The traditional Friday night dinner – a calorific nightmare.

With the Jewish Holi(y?)day season coming up, our stomachs are gearing up for what lies ahead. Food. Food. Food. And more

Food.

During the year, we are used to feasting every week over the Shabbat (Sabbath). However, during the upcoming month – we endure an extra 2 days a week of intensive eating, not that I’m complaining.

But getting back to the lovely Friday night meal...I thought I’d talk about this nutritious-nightmare we face on a weekly basis.

To start off, we eat our meal late at night. It consists of about 5 courses. We start the meal with drinking wine on an empty stomach. We also usually go straight to sleep after the meal, only to wake up the next day and do it all again.

And here’s something you’ve probably known but chosen to ignore. This delightful dinner easily contains about a days worth of calories or kilojoules (assuming a normal adult needs 2000 calories/day or 8000 kilojoules)

Let me break it down..

1 glass of wine – 109 cal

2 slices of sweet challah – 343 cal

2 tbs chummus (there is no such thing as challah without chummus) – 74 cal

1 piece of gefilte fish – 73 cal

1 spoon of chrein – 10 cal

1 tbsp mayo – 148 cal (being a little generous with the mayo)

½ cup of  garden salad – not much, but watch out for any salad croutons, nuts, oily/mayonnaise-y dressings..

1 bowl of chicken soup – 153 cal

1 matzohball – 84 cal

Handful of soup noodles – 90 cal

1 piece of roast chicken – 294 cal

1 piece of kugel – 250 cal

1/3 cup tzimmes – 150 cal

2 scoops of pareve israeli bright coloured ice cream – 200 cal

A whopping total of………..

1978 calories.. (in Australian terms – 8307 kilojoules)

Yikes

Ok, that might be a slight exaggeration. But pretty close to the truth as well. Especially if you drink a few more glasses of wine, and eat a few more pieces of challah..

The meals over the holidays closely resemble this traditional Friday night meal, with a few exceptions. The challah is round. We dip it in honey. We eat weird fruits, and lots of sweet honey-like foods. But essentially, its quite similar.

So here are a few tips on how to take it easy over the Holiday season and give your stomach a break.

-          Try to have one slice of challah, and save room for other food

-          If spreading a dip on the challah – spread thinly

-          Avoid having soup noodles/niblets/matzoh balls/kreplach in your soup

-          If you can handle it, leave out one course at each meal. E.g. skip fish course or dessert. Actually, it’s probably a good idea to generally skip dessert, or just stick to fruit.

-          If you have a choice of fried or baked fish, choose the baked variety.

-          Aim to have only one serving of the foods that are being offered

-          Watch out for alcohol intake, and on that note...leave out any soft drinks. Water is awesome

-          If there are a choice of a few salads – choose the ones that without a mayonnaise based dressing.

-          And probably the best advice – only eat with interesting people. Boredom at a meal usually leads to overcompensating with eating. Better to keep your mouth busy with talking.

On that note, enjoy yourself – don’t over think it too much or you might drive yourself crazy!

Pome·gran·ate [pom-gran-it, pom-i-, puhm-] a chambered, many-seeded, globose fruit, having a tough, usually red rind and surmounted by a crown of calyx lobes, the edible portion consisting of pleasantly acid flesh developed from the outer seed coat.

The Jewish New Year is fast approaching. As with every Jewish festival – food plays a pivotal roll, Rosh Hashana being no exception. In fact, it is probably one of the holidays that brings with it the most symbols, many relating to blessings for a prosperous, healthy new year. Some foods included in this holiday are honey cake, apple dipped in honey, the head of a fish (my favourite), round challot, tsimmes (see blog post: http://rantingsfromaranga.blogspot.com/2011/02/tzimmes-tsim-is-also-tsimmes-jewish.html), and the not-so-humble pomegranate. As September rolls around, the markets in Israel are bursting with pomegranates. I was extremely disheartened when my first pomegranate I purchased in this country turned out to be black inside. 

A little bit of history...

Here’s a cool little Greek myth about the pomegranate

“…In the story of Persephone, daughter of the harvest goddess Demeter, Hades, the lord of the underworld, kidnapped the beautiful maiden. Because she ate a few pomegranate seeds before being rescued, she had to spend several months every year in the underworld with him. According to the myth, that’s when the earth was forced to endure winter…” Intriguing..

