Foodwanderings

Meyer Lemon Pastry Cream Mini Doughnuts

Meyer Lemon Pastry Cream Mini Doughnuts ©ShulieMadnick

This 'Meyer Lemon Pastry Cream Mini Doughnuts' recipe is one out of three recipes published along my 'Doughnuts Best Filled with Chanukah Tradition' article in The Washington Post Food section, on December 4, 2012. To curate my articles and recipes in one space, I am republishing the 'Meyer Lemon Pastry Cream Mini Doughnuts' recipe here, just before the first eve of Chanukah, falling on December 10 this year. Stay tuned for the 'Brandy Doughnuts With Dark Chocolate Marzipan and Strawberry' and 'Baked Buttermilk Nutella Ganache Doughnuts.'

And don't forget to subscribe to "Beyond the Bagel," my new podcast on Apple Podcasts. A new and exciting Chanukah tips and tricks episode is coming out soon. I am sure you will love my next guest as much as I do. You can also subscribe via email (on the right-hand column) to be the first to receive updates on new posts and recipes, exciting new talks and cooking classes that are in the works, and an upcoming newsletter.

Meyer Lemon Pastry Cream Mini Doughnuts

Unlike the shape (oblate spheroid/squished sphere) of the traditional Israeli jelly doughnuts, these doughnuts are perfectly round. I am not sure what is in the chemistry of the recipe that makes them plop and peep through the hot oil as perfect spheres, but they are cute as heck!

They have a nice body and structure, and the tangy filling makes them unique. The Meyer lemon pastry cream can be served on the side. Weigh the ingredients for this recipe, and use a food thermometer to monitor the frying oil. If you do not have a food thermometer, test the oil by carefully dropping a small piece of dough into the oil. If the dough instantaneously bubbles up to the top, the oil is ready. You might need to adjust the heat so that the doughnut doesn't get golden on the outside fast and doesn't cook inside.

You'll have pastry cream leftover, which can be used as you would a lemon curd. Or skip the pastry cream and use store-bought jam, lemon curd, or a good-quality chocolate spread. At some shops in Israel, doughnut filling comes in a syringe to be injected by the customer. I would skip buying the doughnuts with the plastic syringes or using the syringes at home to be good for our environment.

Make-Ahead: The dough needs to rest in the refrigerator overnight. The balls of dough need to rise at room temperature for 1 hour. The pastry cream can be refrigerated for up to 2-3 days. The doughnuts are best served the same day they are fried.

Meyer Lemon Pastry Cream Mini Doughnuts

about 24 small doughnuts

Ingredients

Doughnuts Ingredients:

Brandy Doughnuts With Dark Chocolate Marzipan and Strawberry Confiture ©ShulieMadnick

Brandy Doughnuts With Dark Chocolate Marzipan and Strawberry Confiture. Photo ©ShulieMadnick

This article, including the three doughnut recipes I will share in subsequent posts (stay tuned), was initially published in The Washington Post Food section, on December 4, 2012. To curate my articles and recipes in one space, I am republishing it here, just before the first eve of Chanukah, falling on December 10 this year.

Doughnuts Best Filled with Chanukah Tradition

The only doughnuts I had growing up in Israel were yeasted, ﬁlled with strawberry jam and dusted with confectioners’ sugar. Perfectly plump specimens, they had an untanned line that ran around the middle of each one, visually separating deeply golden hemispheres. I saw that as a sign of being fried to perfection — something that eludes me at times when I try to replicate doughnuts with that same pale stripe at home.

They were available year-round at tiny, crammed neighborhood grocers. I always ran late to school, yet I would stop in to grab the last one, sitting in its shallow cardboard box at the checkout counter.

Those kinds of markets are nearly extinct, and Israel’s doughnuts have become more of a winter/seasonal treat — especially around Hanukkah, which starts at sundown Saturday. The holiday’s more of a casual, at-home affair in my homeland than here in the States: just dreidels and gelt, a quick candle lighting and a midweek dinner that features latkes.

Beyond the Bagel: The Podcast is now LIVE!

I am so excited to launch the first episode of "Beyond the Bagel," my new podcast.

Don't forget to subscribe and download on Spotify, Google Podcasts, and other platforms. I am waiting on approval on Apple Podcasts. What?! I know, Apple Podcasts, right?! Super excited.

You can also subscribe here via email (right-hand column), check CAPTCHA, and confirm the subscription through the link in the email that will be sent to you, for new episodes release and other announcements.

If you asked me less than three weeks ago, I would have never imagined being a podcaster. This came about accidentally. One of the assignments in a course I am taking was creating a podcast. Within two weeks and countless hours later, I had to scramble and learn as much as possible on how to create a podcast.

