Grünkern Soup

Grünkern Soup

Esther G.
This yekkisheh (German-Jewish) stew uses grünkern — green spelt. It is simple, but delicious.
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Origin Germany, Washington Heights, NY, USA
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • 8 oz grünkern
  • 2 quarts water
  • 1 large onion chopped roughly
  • 4 cloves garlic sliced
  • 4 marrow bones
  • 1½ lbs beef cut into chunks
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
 

  • Mix all of the ingredients in a large pot. Stir and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to simmer.
  • Leave cooking from at least Friday midday. (Grünkern requires a long cooking time.)

Notes

  • The consistency should be more liquidy than chulent, but not as thin as a soup. Adjust water before Shabbat, as needed.
  • If making into a full meal, use more beef.
  • I typically make this in the crock-pot.
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Chulent

Chulent

Joel HaberJoel Haber
This is the recipe that I grew up with. Though mymom didn’t like to eat chulent, she was kind enough to make it for therest of us. And much of what my mother cooked for holidays and Shabbat wasbased on what her mother (from Galicia, the region that spanned southernPoland, Austria-Hungary, and Ukraine) cooked. This is the basic recipe, butover the years I have made numerous substitutions and additions at differenttimes. See the notes for a few options.
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Origin Poland, United States
Servings 8

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup barley
  • 1 cup beans (any variety or a mix)
  • 2 onions peeled, and cut into quarters
  • 3-4 medium potatoes cleaned and cut into chunks (optional: peeled)
  • 3-4 marrow bones
  • 1½-2¼ lbs beef (or 3 lbs flanken on the bones, or a combo) cut into chunks
  • 2 tsp salt

Instructions
 

  • My mother insisted on placing the ingredients into her slow-cooker in the following order: barley, beans, onions, potatoes, bones and beef. Sprinkle the salt and pepper on top and add water to cover. She claimed the meat flavor would then permeate the barley better.
  • Bottom line, No fancy steps here. Just add all of the ingredients to the pot and cook overnight, using any standard method (slow-cooker, stovetop, or oven).

Notes

  • Common in America are the use of barbecue sauce or ketchup for flavoring.
  • Some use beer in place of all or part of the water. I don’t taste a noticeable difference.
  • I have replaced barley with buckwheat (kasha) as the (equally traditional) grain. The result is slightly lighter, a bit sweeter, oddly somewhat smoky, and gluten free for those who need it.
  • Add in a peeled turnip, cut into chunks, and/or 1-2 chopped carrots. Both will add a bit of sweetness into the overall dish.
  • For an earthier flavor, a handful of mushrooms, or some rehydrated and cut up dried wild mushrooms can be a good addition.
  • All-beef hotdogs in addition to, or in place of part of the meat add a nice smoky taste.
  • Popular “bonus food” additions include a kishke or small potato kugel cooked inside the chulent. Wrap in foil and puncture with a fork before resting on top of the stew.
  • Other possible flavorings include: garlic cloves or powder, black pepper, paprika, sugar, honey or prunes.
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Shulva Shabbati

Shulva Shabbati

Shirin A.
This dish comes from Esfahan, in Persia. Other Persians might call it shorba, but we have always said "shulva."
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Origin Esfahan, Persia
Servings 8

Ingredients
  

  • 1 Chicken whole, cleaned
  • 3 tbsp basmati rice
  • 2 tbsp yellow split peas
  • 1 medium onion
  • A few cloves garlic
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • salt
  • pepper
  • turmeric
  • cumin
  • ½-¾ cup jasmine rice
  • ½ cup dry white beans soaked overnight
  • water

Instructions
 

  • Mix together the basmati rice, split peas, ½ of the onion (chopped), 1 garlic clove, olive oil, salt, pepper, turmeric, cumin.
  • Stuff the chicken and sew it closed to keep stuffing inside.
  • Fill large pot 2/3 of the way with water and bring to boil. Put stuffed chicken, white beans and the other half of the onion (unchopped) into pot. Let it boil, skimming foam from the surface.
  • When no more foam rises to the surface, add jasmine rice, salt, pepper, 2-3 garlic cloves, turmeric, cumin. Cover and cook on low overnight.

