֿעטאַ

8 אָנצן קאַסערי, אָדער קאַשקאַװאַל, אָדער עמאָנטאַל

זאַלץ, פֿעפֿער, און פּאַפּריקע לויט ענקער געשמאַק


בראָט אָפּ די פּאַטלעזשאַנעס אין בראָטאויװן אָדער אויף אַן אָפֿענעם פֿלאַם.  װענ זײ װערן קיל גענוג, שײלט זײ אָפּ. צעהאַקט זײ אויף פּיצלעך.  
װײקט אײַן די מצות אין װאַסער זײ זאָלן װערן װײך און קװעטשט אויס דאָס װאַסער.
מישט אויס צעהאַקטע פּאַטלעזשאַנעס, מצות, אײער, פֿעטאַ, און אַ ביסל בוימל און קאַסערי.  גיט צו זאַלץ, פֿעפֿער, און פּאַפּריקע לויט ענקער געשמאַק. 

לײגט אַרײַן אין אַ בעקעלע און באַשיט מיט דער איבערגעבליבענער קעז און באַגיסט מיט בוימל.  באַקט אָפּ אויף 350 אַ 40 מינוט

I have been making this every Peysekh for about 15 years.  It is very warming and comforting

μελιτζάνα-μαζω πίτα  

Eggplant Matzo Pie

2 large eggplants

2 matzos

2 eggs

1/4 cup olive oil

8 generous ounces feta

8 scant ounces kasseri, or kashkaval, or emmenthal, or something melty.

salt, pepper, and paprika to taste

Broil the eggplants under the broiler or roast them over the fire.  If you have a grilling chimney set-up or something like that, even better.  

Soak the matzos in warm water until quite soft.  Drain the matzos and squeeze out the water.  

When the eggplants are cook enough to handle, peel off the charred skin with you immaculately clean fingers.  Chop the pulp.

Combine crumbled matzos, chopped eggplant, crumbled feta, two beaten eggs, and most of the oil and kasseri.  Add salt, pepper, and paprika to taste.

Transfer to an oiled baking dish and sprinkle remaining cheese on top.  Drizzle with remaining oil.

Bake at 350F for about 40 minutes, or until top is crisp and golden.

זיך אונטערלענען דאָס האַרץ
to be warming and comforting

דער פּאַטלעזשאַנ(עס)
eggplant

אָפּבראָטן
to broil

אײַנװײקן
to soak

אָט האָט עט'ץ צװײ פּרימיטיװע פֿילמען פֿונעם רעצעפּט
Here are two primitive videos of the recipe.

Peysekh Brownies (Vegan, Gluten-Free, Tree Nut-Free Passover Brownies)

You see, this is why we left Egypt.

Were it not for Passover, and the the needs of friends who are vegan, gluten-free, or tree nut-free, or all of the above, I would never have made these brownies, and the world would be a poorer sadder place.
OK, Here's what I made: I ground up one pound of chocolate (one 10-ounce bag Equal exchange semisweet ships and two 3-ounce bittersweet bars) to a fine powder. Then I took pulp from two green coconuts, two handfuls of medjool dates and ground those up, mixed with the chocolate powder.  Pat the mixture into a nine-inch pan and sprinkle pine nuts on top. 

Breakfast Flakes for Peysekh (Passover Cereal)

If I give you twenty guesses, I bet you can't guess what I am cooking right now, or maybe you can, because you read the headline.  This recipe is for The Glaistig, who is cereal-dependent throughout the year and cereal-deprived during Peysekh. 
This recipe is also for anyone else who needs a convenient wheat-free, gluten-free, gebrokhts-free cereal.  By convenient, I mean convenient to eat once someone has made them. 
And of course, this recipe is for anyone else, who, like me, enthusiastically bought bags of almond flour and plantain flour last week and has no idea what to do with them.
 
I found this page of recipes for homemade cereals intriguing and made a variation on the corn flakes.  Allow me to note that this page also links to a recipe for homemade Cheerios, which involves shaping each individual Cheerio (does anyone use Cheerio in the singular?) by hand and making a little hole with a toothpick.  I want to make fun of this recipe, but I am all too afraid I will then wake up with an irresistible compulsion to make my own cheerios.  You know what happened with the rejuvelac and cashew cheese, don't you?

