Mizrahi Jewish cuisine is an assortment of cooking traditions that developed among the Mizrahi Jewish communities of the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. Influenced by the diverse local culinary practices of countries such as Morocco, Libya, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, and Syria, Mizrahi cuisine prominently features rice, legumes, meats (especially lamb and chicken), and an array of spices such as cumin, turmeric, and coriander. Signature dishes include kubbeh (dumplings), pilafs, grilled meats, and stews like hamin.
Jews of the Mizrahi communities cook foods that were and are popular in their host countries, while following the laws of kashrut . Many dishes are brought in from their host countries and/or altered to varying degrees. While some political activists maintain that this is appropriation, in the case of for example hummus, for Mizrahi Jews it is more a reflection of honor and remembrance. The cuisine is based largely on fresh ingredients, as marketing was done in the local souq .
Meat is ritually slaughtered in the shechita process, and is soaked and salted. Meat dishes are a prominent feature of Shabbat, festival, and celebratory meals. Cooked, stuffed and baked vegetables are central to the cuisine, as are various kinds of beans, chickpeas, lentils and burghul (cracked wheat). Rice takes the place of potatoes.
Mizrahi Jews are the Jews of the Middle East, and points south and east, largely along the Mediterranean coastal areas and the Levant. In some countries, there was much mixing of populations after 1492 when the Jews were expelled from Spain.
Cuisine of the Mizrahi Jews includes the cuisines of the Jews of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Iran (Persia), Afghanistan, Egypt, the Berber communities, Kurdistan, Eastern Caucasus and Georgia.
Some of these communities and cuisine styles overlap with Sephardic communities who fled to many Eastern, Middle-Eastern, and North African countries after the Spanish expulsion.
Coming from the Mediterranean, especially Israel in the past centuries, and "sunny" climes, Mizrahi cuisine is often light, with an emphasis on salads, stuffed vegetables and vine leaves, olive oil, lentils, fresh and dried fruits, herbs and nuts, and chickpeas.
Meat dishes often make use of lamb or ground beef. Fresh lemon juice is added to many soups and sauces. Many meat and rice dishes incorporate dried fruits such as apricots, prunes and raisins. Pine nuts are used as a garnish. Pomegranate juice is a staple of Persian-Jewish cooking.
Kubbeh , a meat-stuffed bulgur dumpling, features in the cooking of many Mizrahi communities. It is served in the cooking broth, as a kind of soup.
Flatbreads of many varieties are central to middle eastern cooking. Various flatbreads such as pitas, laffa, malawah, and lavash are used instead of challah, which was only used by Ashkenazim of Europe, and in the Turban-shaped variety by Moroccan Jews. Lahoh is a flatbread of the Yemenite Jews with a spongy texture. [1]
Mizrahi cuisine makes liberal use of cumin, pepper, sesame seeds, and various spices common to all Middle-Eastern cuisines. [2] Saffron, a staple of Sephardic cuisine, is also featured in certain Mizrahi dishes.
Many foods are flavored with seasoning blends or pastes, and light sauces. Hilbah , a paste made from fenugreek seeds and hot pepper, is added to soups and other traditional Yemenite dishes. [3] Skhug , a hot pepper sauce, comes in red and green varieties. A diluted version of skhug is spooned over falafel . Hawaij is a Yemenite spice mixture that comes into two varieties. One, a blend of powdered ginger, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom, is added to coffee and baked goods. The other, a blend of turmeric, black pepper, onion, cumin, cardamom and cloves, is added to soup.
Pastes and sauces are very often served on the side in small dishes on the table during meals, to be added by each diner as desired. Certain spice combinations are characteristic of particular countries, such as coriander and cumin in Egyptian cuisine. [4]
The souqs of the Middle East and North Africa sell ready-made spice blends sold in bulk, but traditionally, Mizrahi Jews bought fresh herbs and prepared their own blends at home to maintain kashrut , fearing insects in the blends sold in the open-air bazaar. [5]
Olives and pickled vegetables, such as cucumbers, carrots, cabbage and cauliflower, are a standard accompaniment to meals. Amba is a pickled mango sauce. Small pickled lemons are a Tunisian and Moroccan delicacy.