So what is the symbolism of eating pomegranates (or in Hebrew Rimonim) on the Jewish New Year?

To start off, we generally eat new fruit on the second night of the festival in honour of the new year. Because pomegranates are in season at this time of year, they are often one of the new fruits we enjoy. Growing up, I was always excited for the fruits that would show up on our dinner table. Celebrating the new year in Australia meant that our seasonal fruit differ to those of the Holy Land. However, we needed not to despair as pomegranates are always imported to Australia from Israel (at a generous price of course) specifically for the occasion. Aside from being in season, in the Torah (Bible), Israel is highly praised from its pomegranates.

Going into more of a symbolic approach, pomegranates apparently contain 613 seeds – representing the desire we should have in the new year to fulfill the 613 mitzvot commanded to us by G-d. As convenient as that parallel sounds, I challenge you to count the seeds in the pomegranate and see if this number is really correct.

The abundance of seeds also symbolize fertility, while the sweetness alludes to having a sweet new year. 

A Spot of Nutrition...

It is unsurprising to find that the illustrious pomegranate with its ruby red coating and glistening red seeds inside is brimming with nutrients. It has been known to rank as one of the top “superfoods”. Many people assume that super foods are some sort of magical food that when consumed will provide us with all the nutrition we need in one go. Wrong. A super food is really just a food that has an exceptionally large amount of certain nutrient(s). Some examples are acai berries, salmon, avocado, beetroot and yoghurt. The reason pomegranates merit such a name is because of their health benefits they offer such as improving heart health, protection against prostate cancer (lucky for us girls), delaying the progression of arthritis, assistance with diabetes, lowering cholesterol and blood pressure, reducing the risk of Alzheimers, reducing plaque formation, helping with diarrhoea (wow that was a mouthful!) and the big one – the massive amount of antioxidants they contain. Antioxidants are really good at reducing the risk of cancer by fighting off unstable little molecules in our body called “free radicals”.

Check out the nutrition information for pomegranates:

Nutrition Facts
whole fruit, 8cm diameter, 154g (88g) oz g
(What's CD) CD:
Calories 70      ( Kilojoules 290 )
		% Daily Value*
Total Fat	0.2 g	0%
Saturated Fat	0 g	0%
Trans Fatty Acids	0 g
Cholesterol	0 mg	0%
Sodium	4 mg	0%
Carbohydrate	11.9 g	4%
Sugars	11.9 g
Dietary Fibre	5.6 g	23%
Protein	1.7 g
Calcium	12.3 mg
Potassium	184.8 mg
Note: A dash indicates no data is available.

Impressive? If you want to try something different this year

jazz up your Rosh Hashana Table with this Pomegranate Sangria..

Ingredients:

·                         1 L pomegranate juice

·                         2 cups papaya or mango juice (substitute apple if necessary)

·                         1 orange

·                         6-8 strawberries

·                         2 kiwis

·                         1 mango or papaya

·                         1/2 cup sugar

Preparation:

Mix juices and sugar until sugar dissolves. Wash orange and berries and slice into thin slices. Remove mango or papaya skin and cut fruit into chunks. Remove kiwi skin and cut into thick slices. Place all fruit into juice and let flavors meld in fridge for 2-3 hours or overnight before serving.

One word of advice: pomegranate wine = not good.

And just in case you were wondering the best way to seed a pomegranate ...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpiLZHlXErM


Happy New Year to All!!

Hook•ah [hoo k-uh] noun A tobacco pipe of near Eastern origin with a long, flexible tube by which the smoke is drawn through a jar of water and thus cooled.

Before delving any further I must confess that since my residence in Israel (and the few weeks pre-arrival) it would appear that all my blog posts have been related to Israeli/Sephardic food. Being surrounded by this refreshingly foreign cuisine has left me with no choice but to write about it. Apologies to those who miss the ol’ Ashkenazi, European Jewish cuisine – it will be returning soon…watch this space.

And now back to what I was originally talking about.

Otherwise known as nargileh (נרגילה) by the Israelies, sheesha (شيشة‎) if you’re Egyptian and kalian for anyone that comes from Persia. And just for the hell of it, here a bunch of other names for it: chillim, borry, arhile, galyan, gudugudaa and my favourite – hubble bubble.