Plantain Almond Flakes
 
2 scant tablespoons plantain flour
2 generous tablespoons almond flour
1 or 2 pinches salt
1 to 4 pinches sugar

Mix together the flours and seasonings with your fingers.  Sprinkle about one tablespoon the mixture onto the bottom of a non-stick or cast iron skillet.  There should be barely enough to cover the bottom. Wet your fingers and shake water over the surface of the flour so that it is evenly soaked but not disturbed.  A spray bottle might make this easier.  Heat the mixture so that it dries out and begins to toast.  Flip over to break up and toast on the other side.  Allow the skillet skillet to cool before starting the next batch.

Spinach with Pumpkin seeds Vegan Passover

Yes, yes, I hear you.  You need a vegan peysekh entrée; you need something without matzo, gebrokhts, or wheat in any form, and you also need to make something for your daughter-in-law who can’t eat potatoes, and your other daughter-in-law who can’t have tree nuts.  I know last year you had to make four entrees, and indeed, the four vegan entrees of Passover may well be ready take their place in the Hagaddah, alongside the cups, sons, questions, varieties of redemption, and other paschal tetrads, because what could there possibly be that everyone could eat that is also as amazingly delicious as the feast of freedom deserves to be? 

Aha, you know you have come to the right place.

I tried this first only two years ago, but now I can not imagine peysekh without it  The recipe is adapted from the Ghanian Spinach Stew with Sweet Plantains that appeared in the Times in March of 2015.  It immediately caught my eye for a few reasons.  First, it satisfies all the conditions above (as adapted herewith), and that by itself is worth remarking.  Second, I really like how the pumpkin seed cream makes the dish into a rich sort of vegan creamed spinach or shag panir.  Of course, I love the idea plantains as a side dish for peysekh (that’s three), and fourth (another paschal tetrad!),  I was also excited about the chance to use smoked paprika, which I had never tried.  As it happened, my kosher paprika emporium does not have smoked paprika for Passover, even though they have every other kind of paprika in the universe, so I ended up using sweet and hot paprika.  The recipe in the Times also called for fish sauce.  I am thinking some toasted norimaki might add the desired scent of the sea.

Peysekh Spinach with Pumpkin Seeds

½ cup coconut oil, or mix of coconut and vegetable oil

1 medium onion,

5 - 9 cloves garlic

1 pinky-sized piece of ginger, (based on a medium-sized woman’s pinky, about 2 tablespoons after chopping)

1 habanero chile, or other type of chile (If you are on a totally nightshade-free diet, omit the chile and add ground black pepper).

Kosher salt

2 ½ pounds plum tomatoes, peeled and chopped

¾ cup pumpkin seeds

 2 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika or a mix of sweet and hot paprika

1 pound spinach*

Dice the onion, mince or crush the garlic, and chop the ginger and the chile.  Clean and chop the spinach.

Cook the onions, garlic, ginger, and chile in the oil. and salt. Stir and fry , until the onions begin to color. Add the tomatoes and some salt. Bring to a boil, lower heat to a simmer and partly cover the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has thickened, about 25 minutes, add paprika and simmer another two minutes. 

Pulse the pumpkin seeds to a fine powder in a food processor

Stir water into the pumpkin seed powder, a tablespoon at a time, until it is a thin paste. Spoon the pumpkin seed paste onto the tomato sauce, and spread it out. Cover the pan, cook for a few minutes, and stir.

Add water as needed, and increase heat to a boil. Stir in the spinach, and cook until soft. Add salt to taste, and serve with home-fried sweet plantains.

*over-wintered spinach is available briefly right around peysekh.  It is the most sublime spinach in the world.  Look for it at your farmers’ market.

The original recipe suggests serving the spinach with boiled plantains.  I love this idea, both because plantains seem to be an ideal foil for the spicy saucy spinach and because they provide a comforting alternative for folks who can’t eat too many potatoes or nightshades, for whom peysekh presents a formidable challenge.  To my taste, the boiled plantains were delicious when they were piping hot out of the pot, but aggressively bland very shortly thereafter.  When I make this next time, I am going to try home-frying the boiled plantains.

UPDATE:
I cooked the spinach in advance because I had five pounds of raw spinacsh taking over my kitchen, and that works just fine, possibly even better than the original method.