Notes

  • Serve the stuffed chicken separately from the soup. Chicken is kept whole, served on a shallow dish, opened a bit to show stuffing. Soup is served in bowls.
  •   Option: Add whole eggs into the soup when soup is half cooked, and cook on blech/plata overnight.
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Skhena

Skhena

Moshe M.
A Moroccan Shabbat stew, filtered through London tastes.
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Origin England, Morocco
Servings 8

Ingredients
  

  • 2-3 Onions chopped
  • 3-4 cloves garlic crushed
  • 1 head garlic kept whole
  • turmeric
  • paprika
  • cumin
  • sugar or honey
  • 1 ½ lbs beef (preferably well-marbled)
  • 4-5 potatoes and/or sweet potatoes
  • 2-4 dates
  • 6 eggs optional, but highly recommended
  • 1 tin chickpeas optional
  • 2-3 marrow bones optional, but highly recommended
  • 1 cup rice
  • 1 cup barley

Instructions
 

  • Fry the onions in a frying pan large enough to accommodate the meat (I use a wok for this) in a bit of oil until soft, then add the crushed 3 garlic cloves and generous amounts of the spices to the onions, together with the sugar/honey.
  • When the sugar has melted, add the meat and braise it, as this seals the meat for the long cooking time.
  • Prepare the pot (a crock pot also works for this) with the potatoes/sweet potatoes, the head of garlic, the dates, the bones and the chickpeas. Over this put the meat and spices.
  • Rinse the barley and place in a soup bag. The rice should be rinsed and cooked until "al dente", when you bite into it, there should be a small circle of white in the rice. Once it is at this stage, place it in a second soup bag. Add the two soup bags and the eggs to the pot and cover with water.
  • On Shabbat, the rice and barley are served separately, as are the eggs, and the meat, chickpeas, potatoes, etc are all brought out on one plate.

Notes

  • When the skhena is brought out, the potatoes and the rice should be brown. If they are still white, then there was too much water in the pot.
  • The rice must be cooked to al dente if you are putting it in a bag, otherwise it becomes a soccer ball.
  • Alternatively, you can just throw the barley and rice into the pot, but many Moroccans will judge you for this.
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Hungarian Sólet

Sólet
Sólet

Hungarian Sólet

Joshua P.

In Hungary, sólet may be eaten during the week as well, so this recipe features both a “weekday” version and a slow-cooked Shabbat version.
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Servings 4

Ingredients

  

  • 16 oz Lima Beans
  • 16 oz Pearl Barley
  • 16 oz Cannelini or Kidney Beans or a prepackaged “cholent mix”
  • 1 lb Smoked Beef usually shin
  • 1 Goose Quarter leg and thigh, preferably smoked
  • 2 Medium Onions diced
  • 5 Garlic Cloves minced
  • 1 tbsp Good quality sweet paprika (or Hungarian paprika paste)
  • 1 tbsp Salt
  • 1 Dash of Pepper
  • 3-4 tbsp Rendered goose or chicken fat (or Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
  • 3-4 Eggs (In their shells)

Instructions

 

  • Cover and soak beans overnight if preparing on stovetop or in oven. Skip this step if using slow cooker.
  • Sautee onions and garlic in melted fat or oil in a Dutch oven or large pot, over a low flame.
  • Add in beans and liquid they were soaked in. (“This can be a point of contention. Alternatively, drain most and cover with clean water.”)
  • Place meat on top of beans and then add eggs.
  • Add water until covered. Bring the mixture to a low boil.
  • If making for Shabbat, transfer to a slow cooker set to Low for the night. If making for weekday use, cook covered on the stovetop over a low flame for two hours.
  • Before serving, remove and shell the eggs, and slice them in half.
  • For the weekday stovetop version, uncover the pot and put into the oven on broil/grill for about five minutes to crisp the top layer.
  • When serving either version, serve the sliced eggs alongside the stew.

Notes

  • The ideal meat blend is beef and smoked goose. Smoked turkey thigh is a decent substitute. Kabanos (dry smoked sausage) also works.
  • If no smoked meat is available, add more plain beef plus 3-4 drops of liquid smoke.
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