It may not be technically considered a food or a beverage, but it certainly is treated like it. Whether it accompanies a solo antiquated Sabra or a group of young Israeli teenagers, it is hard to miss this symbolic waterpipe making an appearance in the streets, bars, parks and beaches of Israel. Personally, I’m not the biggest fan of the device  but it still manages to fascinate me.

A little bit of history…

The origins of the Nargileh traces all the way back to Pakistan, India. The word “Nargileh” is derived from the Persian word nārghile, meaning coconut, possibly because early hookahs were made from coconut shells. In fact, these ancient hookahs hardly compare to the elaborate ones you see today (of course I know this because I was around a few 100 years ago). Their original use was mainly for smoking opium and hashish. Once the hookah rocked up in Turkey it became extremely popular amongst the upper class and intellectuals. Its design became more complex and beautiful. Hookah started to enter coffee shops where the waiter who prepared the hookah required a lot of skill. People also started to use them to smoke “tombeik” – a dark type of tobacco, and rules were developed around nargile etiquette. The tobacco (sheesha) is generally soaked in honey to make it moist and sticky.

In today’s’ world, while there is a range of different hookah etiquettes, it has managed to spread all over the world and is essentially a social activity.

A spot of Nutrition…

One of the most common questions people tend to ask about nargileh in terms of health, is whether or not it is comparable to smoking.

So.

Is it?

Good question.

One thing is for sure – smoking tobacco through a hookah pipe definitely ain’t safe. A lot of people think that the water used in the pipe captures the toxins from the tobacco, preventing the smoker from being exposed to them. What actually happens, is that the water cools the smoke down, making it feel less harsh. But cool smoke doesn’t really equal healthy or safe smoke.

Here’s another fact. In one smoking session, the average hookah smoker inhales the equivalent of roughly 100 cigarettes. There is a whole plethora of negative aspects to the hookah pipe (full of toxins, leads to addiction, linked to oral cancer, spreads infectious disease, dangers with secondhand smoke, blablabla – refer to this: http://www.who.int/tobacco/global_interaction/tobreg/Waterpipe%20recommendation_Final.pdf

 If you are interested)... however, as I continuously ask in this blog – is there anything beneficial, or “nutritious” (even though I wouldn't necessarily dub a nargileh pipe as nutrition).

Herbal Hookah is an option you could go for if you want to avoid the nicotine. They’re infused with natural flavour like peach, mint, raspberry, apple and blackberry. No tobacco. Just the experience. Simply divine. Apparently some herbal varieties can be used to treat certain illnesses. At the same time, the exposure to tars, charcoal and carcinogens still remains.

Bottom line? It probably isn’t very good for you. I’m guessing that wasn’t something you didn’t know..

Israel: bringing Jewish cuisine to life

This blog has been slightly on the quiet side over the past few months. This is due to the fact that I have (temporarily?) migrated overseas to the place where Jewish cuisine is at its best. That’s right folks - I am currently residing in Israel. So to deviate from nutrition for a little bit, I thought I’d focus purely on culinary delights, food, eateries and whatnot. I know, I know, living in Israel and talking about food? Does it get any less original? Apologies, but as they say on this side of town: "בטאבון - Bete-avon!"

 

Coming from Australia, where majority of food joints are off limits, living in Jerusalem has been pretty overwhelming in terms of the range of food it offers. So far I have noticed a few themes:

1. Chummus. Or hummus, take your pick. Are you surprised? I wasn’t. It becomes expected that whatever you eat is served with a side of chummus. Chummus to Israelies is what Ketchup is to Americans, and what Vegemite is to Aussies. To make things interesting, there are different versions of this chickpea dip. Spicy chummus, chummus with tachina, zataar sprinkled on top, chummus with matbucha, and apparently there is such thing as peanut-butter flavoured chummus, which I have yet to discover.

2. An overwhelming amount of Italian restaurants. For every chummus eatery don’t be surprised to find some form of Italian food place around the corner. Israel has proven to be quite the expert when it comes to pasta, pizza and ice cream. This becomes a problem for any lactose-intolerant individuals out there, but for those who adore cheese and milk - it wasn't dubbed the "land of milk and honey" for no reason (mm..corny, I know).

