Around the Table: Warming Up With Shabbat Stews

January 2024

By Charlotte Rouchouze, PhD

If you’re like me, the chilliest days of winter are when my mind turns to long-simmering soups or stews that will warm the house and fill it with cozy smells. While the Jewish culinary tradition is diverse and broad, dishes designed for Shabbat can be found in all Jewish cuisines. What do classic Shabbat dishes all have in common? They can be prepared on Friday, slow-cooked, and eaten through Saturday. Naturally, this means that the Jewish tradition contains a treasure trove of long-cooking dishes that are wonderful throughout the cold months.

Both Sephardi and Ashkenazi traditions have a version of meat stew that usually features beans, potatoes, and other grains, and provides a complete meal for Shabbat afternoon. The Sephardi version is called hamin and sometimes uses chickpeas and spicy paprika, in addition to meat and other grains. The best-known Ashkenazi version is cholent, which layers beef, potatoes, barley, and potatoes. Both versions often have the unique addition of eggs, which are placed on top of the stew and roasted along with the other ingredients.

I recently devised a vegetarian version of cholent that makes a perfect winter meal for vegetarians and meat-eaters alike. No one will miss the meat. The trick is to develop a maximum savory flavor, which I do through browning the onions and tomato paste, adding an umami-rich Asian paste, and baking at a low temperature for many hours. It’s a great way to use those little Manischewitz soup tubes. The quantities and vegetables used can easily be adapted to your preference.

Charlotte Rouchouze, PhD is a local French teacher, food blogger, and beaded jewelry designer. Her blog about food traditions from around the world can be found at www.thechildrenstable.com. Contact her at charlotte.rouchouze@yahoo.com.

Vegetarian Cholent

Serves 4-6

1 cup dried navy beans, rinsed and set to soak in a bowl of water for 30 minutes

1 package Manischewitz

Lima Bean and Barley Soup, leave spice pack out (or substitute 1/2 cup each Lima beans and barley)

3 tbsp tomato paste

1/4 cup light olive oil

6 peeled golden potatoes, halved

1 small onion, sliced

2 carrots, sliced

1 cup sliced mushrooms (or 1 can sliced mushrooms)

1 package onion soup mix like Osem

2 tbsp fermented Chinese black bean garlic sauce (this is usually available in the Asian aisle of Harris Teeter, but you can also use any Asian flavoring paste such as miso, gochujang, etc.)

5 eggs (optional)

In a large Dutch oven or soup pot for which you have an oven-safe lid, fry the tomato paste in oil for 5 minutes. Add the onion soup, onion and carrot and fry for 5 more minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients except potatoes and stir. Add water to cover. Press the potatoes and eggs (if using) into the mixture. Bake covered at 300° for 6 hours, checking periodically to see if there’s enough liquid to cook the beans through.