The feedback from my peers was, "This should be on NPR." Now I have to make all my subsequent episodes live up to this one. The pressure! :)

"Beyond The Bagel" explores the many and often surprising places where Jewish food appears, in various cultures across the globe, and how it manifests itself into different Jewish food identities. "Beyond the Bagel" also explores food, food culture, and history among different ethnic and religious communities in Israel.

I want to share stories from around the world. If you have a story to tell about Jewish food or know of someone who has a story to tell and would be perfect as a guest on "Beyond The Bagel," please drop me a note at foodwanderings at Yahoo dot com. You don't have to be Jewish to be a guest on my podcast.

Stay tuned for future announcements of membership for extra content, cooking classes, and sponsorship opportunities.

"Beyond the Bagel" episodes will always be available to my readers/listeners, and the public.

Kreplach, a hole-y alternative to break-fast bagels for Yom Kippur

This article, including five recipes, was initially published in TheWashington Post Food section, on September 23, 2014. To curate my articles and recipes in one space, I am republishing it here, just before Yom Kippur eve, falling on September 27, this year. I decided to republish on Foodwanderings the Quince Jam and Tunisian Bulo recipes. The other three recipes you can find in the link o the WaPoFood article, including Claudia Roden's kreplach recipe pictured above.

All copyright material © ShulieMadnick. Please do not copy or republish without permission. A link to this post can be shared.

Kreplach, a hole-y alternative to break-fast bagels for Yom Kippur

Bagels with a schmear, kugel, whitefish salad, cured herring: To many Jews in America, that’s the standard lineup for a buffet at the end of Yom Kippur, one of the holiest days of the year, which begins at sundown Oct. 3. After 24-plus hours of prayer and contemplation, without food or drink or even a good tooth scrubbing, a meal crafted with a tender stomach and sodium recovery in mind becomes a blessing for all.

With a more global nod to tradition, though, they could augment the break-fast’s restorative powers. Sephardic Jews (of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean descent) integrate energy-boosting, digestive and medicinal herbs and seeds into their break-fast noshes and dishes. Warm, sweet drinks and a spread of confections are followed by soups and heavier meals, such as Indian chicken curry with basmati rice and North African couscous with beef and quinces.

Moroccans start with a sweet bite or drink and might have a shot of arak, an anise-y digestif, or biscotti-like fennel cookies with quince jam and sweetened herbal tea before they sit down to harira, traditionally a meat-based, legume-rich soup most famously served to break the fast during Ramadan. Turkish and Bulgarian Jewish communities make what’s known as dulce de membrillo, or sweet quince paste.

Pomegranates and apples are the epitome of the High Holidays season but to me the rose-colored quinces' jam with cinnamon and cloves is the first sign of the fall season.

This recipe for Quince Jam was initially published on September 23, 2014, as a part of a collection of recipes in an article I wrote for break-the-fast on Yom Kippur for The Washington Post. I am republishing it here, slightly tweaked, just before Yom Kippur eve, falling on September 27, this year. Stay tuned for the article and other recipes for break-the-fast in the series re-published soon. All copyright material © ShulieMadnick. Please do not copy or republish without permission. A link to this post can be shared.

Serve with challah or Tunisian Bulo (similar to Mandelbread).

This is a quick fragrant bread. A cross between a crumbly soda bread, a soft biscotti, and is similar to Jewish mandelbread. Tunisian Jews use baking powder; Libyan Jews make the bread with yeast. The baking powder version has a longer shelf life.

This recipe for Tunisian Bulo was initially published on September 23, 2014, as a part of a collection of recipes in an article I wrote for break-the-fast on Yom Kippur for The Washington Post. I am republishing it here, slightly tweaked, just before Yom Kippur eve, falling on September 27, this year. Stay tuned for the article and other recipes for break-the-fast in the series re-published soon. All copyright material © ShulieMadnick. Please do not copy or republish without permission. A link to this post can be shared.

This is the second article in a two-part series.

This article, with the puri making (video below), was initially published in The Forward, on September 27, 2017. To curate my articles and recipes in one space, I am republishing it here, slightly tweaked, just before Yom Kippur eve, falling on September 27, this year. All copyright material © ShulieMadnick. Please do not copy or republish without permission. A link to this post can be shared.

Discovering Yom Kippur Tradition and a Beautiful Break-Fast Pastry in Mumbai

Last year, I made my first visit to Mumbai to walk in my mom’s proverbial footsteps and discover my Indian-Jewish heritage. I spent some time in the kitchen of Sharona Hayeems, a local Jewish caterer, learning her traditional method for making halwa, a sweet Indian custard (with video) that the Bene Israel Indian-Jewish community makes especially for Rosh Hashanah.

Hayeems and I agreed that I would re-visit her a week later, before Yom Kippur, to watch her make puri, a laminated (layered), deep-fried, crescent-shaped sweet pastry filled with sweetened semolina, nuts, and cardamon. Puri is a pastry the Bene Israel Indian-Jewish community makes once a year for Yom Kippur’s Break-the-Fast.

