A new cookbook captures the ethic of hospitality that runs through the Beta Israel culture

By Carol Goodman Kaufman / Special to the BJV

Decades ago, my father spent several winters in Israel with a program run by B’nai Brith. Centered in Netanya, participants volunteered at various facilities in the country’s north. Dad worked at an absorption center with Ethiopians who had recently arrived with Operation Moses. When one of the women gave birth to a son, her tenth child, the family asked Dad to serve as the sandek at the boy’s brit milah. Now, Dad spoke English and Yiddish, with minimal Hebrew and absolutely no Amharic, but that wasn’t going to stop him from adopting the Gezet family and keeping up a connection with them. So, he appointed me as the correspondent.

Since then, I have been fascinated with the Ethiopian Jewish culture. This people’s ancestors left the Land of Israel after the destruction of the First Temple, so they had no knowledge of the Talmud and its discussions. And although they kept fastidiously to Torah law, they didn’t know that the rabbis had ruled that chicken was so much like meat that it should not be mixed with dairy. So, you will see in the pages of Gursha that some chicken recipes call for butter. (That they were forced to undergo conversion upon arrival in Israel is an insult for which they have never received an apology.)

Which brings us to, Gursha: Timeless Recipes for Modern Kitchens, from Ethiopia, Israel, Harlem, and Beyond: A Cookbook, by Beejhy Barhany. The word gursha translates to “the act of feeding one another” and reflects the ethic of hospitality that runs through the Beta Israel culture. Part memoir and part cookbook, this beautifully illustrated volume tells the story of the author’s own life and that of various women in her family. She recounts walking as a child from Ethiopia to Sudan, being airlifted to Israel by the Mossad, falling in love on a visit to New York, and establishing an Ethiopian cultural center and restaurant in Harlem. At all points, she writes of how the community cared for one another.

But this is a food column, so I will review a few of the recipes in the book.

First up was Ayib/Ajibo, or cheese. I had made soft, fresh cheese many times, some with cow’s milk, some with goat’s milk, and all follow the same basic recipe: milk and an acid like vinegar or lemon juice, and sometimes salt. This particular recipe required a much larger proportion of acid than others, so it was quite sour. I wouldn’t make it again. I worried that the entire enterprise would be disappointing, but then again, I have always loved Ethiopian food so things had to look up.

And they did. Our Erev Shabbat dinner was a smashing success. The entrée was Berbere Fried Fish. Berbere is a spice blend used in much of Ethiopian cuisine. Like many spice blends such as hawaiij and baharat, its exact ingredients can vary by the cook preparing it, but ginger, cumin, coriander, cardamom, fenugreek, cayenne, and paprika are among them. The fish was not only easy to prepare, it cooked up in a flash and was stunningly delicious. It was so good that I determined to make up a large batch of berbere to have on hand. We will definitely be having it again.

As for the side dish that night, I made Ye Tikil Gomen Alicha/Caulo, translated as ‘Music-in-Your Mouth Cabbage with Potatoes and Carrots.’ This vegetable stew is certainly worthy of its name. The easy-to-make recipe fills a large pot, so it’s great for a crowd or multiple meals. As with this and other recipes I tried, one particularity of is that onions are first cooked a dry pan without any oil. Once their liquid has evaporated, oil and other ingredients are added.

When I saw Dubba Wot/Dubba Tsebhi (Pumpkin Stew with Date Honey), I knew I had to try it — partly because I happened to have every ingredient in the house, including the date honey. Unfortunately, the “stew” called for so much water that the result was soupy, and the squash’s flavor was washed out. Disappointing. However, unwilling either to eat the watery leftovers or throw them out, a couple of days later I decided to try a fix by adding a can of chickpeas, a half-cup of orzo, and a couple of cubed sweet potatoes to the mix. The ingredients added bulk, and more important, the tomato, berbere, and cardamom-based sauce had cured over time. The resulting stew was spectacular.

The week rolled by and it was time for another Erev Shabbat dinner. This time I made Dor Wot Alicha, or Golden Chicken Drumstick Stew. Why I attempted this recipe is beyond me because neither Joel nor I like drumsticks. The author writes that modern conveniences like food processors have made life easier, but her choice to puree rather than dice the onions that formed the base of this stew was a mistake. There wasn’t enough texture to the dish, unless you count the tough and rubbery chicken.

Because fresh kosher chicken is hard to come by locally, I had purchased a large, four-pound bag of drumsticks from the freezer case at the Price Chopper. The recipe called for two pounds. What was I to do with the rest of it? Chicken broth, of course! Somebody is bound to catch a cold and will need some Jewish penicillin.

Boiling those drumsticks until the meat fell off the bone was the perfect solution to save the day. I stripped the meat from the bones and added it to the remaining stew.

I might make the recipe again, using diced onions and a different chicken part. But probably not. There are so many other dishes to try.

All in all, this was a fascinating book, both for its insights into the Beta Israel and for its (mostly) delicious recipes.

And if I can find some friends willing to try something different (you skeptics know who you are), I will practice gursha.

 

Ye Tikil Gomen Alicha/Caulo Recipe

Music-in-Your-Mouth Cabbage with Potatoes and Carrots

Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients:

3 carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise, and sliced crosswise into half-moons ½ inch thick

2 white potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces

2 yellow onions, sliced into thin half-moons

½ cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

¾ teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste

¾ teaspoon black pepper, plus more to taste

1 head green cabbage (1½–2 pounds), cored and cut into 1-inch-wide strips

1 tablespoon ginger/garlic paste, or 2 teaspoons minced garlic plus 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger

1 jalapeño, trimmed and cut lengthwise into four long strips (seeded if you want less heat)

½ teaspoon ground roasted Korarima*

Instructions:

Step 1: In a large bowl, cover the carrots and potatoes with cold water and soak at room temperature while you prepare the other ingredients.

Step 2: In a large deep pot with no oil, sauté the onions over medium heat until beginning to soften, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the oil. Drain the carrots and potatoes and add them to the pot. Cover and cook, stirring constantly, to soften the vegetables, about 5 minutes.

Step 3: Stir in the turmeric, salt, and pepper. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the carrots and potatoes are tender, about 5 minutes. Mix in the cabbage, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage has shrunk and softened, about 15 minutes.

Step 4: Stir in the garlic/ginger mixture, jalapeño, and korarima. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft and fragrant, 5 to 10 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper, if necessary.

 

*Barhany provides the recipe for grinding and roasting the korarima, Ethiopian cardamom. If you can’t find it (I can’t imagine that you might actually have this in your spice rack), you can use regular old cardamom. You will not be disappointed in the results!

Carol Goodman Kaufman, has just published her second mystery book, Crak, Bam, Dead: Mah Jong Mayhem (Next Chapter Press). The collection of cozy mystery short stories features food writer/ aspiring investigative reporter Kiki Coben and her Mah Jong group as they follow clues from a “Black Widow” murder at sea to a suspicious death at a senior home charity event. Armed with a curious mind and her formidable group of friends, Kiki is ready to prove that the only thing you need to catch a killer is persistence – and maybe just a little bit of luck. Crak, Bam, Dead is is available in stores and online.