S.5 # 9 | Kosher it up!

In this yummy episode, I recount my experience at chef Chanie Apfelbaum's kosher cooking demonstration. I share the knowledge I acquired regarding cooking kosher meals and I sprinkle some useful information about food blessings and the story of Purim. Below you will find three complete recipes that I mention in the episode, as well as names of Apfelbaum's cookbooks and ways to find this chef on social media.

Chef Chanie Apfelbaum's cookbooks:

Millennial Kosher

Totally Kosher

website: https://busyinbrooklyn.com

Instagram: @busyinbrooklyn

For my photos from the demonstration, visit my Instagram and TikTok @lovetohealpodcast

Recipes:

Jeweled Hummus:

Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic

¼ cup + 1 Tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp kosher salt

½ tsp cumin

1 cup tahini paste

½ cup ice water

2 cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained

Toppings:

3 Tbsp each: raw pistachios & slivered almonds

1 large carrot, julienned

1 Tbsp grapeseed oil

2 Tbsp grapeseed oil

2 Tbsp sugar

Juice of 1 orange

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, thinly sliced

¼ tsp each cardamom, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon

½ tsp salt

3 Tbsp pomegranate seeds

Rose petals, zaatar, olive oil (optional)

Instructions:

1. Hummus: Blend garlic, lemon juice, salt, cumin, tahini, and saffron water in  a food processor until smooth. While running, add ice water. Blend chickpeas until creamy. Adjust seasoning and consistency as needed.
2. Toppings: Saute carrots in grapeseed oil for 5 minutes, then add sugar and orange juice, cooking until glazed. Caramelize onions in olive oil for 20 minutes, then stir in spices and salt.
3. Assemble: Spread hummus in a shallow dish, creating a well in the center. Top with onions, carrots, nuts, and pomegranate seeds. Garnish as desired.

Arayes Board:

Ingredients:

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic

½ cup parsley

1 ½ lbs ground beef

1 tsp each: cumin, allspice, salt

½ tsp pepper

6 pitas

Grapeseed oil

Instructions:

Blend onion, garlic, and parsley in a food processor. Mix with meat and spices. Fill each pita half with ⅓ cup of meat mixture, flattening evenly. Grill cut side down for 5 minutes, then 5 minutes per side. Finish in 400 degrees F oven if needed, until meat reaches 160 degrees F.

Serve with hummus, tahini, Israeli pickles, Israeli salad, red cabbage slaw, sumac onions, harissa, and amba

Marbled Halva Mousse 

Ingredients:

8 oz whipped topping, thawed

½ cup tahini   

3 Tbsp silan or honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

Sea salt, to taste

¼ cup chocolate chips

Shredded halva, pistachios, raspberries (option for topping)

Instructions:

Whip topping until stiff peaks form

Gently fold in tahini, silan, vanilla, and salt

Melt chocolate chips and fold into half of the mousse

Pipe vanilla and chocolate mousse into cups, either side by side in one bag for a marbled effect or layered separately

Top with halva, pistachios and raspberries 

Transcript

Last night I had the opportunity to attend a really wonderful cooking demonstration by the famous chef Chanie Apfelbaum. She is known for her best-selling cookbooks Millennial Kosher & Totally Kosher, as well as her social media channel called “Busy in Brooklyn”. The event was organized to benefit Cleveland Kosher Food pantry, which I knew nothing about. It turns out that this organization has been around for over 40 years and helps 6000 people in Cleveland monthly by providing fresh, healthy, kosher food to those in need. I was especially moved by the Food Pantry’s director’s opening speech who spoke of nourishing not just people’s bodies but also souls. The volunteers at the pantry are very kind and they care for the needy with compassion and dignity. Beyond food distribution, they offer support and friendship to those in need, creating a community of generous volunteers and donors that bring the joy of Jewish holidays to many in our city by delivering holiday bags, blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashanah, reading the Megillah on Purim, and lighting the Menorah on Chanukah. 