During that week, between the halwa and the puri making, in between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, I attended services at Magen Hassidim, a beautifully maintained Bene Israel synagogue in Byculla, Mumbai. Magen Hassidim was my mom’s neighborhood synagogue, where she spent her childhood until the age of 20 when she moved to Israel.

Halwa is a traditional Indian milk custard made by the Bene Israel Indian Jews in Mumbai for Rosh Hashanah. In India halwa is made with “chick,” a wheat gluten, but in Israel, a majority of the community is using cornstarch as a substitute, at times together with China grass (agar-agar) — they are quicker thickening agents. The recipe can be made with either milk or coconut milk. At home growing up, my mom always made it with whole milk — as I continue doing every Rosh Hashanah. This year, I might make it with coconut milk inspired by "How A Mumbai Cook Prepares For Rosh Hashanah.

This recipe and article "Flavors of an Indian-Israeli Rosh Hashanah" were originally published in Haaretz English edition on September 8, 2015. In an effort to curate my articles and recipes in one space, I republished the article and recipe in this space.

Rosh HaShanah is this coming Friday, but I wished to squeeze in this late summer gazpacho recipe before I start the holiday cooking.

There is no magic or back story to this recipe. Gazpacho is Jonathan's favorite, but I never make it at home. This summer, I decided to take advantage of the beautiful heirloom tomatoes that started showing up at the farmers market in DC and a roadside farm stand in Northern Virginia.
I reached out on all my social media platforms and received many great tips and recipes for gazpacho. Many were similar, with some variations. I'm not too fond of cream, which is usually added to the United States' restaurant versions. I played with hot pepper and cucumber in several gazpacho batches but decided against them.

This article was tweaked from the original version published in Haaretz Newspaper on September 8, 2015. In an effort to curate my articles in one space, I am republishing it here just before Rosh Hashanah, falling on September 18, this year. All copyright material © ShulieMadnick. Please do not copy or republish without permission. A link to this post can be shared.

You can read How A Mumbai Cook Prepares For Rosh Hashanah and Chasing Challah in Mumbai from the Rosh HaShanah and High Holidays series. Recipes for both biryani and halwa will be published in separate posts.

Photography during the holidays is forbidden so I am sharing a snapshot of Magen Hassidim (above), my mom's synagogue in Mumbai, where I spent the 2016 High Holidays. This image, among others, is archived on The Museum of Jewish People's (בית התפוצות) library archives in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Flavors of an Indian-Israeli Rosh Hashanah

The first inkling that Rosh Hashanah was approaching when I was growing up was when my mom would come home to our fourth-floor walk-up apartment in Ashdod with Lily Pulitzer-like floral fabrics. I dreaded the frocks and matching hair bows that an Indian seamstress would sew us from the textiles. I would walk in the intense heat with my mom and my sister, who is a year younger than I, to the seamstress' home a few neighborhoods over for the measuring and fitting, and again for a second fitting and minor tweaks. My mom would definitively proclaim that the scraps and leftover fabrics "were enough" for my two youngest sisters' Rosh Hashanah gowns.

This article was slightly tweaked from the original version published in The Forward on January 17, 2017. To curate my articles in one space, I am republishing it here just before Rosh Hashanah eve, falling on September 18, this year. All copyright material © ShulieMadnick. Please do not copy or republish without permission. A link to this post can be shared.

You can read How A Mumbai Cook Prepares For Rosh Hashanah from the Rosh HaShanah and High Holidays series.

Chasing Challah in Mumbai

It was the break of dawn on a Thursday, as the monsoon waned in late October that we descended from the skies over the slum rooftops and landed at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai. My travel companion and I were then whisked off by our lovely Indian Jewish tour guide, Hanna Shapurkar, to Om Creations.

Om Creations is a nonprofit center where Down syndrome and autistic adults are taught arts and crafts and some culinary skills. The crafts and food are, in turn, sold as a means of support and income for the participants.

While still back home in the United States, planning my Jewish-Indian heritage discovery trip to India — my first trip to my parents' homeland — little did I know that I would be visiting Om Creations. What sparked my interest was an inconspicuous mention in an email correspondence from Elijah Jacob, India executive director of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), about delivering challahs to the Indian-Jewish community in Mumbai. I was so intrigued that chasing challahs became the end-all and be-all of my trip to India.

This article was originally published in The Forward on September 15, 2017. To curate my articles in one space, I am republishing it here just before Rosh Hashanah eve, falling on September 18, this year. Watch the recipe prep video at the bottom shot in Mumbai by me and edited by Amy Sawyer (Smoky Leo). All copyright material © ShulieMadnick. Please do not copy or republish without permission. A link to this post can be shared.

