Shared by Ayala Hodak
Shared by Ayala Hodak
Four Women, Three Countries, One Yom Kippur Recipe
Four Women, Three Countries, One Yom Kippur Recipe
Family Journey
Tehran and Damavand, IranHolon, Israel
Tenafly, New Jersey
4 recipes
Shifteh Berenji (Persian Meatball Soup)
Ingredients
For the soup:
- 1 cup dried small white beans, such as navy beans, soaked in 4 cups of water overnight
- 1 pound beef stew meat, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes
- 10 dried black Persian limes, halved
- 6 chicken necks or backs (or 1½ pounds chicken thighs and drumsticks)
- 2 small whole yellow onions, peeled
- 2 large carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces
- 3 stalks celery, cut into 2-inch pieces
- 1 medium celery root, peeled and cut into 2-inch by ¼-inch pieces
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
For the meatballs:
- 1 pound ground white meat chicken
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 large yellow onion, finely diced
- 1½ cups jasmine rice, rinsed and drained
- 1½ cups finely chopped cilantro (1 bunch)
- 1¼ cups finely chopped parsley (1 bunch)
- ¼ cup finely chopped tarragon
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
- 8 ounces pitted prunes (1¼ cup)
Ghormeh Sabzi (Persian Herb Stew)
Ingredients
- 12 dried black Persian limes, halved and seeded
- 9 cups water, divided
- 1 cup black eyed peas, soaked overnight
- 3 pounds beef chuck, cut into 1½-inch pieces
- 2 medium onions, roughly chopped
- 5 tablespoons canola oil, divided
- 3 bunches parsley (8 cups leaves and tender stems), washed, dried, and roughly chopped
- 3 bunches cilantro (8 cups leaves and tender stems), washed, dried, and roughly chopped
- 1 bunch mint (1½ cups leaves), washed, dried, and roughly chopped
- 1 leek, green part only, sliced into ⅛-inch strips and washed
- 3 tablespoons dried savory
- 3 tablespoons dried mint
- 3 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 2½ teaspoons ground cumin
Kuku Sabzi (Persian Herb Omelette)
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 5 scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced
- ½ bunch parsley (1 cup leaves and tender stems), washed, dried and chopped
- ½ bunch cilantro (1 cup leaves and tender stems), washed, dried and chopped
- ½ bunch dill (1 cup leaves and tender stems), washed, dried and chopped
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
Faloodeh (Cold Desert With Apples and Rosewater)
Ingredients
- 4 gala apples, peeled and coarsely grated
- 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar*
- 3 ½ tablespoons rosewater
- 3 cups water
- 5-6 ice cubes
Recipes
1
Shifteh Berenji (Persian Meatball Soup)
Ingredients
For the soup:
- 1 cup dried small white beans, such as navy beans, soaked in 4 cups of water overnight
- 1 pound beef stew meat, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes
- 10 dried black Persian limes, halved
- 6 chicken necks or backs (or 1½ pounds chicken thighs and drumsticks)
- 2 small whole yellow onions, peeled
- 2 large carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces
- 3 stalks celery, cut into 2-inch pieces
- 1 medium celery root, peeled and cut into 2-inch by ¼-inch pieces
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
For the meatballs:
- 1 pound ground white meat chicken
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 large yellow onion, finely diced
- 1½ cups jasmine rice, rinsed and drained
- 1½ cups finely chopped cilantro (1 bunch)
- 1¼ cups finely chopped parsley (1 bunch)
- ¼ cup finely chopped tarragon
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
- 8 ounces pitted prunes (1¼ cup)
2
Ghormeh Sabzi (Persian Herb Stew)
Ingredients
- 12 dried black Persian limes, halved and seeded
- 9 cups water, divided
- 1 cup black eyed peas, soaked overnight
- 3 pounds beef chuck, cut into 1½-inch pieces
- 2 medium onions, roughly chopped
- 5 tablespoons canola oil, divided
- 3 bunches parsley (8 cups leaves and tender stems), washed, dried, and roughly chopped
- 3 bunches cilantro (8 cups leaves and tender stems), washed, dried, and roughly chopped
- 1 bunch mint (1½ cups leaves), washed, dried, and roughly chopped
- 1 leek, green part only, sliced into ⅛-inch strips and washed
- 3 tablespoons dried savory
- 3 tablespoons dried mint
- 3 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 2½ teaspoons ground cumin
3
Kuku Sabzi (Persian Herb Omelette)
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 5 scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced
- ½ bunch parsley (1 cup leaves and tender stems), washed, dried and chopped
- ½ bunch cilantro (1 cup leaves and tender stems), washed, dried and chopped
- ½ bunch dill (1 cup leaves and tender stems), washed, dried and chopped
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
4
Faloodeh (Cold Desert With Apples and Rosewater)
Ingredients
- 4 gala apples, peeled and coarsely grated
- 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar*
- 3 ½ tablespoons rosewater
- 3 cups water
- 5-6 ice cubes
Ayala Hodak was a cook in residence, sharing several stories and recipes with the JFS archive. Read about the Persian sweet her family enjoys for Yom Kippur breakfast, her mother's herb omelet and ghormeh sabzi, a Persian herb stew. You can find all of her recipes in her recipe box here.
When Ayala Hodak, the co-owner of New York Israeli restaurant Taboon, moved from Israel to the U.S. 21 years ago, her friends became her adopted local family. She hosts them for Yom Kippur break fast, preparing a menu centered around one dish: shifteh berenji, a meatball-laden soup made tangy with dried Persian limes and sweetened slightly with carrots. She serves it after breaking the fast on challah, hard boiled eggs, and her family’s take on faloodeh, a cold sweet dish made with apples and rosewater.
“Every year when we eat it at Yom Kippur, my husband says: ‘Wow, this is so good; you should make it more often,’” Ayala says. She responds: “It’s not going to taste the same.” It’s a treat, reserved exclusively for the holiday. She’s not quite sure why, but says that maybe it offers her a unique connection to home.
The shifteh berenji is a blend of recipes from no fewer than three matriarchs: her mother and both of her grandmothers. Maheen, Ayala’s mother moved to Israel from Tehran when she was only 13. She arrived with two of her siblings with the help of a youth Aliyah movement called Aliyat Hanoar. There, she was sent to a kibbutz and given the Israeli name Yafa. When she got married as a young woman to a Persian man, her mother-in-law Dalia taught her to cook Persian dishes from their shared homeland.
Yafa’s cooking became a blend of Dalia’s recipes and those she remembered making as a young girl with her mother in Tehran. “When you’re a good cook, you don’t have to have a recipe to make something,” Ayala explains. “As you make it once, twice, three times, you get the flavors that you feel are the right flavors.” It was that way with much of Yafa’s cooking and, Ayala believes, with the shifteh berenji. The recipe was a blend of Dalia’s and memories of the one Yafa’s mother made in Iran. Yafa adapted it though, adding prunes to the dish, hiding them in the center of the meatballs as a surprise for each diner.
As Ayala built a new life for herself in New York, she missed the recipe around Yom Kippur and called her mother for it 20 years ago. “Since then I make it every year,” Ayala adds. This year, included, of course.