Hot sahlab , a liquidy cornstarch pudding originally flavored with orchid powder (today invariably replaced by artificial flavorings), is served in cups as a winter drink, garnished with cinnamon, nuts, coconut and raisins. Arak from the anis drinks family, is the preferred alcoholic beverage. Rosewater is a common ingredient in cakes and desserts. Malabi , a cold cornstarch pudding, is sprinkled with rosewater and red syrup.
Ikaddaif or kadaif is a very sweet pastry similar in style and technique to baklavah . It consists of shredded dough, which is wrapped around crushed nuts, baked and then soaked in syrup. It is common in various parts of the Middle East and is served at festive meals. [7]
As cooking on Shabbat is prohibited for religious Jews, Mizrahi Jews take advantage of slow-cooking techniques, such as baking on a low temperature overnight, to have available hot dishes on the Sabbath. This technique is virtually universal to all Jewish cuisines. One staple of this technique is hamin or chamin (from the word kham, which means "hot").
In North Africa this dish is known as dafina . There are many varieties of hamin and dafina, as particularly local spices and ingredients are used, as well as the method of preparation. Some varieties are denser than others, and some use rice as a staple instead of the common root vegetables.
Bourekas are often served on Shabbat morning. In Yemenite cooking, Shabbat dishes include jachnun and kubbanah.
Shabbat foods are often slow-cooked prior to Shabbat, and kept warm overnight once cooked, as cooking is forbidden on Shabbat by Jewish law. In Yemenite cooking, Shabbat dishes include jachnun and kubaneh . Mafrum is a stuffed vegetable dish traditionally eaten by Libyan Jews on Shabbat. [8]
On Shabbat, the Jews of North Africa in Tunisia and Morocco serve chreime , fish in a spicy tomato sauce.
Mizrahi cuisine allows the use of kitniyot , which is forbidden amongst the Ashkenazim. Kitniyot are legumes and some grains, which include rice and a variety of beans and pulses.
Whereas charoset in Ashkenazi homes is a blend of chopped apples and nuts spiced with wine and cinnamon, Mizrahi charoset is often based on dried fruits, especially dates, and is much thicker in consistency.
Other Mizrahi Jewish dishes are tebit, a chicken and rice dish, and ingriyi, sweet and sour meat topped with aubergines, both from the cuisine of Iraqi Jews.
Makroudh are pastries stuffed with spiced dates and scented with orange-flower water prepared for Rosh Hashanah by Algerian Jews.
Slow-cooked vegetables stuffed with meat are a popular holiday dish. Moroccan Jews season the stuffing with cinnamon, turmeric, and nutmeg. Holiday meals start with at least a dozen small salads. [9]
Customs for the first food eaten after the Yom Kippur fast differ. Iranian Jews often eat a mixture of shredded apples mixed with rose water called faloodeh seeb . Syrian and Iraqi Jews eat round sesame crackers that look like mini-bagels. Turkish and Greek Jews sip a sweet drink made from melon seeds. [10]
Garam masala is a blend of ground spices originating from South Asia. It is common in Indian, Pakistani, Nepalese, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan and Caribbean cuisines. It is used alone or with other seasonings. The specific fixings differ by district, but it regularly incorporates a blend of flavors like cardamom, cinnamon, cumin, cloves and peppercorns. Garam masala can be found in a wide range of dishes, including marinades, pickles, stews, and curries.
Pakistani cuisine can be characterized as a blend of regional cooking styles and flavours from across South, Central and Western Asia. Pakistani cuisine is influenced by Persian, Indian, and Arab cuisine. The cuisine of Pakistan also maintains certain Mughal influences within its recipes and cooking techniques. Pakistan's ethnic and cultural diversity, diverse climates, geographical environments, and availability of different produce lead to diverse regional cuisines.
Dolma is a family of stuffed dishes associated with Ottoman cuisine, typically made with a filling of rice, minced meat, offal, seafood, fruit, or any combination of these inside a vegetable or a leaf wrapping. Wrapped dolma, specifically, are known as sarma, made by rolling grape, cabbage, or other leaves around the filling. Dolma can be served warm or at room temperature and are common in modern cuisines of regions and nations that once were part of the Ottoman Empire it is also popular in Iran.
Jewish cuisine refers to the worldwide cooking traditions of the Jewish people. During its evolution over the course of many centuries, it has been shaped by Jewish dietary laws (kashrut), Jewish festivals and holidays, and traditions centred around Shabbat. Jewish cuisine is influenced by the economics, agriculture, and culinary traditions of the many countries where Jewish communities have settled and varies widely throughout the entire world.
