Cookery

Health & Wellbeing

More delicious recipes from Denise Phillips

For more recipes and inspiration visit my website: www.jewishcookery.com

Poppy Seed Squares

This is the perfect Purim seudah or Purim celebration dessert. I like to make them parev, hence the use of almond milk and non-dairy cream cheese but you can make them ‘dairy’ if you prefer. This recipe is quite straightforward and cuts up into squares when cool. And… of course do have toothpicks in case the poppy seeds decide to stick into your teeth!

Preparation Time: 30 minutes Cooking Time 1 hour Serves: 12

Ingredients For the Poppy Seed filling: 150g poppy seeds 250ml almond milk 40g non-dairy margarine 60g honey 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 25g semolina or plain flour 1 large egg Zest of half a lemon

For The Streusel: 150g plain flour 50g caster sugar pinch of salt 100g non-dairy margarine – cut into small pieces 1 teaspoon. vanilla extract

For the dough: 100g non dairy ‘cream cheese’ 50ml almond milk 50ml vegetable oil 25g sugar 200g plain flour 1/2 tablespoon baking powder Method 1. Combine the poppy seeds, milk, margarine, honey, and cinnamon in a large pan and heat up while stirring constantly. As soon as the mixture starts boiling, add the semolina or flour and mix in.

Reduce the heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes until the mixture thickens.

Leave to cool for 1 hour then add the egg, lemon zest and mix in well. 2. Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Line a shallow baking tin 23cm x 23cm with parchment paper.

For the streusel put the flour, sugar, salt, margarine and vanilla extract into the food processor and pulse to produce streusel crumbs. Set aside. 3. For the dough add ‘cream cheese’, almond milk, oil, and sugar to the food processor and mix until combined. Add the flour with baking powder and mix again until just combined. The dough will be quite sticky but that is fine. 4. Transfer to the prepared tin and spread evenly in one layer.

Pour the poppy seed filling on top and smooth out evenly over the pastry base. 5. Sprinkle with the streusel. 6. Bake for 40-45 minutes until the streusel is golden. Take out of the oven and let cool down completely. Cut into squares when cool.

BUYING PROPERTY?

Rapid turnaround on  RICS Homebuyer & Building Surveys,  Structural Surveys  Red book valuations.

Hundreds of satisfied customers from the UK and abroad!

Get in touch for a quote.

MY

PROPERTY SURVEY

STREAMLINED SURVEY SOLUTIONS Shmuel Oppenheimer 0333 772 1835 samuel@mypropertysurvey.co.uk www.mypropertysurvey.co.uk

Home Condition & Homebuyer Reports - Building Surveys - Structural Surveys – Roof Surveys – EPC’S - Damp & Timber surveys - CCTV Drainage & Gutter Surveys - Wall Tie Inspections – Party Wall Surveys - Asbestos Surveys - Electrical Reports - Gas safety certificate - Tree Surveys - Bat Surveys - Basement Surveys - Solar Panel Surveys – Legionella Risk Assessments - Valuations – Dilapidations – Specific Defect Reports – Schedule of Condition Reports – Lease & rating advice - Drone Surveys – EWS1 – Right To Light – Ground Contamination

Celebrating Purim 2021

BY DENISE PHILLIPS

Most Jewish holidays begin with blessings over candles and wine – along with Chanukah, Purim does not have this element. The Purim seudah, festive meal, serves as the hallmark of the holiday that is all about unity, family and togetherness. The story is about being triumphant over adversity, the plot of the Scroll of Esther itself hinges greatly on the community.

This year more than ever, we need to try and connect to achieve camaraderie, strength, and an uplifting atmosphere to create this happy joyous festival… even if this means in a virtual way with zoom and facetime.

Festive food is always a good way to bring people together and this year I would like to share options for a Persian feast - party time at home in fancy dress with a vegetarian feast suitable for a King and Queen. And vegetarian as this was how Queen Esther managed to keep kosher in the palace.

Starting with a mezze platter, the items that can go on it are endless. I love to include two types of hummus to be enjoyed with: • Bread – pita bread sticks, or homemade pita or savoury crackers • Fresh vegetables – cucumbers, peppers, fresh tomatoes and celery sticks, a crudité selection • Marinated vegetables – artichokes,

sundried tomatoes and olives • Nuts – A handful of roasted almonds, walnuts always add texture to the platter • Bite size food – falafel, mini carrot burgers and borekas work well

A main course of: • Layered aubergine bake flavoured with cumin, garlic, sumac, coriander, oregano and cooked with tomatoes, dates, feta cheese and honey. Topped with walnuts and garnished with sprigs of parsley. • Persian Rice – the delicious crispy rice called Tahdig. Tahdig literally means

‘bottom of the pot’ and it refers to a beautiful, pan-fried rice that is fluffy on the inside with a golden crust at the bottom of the pot. Laced with saffron and scented with orange zest. • Salad Shirazi – this a refreshing

Persian cucumber and tomato salad, remarkably similar to an Israeli salad.

I like to add pomegranates, dill, mint, lime juice, green peppers to the chopped tomatoes and cucumbers.

And for dessert… Traditional Persian desserts might include saffron rice pudding, halva, baklava, rice custard all frequently with added rosewater, pistachio nuts, and pomegranates. I will be serving poppy seed squares – see my recipe above.

Danke Judaica

BY MICAELA BLITZ

Danke Judaica started in the early 2000s, when Karen Last could not find a modern, stylish challah cover, so decided to design one herself. The result was a colourful popart-inspired challah cover, which is still the signature piece of the collection. Karen ran the company for many years designing and creating interesting and unique pieces of Judaica. Now fifteen years later and with Karen having made Aliyah in 2012, her daughter, Shari is running the business and following in her mother’s creative footsteps.

Shari, who is also a freelance editor and writer, has always been creative and since taking over the business has embraced the opportunity to develop not only her design skills, but also her media, marketing and customer liaison so that she is able to run every part of the business. Shari has also introduced different styles and ranges that reflect current fashions for more muted colours and tones. Most recently she has designed two Havdalah plates in this new style, something that was not part of the Danke range previously. As Shari explains: “A customer was looking for something special and asked me if I would ever design Havdalah plates. I created two different versions and put them on the website, and they have become very popular.”

All of the products on the Danke Judaica website are created through digital printing and the products are reproduced by small UK-based businesses. Every item can be customised in some way with names or other personalised details, as well as using images or drawings to create unique items. The inspiration for her ‘My Challah Cover’ range actually came from her own children, as Shari explains: “I have four young boys and when my eldest son, Eitan, was younger he was obsessed with raccoons and wanted to have a challah cover with one on, so we created one together. He loved it so much and other people love it too.” For her second son, Josh, she actually used one of his own pictures to create his own personal challah cover which he was very happy with.

For any customers who may be looking for specific products or personalisation, it is possible to contact Shari through the website to gain further information and she is always happy to respond. Whilst running the business on her own may keep her busy, being able to offer that personal touch to her customers is something that she enjoys and feels that her customers really appreciate. Shari has also managed to get some of her products into shops in the UK, US, Canada and Israel and she hopes to be able to build on this in the future and would love to work with other UK-based outlets as well. Shari is also happy to collaborate with existing Judaica designers to bring new items to market.