Our Incredibly Cultural Vegetarian Yom Kippur Break-Fast

As far as food traditions go, there are only a few days a year for which I have requirements. 

1. Mac & Cheese and cookie cake for my birthday
2. Matzah Ball Soup for Passover
3. Bagels & Lox  with a hearty helping of kugel on the side for breaking the fast after Yom Kippur

I'm a girl with simple needs.

...Tal may or may not have started counting my shoes, purses, and lip glosses as I typed that…

Anyway, when I started to plan our 2 person break-fast last week, I realized that it was going to be a challenge to satisfy those simple needs this year. Indian flavors and Eastern European Jewish cooking don't exactly share a center circle on the venn diagram. 

There are a few foods that are traditionally eaten at the Jewish new year for a variety of symbolic reasons, and while I couldn't prepare them in the style to which I'm accustom - there was really no reason not to find creative ways to incorporate them.

I did hours of recipe research (stop judging me, after 24 hours of fasting the meal has to be DARN worthy)  and in the end,  our holiday meal didn't taste anything like what we're used to but it was delicious, vegetarian and steeped-in-tradition to boot!

This is how we incorporated carrots, honey, and pomegranate in our Turkish, Moroccan, Indian, Vegetarian Yom Kippur Break-Fast  2012:

Bulgar Pomegranate Salad

Moroccan Carrot & Chickpea Tagine

 Baingan Bharta (Roasted Eggplant)

I felt that it was important to include an Indian dish at our holiday meal this year. This is adapted from the cook book Pure & Simple: Homeade Indian Vegetarian Cuisine by Vidhu Mittal.

Ingredients:

• 1 large eggplant
• 2 tbsp  oil of choice other than olive ( I used sunflower)
• 1 large red onion, cut into medium sized cubes
• 1 1/2 tsp chopped ginger
• 1 tsp chopped green chillies
• 2 medium tomatoes
• 1/4 tsp Turmeric
• 1/2 tsp red chili powder
• 1/2 cup cooked green peas
• Salt to taste

Preparation:

Puncture the eggplant with a fork several times, then coat the outer surface with oil. Roast over the stove-top flame until the skin starts to peel, and the eggplant feels soft. Set aside to cool.

Once the eggplant has cooled, remove the skin and cut the eggplant  into bite sized cubes. Cut the tomatoes into similarly sized pieces.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large frying pan; add onion, ginger, and green chillies. Cook until the onions are light brown. 

Add the eggplant, tomato, and spices (including a bit of salt) to the pan. Toss to coat.

Cover the pan, stirring occasionally until eggplants are cooked through. 

Put 3/4 of the eggplant mixture into a food processor. Puree.

While the frying pan is still hot, add peas to remaining  eggplant & tomatoes. When peas are heated, combine the two eggplant mixtures.

Garnish with cilantro if you're so inclined.  When it comes to cilantro? I am NEVER so inclined.

Finally, I adapted this recipe for  Pumpkin Honey Rice Pudding:

Ingredients

• 1 cup uncooked medium-grain white rice
• 1 12-ounce can light coconut milk
• 4 cups skim or low fat milk
• 1/4 cup raw sugar (or white if that's what you have)
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 3/4 cups pureed pumpkin
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp salt

Combine the rice, milks, sugar, honey pumpkin, spices, and salt in a heavy bottom saucepan. Bring the rice mixture just to a simmer; watch it to make sure it doesn't boil over. Turn the heat down to low and stir the rice mixture well. Cover the pan most of the way and simmer the rice pudding gently for about an hour, stirring every 10 minutes or so to keep the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

When the rice is tender, remove the pot from the stove. Cover the pan and let the rice pudding cool at least 30 minutes before serving.

This was delicious warm after our dinner, and still delicious cold; when I ate it again for breakfast this morning.

May the new year be rich and sweet, and may your tummy always be filled with food made with love. Shana Tova!

Farro and Pureed Butternut Squash with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds and Goat Cheese

Making Itineraries and Other Things I Have on my Resume

Yes. Making itineraries is actually on my resume. If I learned anything in college about landing a job, it was the following 3 things:

1. Networking & relationships are more important than what you learn in class.
2. Interview suits should be simple, but your shoes should be spectacular.
3. Under "Interests" on your resume, make every effort to actually sound interesting.

Networking and relationships? Done and done. That shiz is totally my bailiwick.