3. On the same dairy flavoured token, yoghurt is another art form in this country. Not only will you find flavoured yoghurt sold with a variety of toppings including sugared pecans, muesli and chalva, there is also the well known “Fro-yo” (frozen yoghurt) machines that magically combine your favourite ingredients into one smooth scoop of yoghurt. My favourite Fro-Yo combo goes something like this: Banana-date-chalva-sugared pecans-white chocolate-coconut-muesli. Yum.

4. Shuk-flavour. The shuk has become my second home. Also known as the “Machaneh Yehuda Market”, the shuk is comprised of 2 main streets (undercover and open) with little winding alleyways sneaking up on you as you try to push yourself through the hubbub of the market. The shuk is like a concentrated version of Israels cuisine. It boasts fresh fruit and vegetables (albeit coated with cigarette smoke from the vendors and lots of hungry, happy bugs), sweet, chocolatey cakes and pastries, freshly baked breads, spicy salads and dips, kubeh, an abundance of cheeses, nuts and dried fruit, gummies, iced beverages and spices. You’ll also find tiny little cafes, bars and restaurants that are havens within the shuk and great little spots to people-watch as the market does tend to attract the interesting people of Jerusalem.

So there’s just a few of my observations…more to come…

The chronicles of the Jewish sensitive stomach

A typical conversation at the Friday night dinner table may go something a little like this:

Person A:  Oy, I feel so bloated, my IBS is driving me crazy, I’ll just stick to boiled chicken and water tonight.

Person B: I know what you mean! My son is allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, nectarines, rice, cheese, bread and mandarins. I’m too scared to send him to school in case he develops a reaction from one of the other kids lunches.

Person C: I don’t know what any of you are complaining about. I’ve had Crohns disease for 7 years and just found out last week that I’m also fructose, lactose and gluten intolerant. No challah for me tonight.

Competition amongst Jews is common. Talking about food amongst Jews is even more common (this is starting to sound like an add for MasterCard). Competing over who has more of a food intolerance or gastrointestinal issue combines those two together. Amongst my friends and family, you name it and someone will have it. Coeliac disease, fructose intolerance, lactose intolerance, IBS, nut allergies, ulcerative colitis, yeast intolerance – it certainly keeps things interesting. Lucky for me, my stomach is impervious to majority of foods.

I’ve heard the notion that being Jews, we tend to worry excessively. This worrisome nature can increase indigestion which can cause sensitive stomachs. Then, there is always the concept that we happen to pack in a lot more food then your average Joe Blo with all our holiday festivities and family celebrations. Maybe we are just overusing our gastrointestinal system beyond its capacity, on the other hand it may be due to the restrictions we have around food.

The truth is, I think it all comes down to the fact that we like to talk, we like to analyse everything, and we love to complain.

On a more serious note, Crohns disease, a genetic disorder, happens to be more predominant in Ashkenazic Jews because of our genetic makeup. Apparently its four times more common amongst Jews compared to the rest of the population. So we’re not just being hypochondriacs, there is some scientific basis to our sensitive stomachs.

I’m not quite sure how useful this information is in anyway, but as we prepare our stomachs for milky madness I feel a competition coming about:  Challenge yourself - how much lactose can you handle?

The Seder Plate Food Pyramid

Thousands of years ago the Egyptians were building pyramids. Today, we relive our exodus from Egypt with the help of our Seder plate food pyramid.

The basic Aussie food pyramid (more recently known as the ‘food pie’) is a guideline as to how much we should be eating from each of the various food groups daily. The base of the pyramid is formed by our lovely starch family of breads and cereals, followed by the second layer of fruit and veg. Third in line comes the protein group including meat, fish, chicken, nuts and eggs, and finally at the peak of the pyramid is the ‘extras’ group – oil, chocolate, ice cream, hot chips, alcohol, and so forth.

It would seem that the Hagadah Mavens who created the Seder plate were forward thinkers when it came to nutrition. This traditional plate doesn’t only symbolize our move from slavery to freedom but also represents this pyramid.

At the base of the plate is the ‘breads, cereals and matzah’ group – 3 crunchy matzahs to wet our appetite. Fruit and veg  take a nice chunk out of the plate with bitter herbs, carp-ass and apple contained in the charoset. We then have our protein fix with the shank bone, walnuts and burnt egg. Finally, the red wine in the charoset provides something from the ‘extras’ group. Luckily we don’t have 4 cups of wine on the plate, it would have thrown everything out of balance.