After this and other welcome words, we all read a prayer together to honor those who have lost their lives in the war in Israel and for the hostages that have yet to return home. Then, it was time for the cooking demonstration. Chanie prepared 3 dishes that really wowed us all with her artistic culinary vision. Because it is soon Purim, the recipes she chose were influenced by Persian cuisine (the Purim story takes place in ancient Persia). First up was the jeweled hummus with saffron, garlic, cumin, lemon juice and a generous portion of tahini. While cooking, Chanie gave us countless tips and tricks for everything from the best cutting techniques to picking and storing ingredients. Now, what made the hummus special and different was really the toppings and presentation. The toppings included sauteed onions and caramelized carrots in orange juice, sprinkled with pomegranate seeds, toasted pistachios and almonds. Chanie explained that much of Jewish food is brown, just think of gefilte fish, matzo balls, brisket…so what she likes to do is add color and more texture to every dish. Presentation is really big for her; she mentioned the famous saying that “we eat with our eyes first”. Then she moved on to cook the arayes, which consists of a ground-beef stuffed pita and all kinds of pickled sides. Again, with Purim approaching, the triangular shape is a symbol of Haman's hat and a way to celebrate the resilience of the Jewish people. So the stuffed pitas were cut into triangles and grilled on all sides. I am definitely going to attempt to replicate this dish at home!

Next up was the dessert! Chanie prepared a beautiful marbled halva mousse sprinkled with freeze dried rose petals! This was truly one-of-a-kind dessert that I probably will not make because I am lazy when it comes to making sweets but if you’re into slightly more complex and unique recipes, and you like halva, you should give it a try! I will share the recipes in the description of this episode. And if you would like to see the photos from the demonstration, head to my instagram or tiktok! 

Now I'd like to share some of my takeaways from this event. Being new to the kosher diet, first, I really appreciated being amongst over a hundred other jewish women looking for new and exciting recipes to add to their trusted repertoire. Second, seeing Chanie cook in such a joyful and playful manner that she did, made kosher cooking seem not just easy but also fun! We truly are lucky in today’s day and age to have access to so many great and authentic ingredients, such as date honey - this one was new to me! I guess in Israel date honey is more popular than bee honey since dates grow there abundantly. This honey was used in the halva dessert by the way. And we have so many dairy alternatives today that we didn't’ before. Since the main dish of the evening was a meat dish, the dessert had to be dairy-free. Chanie recommends using coconut products as a substitute for dairy milk and whipping cream for instance. She explained something very interesting about coconut oil, too. Some people don’t like the taste of coconut or maybe you just don’t want that flavor to come through in some dishes. In this case, she recommends making sure you buy refined coconut oil as opposed to virgin or cold-pressed oil. Since I was sitting next to our rabbi’s daughter, I also learned a few things while chatting with her. For example, when we were handed small portions of Chanie’s cooking to taste, we were told that we didn’t need to wash hands before eating the pita bread, which I didn't understand at first. But it turned out that since the pita was made in such a way that could be considered as a cookie or cracker, it was no longer in the category of bread and therefore didn’t need the bread blessing or the hand washing. Typically, we must always wash hands before eating any type of bread - this is done to cleanse ourselves of any sense of entitlement, arrogance, or complacency. This ritual and the prayer to follow is a way of saying the meal we're about to eat is holy and we are preparing ourselves for that holiness. Bread is considered holy in Judaism because it symbolizes sustenance and nourishment, representing God's provision for his people. So then my friend explained to me which blessings we did need to say; there were several because the dish included fruits and vegetables and grains. Everything was super yummy! And after the demonstration concluded, we all headed into the lobby to take photos with Chanie and get our cookbooks signed, which of course I did! I bought her book Totally Kosher and got it signed and took a picture with her - again you can see all that on Instagram and TikTok. 

Once I got home I started flipping through the cookbook, and let me tell you, this is the most beautiful cookbook I have personally seen, and I own a bunch! Since Chanie is also a photographer, the photos of her cooking are out of this world. Every page of the cookbook is a feast for the eyes. I bookmarked a few recipes that I’d like to try out, but honestly, I want to try making them all! They all sound and look absolutely exquisite.

If you are interested in Kosher cooking or are just looking to try something new, I highly recommend checking this chef out. You can find all the relevant links in the description of the episode. Thanks for listening! I will leave you today with the blessing titled “A song of ascents” that we recited before the cooking demonstration. Enjoy and until next time!

A song of ascents.

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip—
    he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you—
    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all harm—
    he will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going
    both now and forevermore.