Spectacular shoes? Why thank you clearance section at DSW, I think I WILL buy 3 pairs of designer shoes for $100.

Being interesting on paper proved to be the biggest challenge. I love my hobbies, but every girl in New York lists "cooking, travel and working out" among their interests. Also, and this upset me, it turns out that "watching copious amounts of televsion"... is not considered a skill. Lame.

So, I had to get creative. If I get a female interviewer "make-up artistry" usually goes over pretty well, but men neither notice nor care. That's where "making itineraries" comes in. It's wierd, but not so weird that it's creepy. Also, I get to talk about my crazy organization skillz.

This week is my Mom's birthday. Did you call her yet? Go ahead, I'll wait.

Isn't she fun to talk to?

So anyway, this week is my mom's birthday and she chose to celebrate it with me in NYC this year! As soon as she told me this was what she wanted to do, I started making an itinerary.

Here is the actual itinerary:
Monday Night:
--- 5:45 Manicures so you'll be EXTRA purdy for your big day :)
 --- 7 dinner and movie/tv at home (I'll cook something yummy)

Tuesday Night:
--  6:10am I'm going to go to the gym to prepare for the rest of your birthday..you don't have to join
--- 1pm you meet me for lunch ---Le Pan Q. & Magnolias
--- 6pm cook dinner at the shelter
--- 8:30pm BIRTHDAY DINNER FOR THE BIRTHDAY GIRL -
http://www.standburger.com/index.html and save room for a little treat from
http://www.momofuku.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/JanuaryEVMenuBack.jpg
            
 Wednesday Night:
--- 5pm dentist appointment in Brooklyn
--- 6pm gym
--- 8:00 dinner at S'Nice

You should see what I can do with a weekend. Give me three days and I'll give you exhastion ;-)

My goal for monday night's dinner was to prove to my mom that she could enjoy an entire meal made from whole grains and seasonable vegetables.

Farro and Pureed Butternut Squash with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds and Goat Cheese
(Loosely adapted from the "Stuffed Acorn Squash" recipe in the Canyon Ranch Cook Book

Ingredients:
3 cups Vegetable or Chicken Stock (low-sodium)
2 cups dry farro
1 teaspoon Salt, divided
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh Thyme
2 lbs peeled, seeded, and chopped butternut squash
1/2 medium Onion, finely diced
3 Garlic cloves, minced or crushed
1/4 teaspoon ground Allspice
1 Tablespoon white wine
1/4 cup low fat milk
1 Tablespoon almond oil
Black pepper to taste
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese
1/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds

Preparation:
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees with a rack in the middle. Lightly spray a baking sheet with olive oil.

Once the oven is pre-heated, place the squash on the baking sheet.  Bake for 30 minutes, or until the squash are tender when pierced with a fork. I like to let them get just slightly carmalized.

Place a medium sized pot with lid over medium-high heat. Add the vegetable stock to the pot and bring it to a boil. Add farro, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and thyme to the pot. Stir, and then reduce the heat to low. Cover the pot with the lid, and gently simmer for 30 minutes, or until the rice has farro has absorbed the broth. If all of the liquid has been absorbed and the farro is not cooked to your desired consistancy, add a bit of water. Once the farro is cooked, remove the pot from the heat, and fluff the contents with a fork.

While the squash and farro are cooking, place a small heavy pan with lid over low heat. Add onion and garlic into the pan, cover and stirr occasionally until the onion is soft and almost translucent. If the mixture starts to stick to the pan, add a little bit of water. Once the onion is cooked, remove the cover and add the allspice, remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and vermouth. Stir and continue to cook the mixture for 3 minutes. Turn off the heat, and set the pan aside.

Once the squash is cooked, remove it from the oven.Transfer the squash into a food processor, or use an immersion blender if you have one. Add in the onion mixture and milk and process until smooth. While the processor is still running, slowly pour in the almond oil. Add pepper to taste. Once everything is smooth and blended together, transfer the mixture to a large bowl and mix in the cooked farro.

Sprinkle each serving with goat cheese and toasted pumpkin seeds.

We enjoyed this dish with a lovely spinach salad with pears, red onions, dried cranberries, toasted cashews and a whole grain mustard vinnegrete.

My mom was pleasantly surprised by how much she enjoyed the meal, and immediatly called my dad to tell him how many vegetables she'd willingly (mostly willingly) ingested.

He did not believe her.