r/JewishCooking

Hi everyone!

Today I tried making cholent for the first time. My recipe was the following: first, without any oil, brown the meat so that all the foam comes out. Remove the meat, add oil to the pot, and fry the onions until golden. Return the meat to the pot and let it brown together with the onions, making sure the meat sits on top of the onions. Then add the beans, potatoes, pearl barley, honey, spices, and eggs. Pour in the broth, bring everything to a boil, then reduce the heat to the absolute minimum and let it simmer for 12–18 hours.

Since this was my first attempt, I decided to start early in the morning so it would be finished by night. I didn’t want to leave it cooking overnight for Shabbat, as is traditionally done, because I was worried about possible accidents. I followed the instructions carefully. At one point I had to add more water because the liquid was thickening too quickly.

About five hours after I had reduced the heat, I noticed a burning smell. I ran a spoon along the bottom of the pot and realized that the entire bottom had burned. I immediately stopped cooking, transferred everything I could salvage into another bowl, and discovered a layer of burnt residue almost 3 cm thick on the bottom of the pot. It took me an hour and a half to scrape it all off.

The cholent itself ended up with a noticeable burnt flavor, although I actually liked the individual ingredients. I didn’t throw it away for the reason that I didn’t want to think of my health but rather to make sure I don’t die from hunger, so I decided to live with the smoky taste, which I compare to coffee. So now I’m calling it my “coffee cholent.”

Anyway, I’d like to learn from my mistakes so this doesn’t happen again. What could have caused it? Why does a cholent burn in the first place? It was simmering over very low heat (2 out of 9 on an electric stove), and there always seemed to be enough liquid. Is it possible that the pearl barley settled to the bottom and started burning? Or maybe the onions, which were supposed to form a protective layer, were the culprit? How can I prevent this from happening next time? For the reason of me being a poor student that embarrassingly
still doesn’t control the world‘s economy, I don’t own a slow cooker or any fancy equipment, just a regular pot with a regular lid.

Wanted to try the King Arthur Big Book of Bread challah recipe!

When I went to braid it though I kind of accidentally made really long strands and so I knew the end result would be a really long skinny loaf of bread. So I doubled it up and put it in a loaf pan to bake it more like a Babka. Here’s the final product!

I adapted this salad from Adeena Sussman's cookbook "Zariv" by substituting some ingredients. This lentil, mango, and pea salad is greater than the sum of its parts and is quite tasty--a very refreshing dish during these hot summer days. Make sure to use black beluga lentils, which stay firm even after being cooked.

I am in the United States and so it is hard to find ripe mangos. But you can ripen them more quickly by putting an unripe mango in a brown paper bag with a banana or apple, for a couple of days. A ripe mango should give slightly when you squeeze it.

1.25 cups black beluga lentils, rinsed

12 oz green peas

6 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon harissa

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 ripe mango, cut into small cubes

1 red bell pepper, diced

1/2 cup diced onion

1 cup mint leaves, thinly sliced

1. Fill a pot halfway with generously salted water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the lentils and cook until al dente, about 15 minutes.

2. Add the peas, return the pot to a boil, and cook for 1-2 minutes until they are tender. Drain and rinse the lentils and peas, and let cool for 5 minutes.

3. In a bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, honey, mustard, harissa, salt, and pepper until everything is well combined. Add the lentils, peas, mango, bell pepper, onion, and mint and stir so the salad is coated with the dressing. Enjoy!

Bread forms chosen and executed by my 3 yr old 🐌🌹🍩🍩

Shalom! I hope everyone's week has been treating them well so far. Some of my gentile loved ones have taken me up on my offer to join me for Sabbath dinner, so I wanted to try my hand at some extra special itty bitty challahs. Any tips, tricks or critiques would be much appreciated, please. Toda Raba!

EDIT: Recipe is here

I made the challah in advance (sub coconut water for regular water, add chocolate chips, and use rum simple syrup instead of an egg wash in your preferred challah recipe).

I added fresh bananas to the cubed challah and covered the baking dish with tin foil for the first 25 minutes per suggestions on the original recipe (see comment below). Greased the baking dish with coconut oil.

Recipe tastes like a cross between eggy French toast and bread pudding. Made about 12 servings.

Maple syrup isn’t necessary, but it’s decadently welcome.

I just like the texture and they're deceptively filling

My girlfriend and her family are Jewish so I wanted to make a good impression with this challah. After lots of lurking here trying to find a foolproof recipe, it worked out pretty well! Buzzing 🤩

Made my first challah! My partner is Jewish and I’d like to teach myself to prepare a few Jewish dishes that he doesn’t typically cook. I tried to make a challah for the first time and it turned out denser than I’d hoped. Any advice on how to get the lighter, airier texture? Thanks!

This is made with King Arthur Gluten Free Bread flour

Shabbat Shalom

Here’s the recipe:

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/gluten-free-challah-recipe