It's been a year since our flights to Israel were canceled. We were headed to spend Passover with our son, who lives there. It's been a year since the global pandemic changed our lives, and we yet again find ourselves for the second year in a row having the Seder all by ourselves.
But do not despair. I cooked for a tribe, anyway. I made our traditional Passover lamb biryani, the only matzah ball soup that I like, a Moroccan carrots salad, a version of this beet salad (without the sugar), haroset, hazeret (horseradish), egg salad, and many other side dishes and starters. For dessert I made kosher for Passover brownies.
Believe it or not, but this haroset is nut-free, and no Manischewitz wine was used in the process of making it. It is a hybrid Sephardic and Ashkenazi haroset I came up with, on the fly, years ago, and it stuck with us for over a decade, maybe longer. It's better than the nut and wine version in my humble opinion. I posted a recipe for haroset in the past but planned on re-photographing it. It was also an excuse to show you our Seder plate and tweak the language of the recipe. The haroset is opposite the butter lettuce. Not a beauty but delicious on its own on matzah, or layer it with hazeret (horseradish) on the matzah.
Jonathan, uncharacteristically, guzzled down two glasses of wine before we had a chance to arrive at the second cup of wine blessing. He was determined to read every single word in the Haggadah. Thank goodness that Jonathan somewhat lost steam after dinner. He insisted on opening the door for Elijah. While I was concerned about the critters and fox in our jungle outdoors gravitating towards the light and inviting scents of food indoors. Red wine was (accidentally) spilled on the white tablecloth, and we pounded the table at Dayenu or was it another song (?!). In short, chaos ensued.
If you haven't caught my recent "Why do the Jews of India call Passover' The holiday of the covered clay pot with the sour liquid'?" article, head over, it's a quick and fun read. And if you want to learn more about India's largest Indian Jewish Community's Passover traditions, head over to "Discovering the Passover Traditions of India's Largest Jewish Community."
Nut-Free Haroset
Ingredients:
1/3 cup roasted unsalted sunflower seeds
1/3 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup dried currants or dark raisins (if you can't find currants)
Juice of 1/2 small lemon
2 - 4 Honey (according to taste)
1/3 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup dried currants or dark raisins (if you can't find currants)
Juice of 1/2 small lemon
2 - 4 Honey (according to taste)
You can swap with the dry fruit with dates, figs, and seeds with pumpkin or any other dried fruit and seeds in your pantry.
Directions:
Add all the ingredients in a food processor with only 2 tablespoons honey, whizz until a desired consistency is reached. Taste, add more honey, if necessary, whizz, and keep refrigerated until serving.
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