Iraqi cuisine is a Middle Eastern cuisine that has its origins in the ancient Near East culture of the fertile crescent. Tablets found in ancient ruins in Iraq show recipes prepared in the temples during religious festivals—the first cookbooks in the world. Ancient Iraq's cultural sophistication extended to the culinary arts.
Kerala cuisine is a culinary style originated in the Kerala, a state on the southwestern Malabar Coast of India. Kerala cuisine offers a multitude of both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes prepared using fish, poultry and red meat with rice as a typical accompaniment. Chillies, curry leaves, coconut, mustard seeds, turmeric, tamarind, asafoetida and other spices are also used in the preparation.
Yemeni cuisine is distinct from the wider Middle Eastern cuisines with regional variation. Although some foreign influences are evident in some regions of the country, the Yemeni kitchen is based on similar foundations across the country.
Dominican cuisine is made up of Spanish, Indigenous Taíno, Middle Eastern, and African influences. The most recent influences in Dominican cuisine are from the British West Indies and China.
Bukharan Jewish cuisine is the traditional cuisine originating from the Bukharian Jewish community of Central Asia, who now mostly reside in Israel, and the United States.
Spiced rice is a rice-based dish flavored with various types of spice. Spiced rice is common around the world, with one of the most notable dishes being Indian Ghee rice, which uses ghee butter as a primary ingredient.
Sephardic Jewish cuisine, belonging to the Sephardic Jews—descendants of the Jewish population of the Iberian Peninsula until their expulsion in 1492—encompassing traditional dishes developed as they resettled in the Ottoman Empire, North Africa, and the Mediterranean, including Jewish communities in Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, and Syria, as well as the Sephardic community in the Land of Israel. It may also refer to the culinary traditions of the Western Sephardim, who settled in Holland, England, and from these places elsewhere. The cuisine of Jerusalem, in particular, is considered predominantly Sephardic.
Kabsa or makbūs/machbūs is an Arabian mixed rice dish that originates from Saudi Arabia or Yemen. It is commonly regarded as a national dish in all the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council. It can also be found in regions such as southern Iran and Gaza in Palestine.
Israeli cuisine primarily comprises dishes brought from the Jewish diaspora, and has more recently been defined by the development of a notable fusion cuisine characterized by the mixing of Jewish cuisine and Arab cuisine. It also blends together the culinary traditions of the various diaspora groups, namely those of Middle Eastern Jews with roots in Southwest Asia and North Africa, Sephardi Jews from Iberia, and Ashkenazi Jews from Central and Eastern Europe.
Tunisian cuisine, the cuisine of Tunisia, consists of the cooking traditions, ingredients, recipes and techniques developed in Tunisia since antiquity. It is mainly a blend of Mediterranean and native Berber cuisine with Punic influences. Historically, Tunisian cuisine witnessed influence and exchanges with many cultures and nations like Italians, Andalusians, French and Arabs.
Bahārāt is a spice mixture or blend used in Middle Eastern cuisines. The mixture of finely ground spices is often used to season lamb and mutton, fish, chicken, beef, and soups, and may also be used as a condiment.
Hawaij, also spelled hawayej or hawayij, is a variety of Yemeni ground spice mixtures used primarily for soups and Yemeni coffee.
Bumbu is the Indonesian word for a blend of spices and for pastes and it commonly appears in the names of spice mixtures, sauces and seasoning pastes. The official Indonesian language dictionary describes bumbu as "various types of herbs and plants that have a pleasant aroma and flavour — such as ginger, turmeric, galangal, nutmeg and pepper — used to enhance the flavour of the food."
Middle Eastern cuisine or West Asian cuisine includes a number of cuisines from the Middle East. Common ingredients include olives and olive oil, pitas, honey, sesame seeds, dates, sumac, chickpeas, mint, rice and parsley, and popular dishes include kebabs, dolmas, falafel, baklava, yogurt, doner kebab, shawarma and mulukhiyah.
The Moroccan Jewish cuisine is the traditional cuisine of the Jewish community of Morocco. combines elements of the local Moroccan cuisine, the culinary traditions brought by Jews from other locations to Morocco, and the Jewish dietary laws (kashrut). Generally, there is some overlap between Jewish and their Muslim neighbors' cuisine in Morocco. The distinction between the two is primarily based on kashrut and finding kosher solutions for traditional dishes.
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