Fistful of Lentils: Syrian-Jewish Recipes from Grandma Fritzie's Kitchen FROM OUR EDITORS
The Barnes & Noble Review
When Jennifer Abadi was growing up in New York, she enjoyed two different styles of Friday-night shabbat dinners: chicken soup with matzoh balls at her Grandma Esther's, and the more exotic chicken with tomato-and-apricot sauce and stuffed grape leaves at her Grandma Fritzie's.
Fritzie, born in Aleppo, was a Syrian Jew. This community is gradually disappearing, and its cuisine not well known. Born of the Spanish and Arabic Jewish tradition, it features exotic-tasting dishes with sweet and sour sauces, and a vast array of vegetable and vegetarian dishes, all kosher and many a good choice for holiday meals. Its pantry relies on ingredients like dried fruit, grape leaves, chickpeas, tamarind paste, sesame seeds, phyllo dough, cinnamon, mint, and rose water syrup.
The cooking secrets of the Syrian Jews are closely guarded, handed down through a succession of mothers and daughters. Happily, Jennifer Abadi persuaded her Fritzie to share her best dishes -- but it wasn't easy: "First my grandmother would start to cook without explaining what she was doing, making it impossible to write own the recipe. My initial attempts to help her were met with a wall of resistance. As I earned my stripes, the resistance waned, and advice would come fast and furious."
This book is a delicious labor of love for Abadi, who presents the 125 recipes (over half of them appetizers or maazeh) along with many family stories and photos. Best of all, most of the dishes are easy to prepare. There is also a glossary of Syrian-Arabic terms, a list of specialty grocery stores, a bibliography, and a menu planner.
(Ginger Curwen)
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Abadi inherited both Ashkenazi and Sephardic cuisines from her two grandmothers, and presents here the lesser known treasures from her Syrian Grandma Fritzie in a down-to-earth Middle Eastern cookbook that goes beyond the typical hummus and falafel. All recipes are kosher and many are suitable for holidays: Lamb with Lemon and Olives for Rosh Hashana or Stuffed Squash with Lemon-Mint Sauce for special Sabbaths. Many dishes, like Spinach-Mint Soup or Crushed Wheat with Chickpeas and Pot Cheese are easy for everyday light and even vegetarian meals. This well-rounded cookbook explains, in a glossary, ingredients such as tamarind paste and phyllo, provides a list of specialty stores and a menu planner, and guides the cook from appetizers, such as Eggplant Dip with Pine Nuts, to desserts (Flourless Pistachio Cookies, which are perfect for Passover), and from formal (Orange Chicken with Golden Raisins and Figs), to casual (Syrian Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Mint). Never overdone, flavors appear in combinations surprising to the typical North American palate, such as Stuffed Baby Eggplants with Apricots and Meat, and Eggs with Rhubarb. For Syrian Jewish women, cooking is an art form, shared among neighbors and families but closely guarded from outsiders. Luckily, Abadi offers these secrets in her book. (Mar.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
Like others of her generation, Abadi realized that the cuisine she grew up with might disappear unless she recorded the recipes for the traditional dishes that her grandmother and mother had always served. There are fewer than 150,000 Syrian Jews worldwide today and close to 30,000 of them live in Brooklyn, where much of Abadi's extended family still resides, and in nearby New Jersey. Syrian Jews are Sephardic, and their food is Middle Eastern, with some ancient Asian influences, rather than the more familiar Eastern European cooking of Ashkenazic Jews. Abadi's recipes, collected with the help of her feisty grandmother Fritzie, feature lots of spices, sweet-and-tart sauces, flatbreads and flaky pastry doughs, and ingredients such as dates and pomegranates, pine nuts and pistachios. Her well-written, readable text provides historical context as well as family reminiscences and anecdotes; there are also boxes on the holidays and various other celebrations and rituals. For most collections. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Home