How A Mumbai Cook Prepares For Rosh Hashanah

On the morning of Rosh Hashanah Eve 2016, I met Sharona Hayeems, a local Indian Jewish caterer, at her home in Dadar, a neighborhood in Mumbai where some of the remaining 4,500 Indian Jews in India still live. I was there to spend some time watching her cook for Rosh Hashanah.

I was introduced to Hayeems, a Bene Israel (Sons of Israel) Indian Jew, by the inimitable Elijah Jacob, the India executive director of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (AJDC). Hayeems prepares kosher meals for Meals on Wheels, a program subsidized by the AJDC and Indian Joint Trust, which feeds the less fortunate in the Jewish community throughout the year, according to David Kumar, India AJDC welfare manager.

Since I came back from my hiatus to posting here again, I am sharing what I read, what inspired me recently, and anecdotes from life in quarantine.

Today, I wish to shine the spotlight on Al Arz Tahini, a family-owned, 100% pure sesame tahini, company from Nazareth, Israel. Contrary to widespread anti-LGBTQ sentiments in the Arab sector, Al Arz Tahini made a donation and showed support for the local Arab LGBTQ community. It's no easy feat to be the first Arab owned company, in a predominantly conservative society, to take such a public stand in support of LGBTQ rights. The backlash was swift. Many Arab supermarkets, grocers, and restaurants cleared their shelves of Al Arz tahini. Calls for a boycott also came from local clergy. Many in Israel and globally came to the rescue. I ordered mine, and you can show your support as well by ordering here.

I am leaving you with an Indian-inspired recipei, but check out this hummus with tahini recipe, the tahini sauce in the sabich, an eggplant sandwich, and this tahini, yogurt herb dipping sauce. Stay tuned for more tahini recipes soon.

I made these skewers for the 4th of July this past weekend, but they are a perfect easy summer recipe for any weekday or weekend this season.

I keep busy despite going on month four of the quarantine though I could do much better with time management. I wrote, "At Little Sesame in Washington, D.C., social justice is on the menu," for the News section of The Forward. It tells a story of giving that became mutually beneficial. Giving and cooking for the less fortunate, which helps not only social justice causes but also rescues some in the restaurant industry, like Little Sesame, in the process.

I am also writing a paper about Sigd, an Ethiopian Jewish holiday for an English class in college. I was familiar with some of the foods and social struggles of the Ethiopian Jews in Israel and with the politicians, celebrities, pop singers, and models that came from the community. Still, I was pretty clueless about the community's religious and cultural traditions. This cultural paper assignment was a perfect excuse to learn more about the community's fascinating history, religious and cultural rites and rituals.

Miznon's cauliflower is legendary. I made it several times over the years, but it's not the same as ordering it at the lively counter and having it sitting by the strewn tables on Tel Aviv's sidewalks and New York City's Chelsea Market. The flavor is enhanced by the commotion. With no end in sight to the quarantine, I have made it often since March. Yesterday, I needed to breathe. I sat in the car in the middle of our driveway and imagined I was on vacation. What if next time I escape the house and bring this dish with me into the car, will it transport me to Tel Aviv?!

There are several positive things that came out of quarantine. I started cooking more vigorously and posting on Foodwanderings, after a long hiatus from writing here. I also have my husband, not traveling full time, but working from home. It's nice to have him home. I also started listening to audiobooks for the first time. For some obscure reason, I resisted listening to audiobooks over the years, but when we walk on our steep street, it distracts me from the excruciating effort of climbing uphill.

On our recent daily walks, on our quiet street, I have been listening to 'The Color of Water' on Audiobooks. 'The Color of Water' is James McBride's, an African American author's tribute to his white mother. I am midway through just in time for a book club Zoom gathering this week. We will wrap up the book in a second session next week. Coincidentally, Oprah Winfrey just announced James McBride's newly released NYT bestseller 'Deacon King Kong' as the next Oprah's Book Club pick. In 2015 McBride an award winner, a multiple NYT bestseller author, a musician, and a former journalist received the National Humanities Medal by President Barak Obama "for humanizing the complexities of discussing race in America."

Meyer Lemon Pastry Cream Mini Doughnuts

Doughnuts Best Filled with Chanukah Tradition

Beyond the Bagel: The Podcast is now LIVE!

Kreplach, a hole-y alternative to break-fast bagels for Yom Kippur

Quince Jam

Tunisian Bulo

Discovering Yom Kippur Tradition and a Beautiful Break-Fast Pastry in Mumbai

Milk Halwa for Rosh Hashanah

Late Summer Gazpacho

Flavors of an Indian-Israeli Rosh Hashanah

Chasing Challah in Mumbai

How A Mumbai Cook Prepares For Rosh Hashanah

Indian-Inspired Roasted Cauliflower and Potatoes

Mediterranean Chicken and Vegetable Skewers

Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Schug

How To Roasted Bell Peppers & Harissa Recipe