The seder plate even hints to the notion of enjoying small portions. Do not be deceived however, by these bite sized food symbols and the other food restrictions that come along with Pesach. Despite these strict guidelines, our waistlines manage to grow. 


And now to end off with a song:
"Oh yes its Seder night, and the feelings right.."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1oU9_hy3mA

Sach·lav (sahlab/salep): a starchy, demulcent drug or foodstuff consisting of the dried tubers of certain orchids.

I think I may have overdone it on the Ashkenazi food – times they are a' changing and by changing I mean Sephardi. Judaism is made up of many different sects, with subtle differences between them all. However, Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews hold unique distinctions throughout their culture, cuisine, and practice– sometimes appearing like two separate religions. Coming from an Ashkenazic background, Sephardic cuisine is foreign to me. Fortunately, my time spent in Israel allowed me the opportunity to enjoy this food culture while attempting to bring some of it home with me. If unsuccessful in the kitchen, at least it remains in the recesses of my memory.

One of my favourite comfort foods (breakfast, dessert or drink? I was never quite sure) that I turned to in times of need in Israel, was Sachlav. It took a while to muster up the courage to try this outlandish beverage, but once I did – I never looked back. Sachlav has a porridge/custard like texture, and is traditionally served from large adorned urns (to keep it hot),  with its signature thickening and fragrant ingredient – ground bulbs of the ‘early purple orchid’ (sahlab in Hebrew and Arabic means ‘orchid’), mixed with hot milk, orange blossom water, cinnamon and vanilla. It is commonly dished up with coconut shreds, chopped pistachios and sultanas. Cheaper versions of the drink use corn starch instead of sachlav powder. One of my many missions in Israel was to discover the best Sachlav in town, and for now the one served at “Tmol Shilshom” in the centre of Jerusalem takes the prize.

A little bit of history:

Sachlav refers to the actual orchid, and the drink. The tubers of the orchid are dried and ground up to create this fragrant flour. An unconventional theory claims that the name ‘sahlab’ is derived from the Arabic expression “hasyu al-tha’lab”, in English – fox testicles, a not-so-subtle depiction of the orchid tubers. Not too kosher. Possibly because of this reason, the orchid has historically been used as an aphrodisiac.  The actual beverage  originated in Turkey and the Middle East, and then went on to England and Germany, prior to the popularity of tea and coffee. Each country has minor differences in their sachlav beverages, while the ground up orchid has also been used in ice creams and desserts.

A Spot of Nutrition:

Before honing in on some of the specific nutritional benefits on sachlav here is a word on hot drinks, and their nutritional value. Benefits of hot drinks are largely psychological, as they give you a few minutes to de-stress in addition to relaxing a sore throat. When drunk alongside a meal, they also force you to slow down your eating, allowing you to eat less and feel full more quickly. I also find that the mere act of holding a hot drink in our hand, brings an instantaneous sensation of calmness and happiness. As a side benefit, many hot drinks contain the magical ingredient of milk – which is great for slipping some calcium into your diet.

Now what about this supernatural orchid you ask?
The root is commonly used in herbal medicine and has been found to restore the body after disease by stimulating its activity. It particularly has been shown to have a curative effect on the common cold and cough, hence is popularity during the winter months.

Point of reference:

Unfortunately it is extremely difficult/illegal to bring sachlav into Australia. If you do want to impress your friends and family – you could always purchase the powdered sachlav mix (made with artificial flavourings) and fabricate a tale that includes you trekking around the Middle Eastern dessert on a hunt to bring home Early Purple Orchids. Make sure you hide the box.

Here is a simple recipe assuming you don’t have any sachlav on you.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 tablespoons Sahlab powder or 2 tablespoons cornstarch

4 cups milk

3 tablespoons sugar, or to taste

2 teaspoons rose or orange-blossom water (optional)

2 tablespoons finely chopped pistachios

Ground cinnamon

Preparation:

Mix the Sahlab powder or cornstarch with a few tablespoons of milk.

Bring the remaining milk to a boil. Pour in the starch mixture, stirring vigorously, so that lumps do not form.

Cook over very low heat, stirring continuously, until the milk thickens (about 10 minutes). Then stir in the sugar and the rose water or orange blossom water, if you so desire.

Serve in cups with the chopped pistachios and cinnamon as garnish. You may also sprinkle grated coconut on top.