by Gil Marks
Following the mass immigration of Yemenites to Israel beginning in 1949, this dough and pastries made from it became extremely popular among many non-Yemenites, and can be found frozen in every Israeli supermarket. Imports are also now available in America as well. Historically, Yemenite ajin was leavened by wild yeast as it stood, the rising always depending on chance. Most modern versions incorporate a little baking powder. In Yemen, the dough never contained sugar, but contemporary versions commonly add varying amounts. Too much sugar, however, will cause the dough to burn during an extended baking period.
(See also Jachnun, Melawah, and Subya)
Yemenite Flaky Pastry (Ajin)
6 pieces
[DAIRY or PAREVE]
4 cups (20 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ cup samneh (clarified butter), margarine, or vegetable oil
About 1¼ cups water
1½ teaspoons table salt or 1 tablespoon kosher salt
6 additional tablespoons samneh or margarine, softened, for spreading
Vegetable oil for rolling
1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and baking powder. Cut in ¼ cup samneh to produce fine crumbs. Combine the water and salt. Add to the flour mixture and stir just until the dough holds together and cleans the sides of the bowl. Knead until smooth, about 3 minutes. Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces, form into balls, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or overnight.
2. On a lightly oiled surface, press a dough ball into a square, then roll into a very thin square, about 9 inches in diameter. Spread each square with 1 tablespoon samneh. Fold down the top third of the dough over the center third, then fold up the bottom third to form a rectangle about 9 by 3 inches. Bring the short ends of the rectangle together to meet in the center to form a square about 3 inches. Repeat with the remaining dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Place each dough package seam side up on a lightly floured surface and roll into an 8-inch square. Fold the top third of the square over the center third, then fold the bottom third over. Wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Repeat the process of rolling into 8-inch squares, folding in thirds, and refrigerating twice more. At this point, the ajin can be wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen for up to 3 months, then thawed before using.
Ajlouk
Ajlouk is a spicy and chunky mashed-vegetable relish.
Origin: Maghreb
Other names: ajlouke, zaalouk, zeilouk.
Reminiscent of Indian chutney, ajlouk is a synthesis of Andalusian vegetable stews and Maghrebi flavors, typically quite fiery and spicy. It is intended to be eaten in small amounts as a condiment with bread or couscous.
The original relish was probably made with eggplant, which is still popular. However, a green summer squash similar to zucchini (qura in Arabic and courgettes in French) became a particular favorite of Tunisians. Other versions are made with pumpkin, winter squash, carrots, and a combination of eggplant and zucchini. Unlike most eggplant salads, the eggplant for ajlouk is always boiled or steamed, never grilled. Boiling the vegetables results in a texture many Westerners find off-putting, so many cooks now steam them so they absorb less water. The relish needs to stand for several hours for the vegetable to absorb the seasonings and for the flavors to meld.
These relishes are traditional on Sukkot as a symbol of the harvest and on other special occasions as part of a Tunisian kemias (appetizer assortment) along with various salads, pickles, other nibbles, and bread or crackers, or as an accompaniment to couscous.
Tunisian Zucchini Relish (Ajlouk De Courgettes)
about 3½ cups/4 to 5 servings
[PAREVE]
1½ pounds small or medium zucchini, trimmed
Dressing:
3 to 4 cloves garlic
About 1 teaspoon table salt or 2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons caraway seeds, freshly ground
1 to 2 teaspoons coriander seeds, freshly ground
About 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 to 4 teaspoons harissa (Northwest African Chili Paste (Harissa)) or ¾ to 1½ teaspoons cayenne
About 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil or argan oil for drizzling
1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil, add the zucchini, and boil until it is soft enough so that a knife pierces it easily, about 15 minutes. Or steam the zucchini over boiling water until tender. Drain, place in a colander, and gently press out the excess moisture. Many cooks save the cooking liquid for soup.
2. Transfer the zucchini to a bowl and, using a fork or potato masher, coarsely mash. Do not drain.
3. To make the dressing: Using a mortar and pestle, mash the garlic and salt. Or place the garlic on a cutting board, sprinkle with the salt, and, using the side of a knife blade, mash into a paste. Blend in the caraway and coriander. Stir in the lemon juice and harissa.
4. Stir the dressing into the zucchini. Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours and up to 3 days. Spoon onto a serving platter and drizzle with the oil. Serve at room temperature, not chilled.
Ajvar
Ajvar is red pepper relish. Depending on the amount of medium-hot red peppers added, it can range in flavor from sweet to fiery hot.
Origin: Balkans
Other names: aivar, ajwar.
Wildly popular in Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia, ajvar comes from the Turkish khavyar (salted roe/caviar), as the lumpy red relish resembles red fish eggs. The Turks, during centuries of control of the Balkans, introduced the main ingredient, peppers, as well as the cooking method and name. When eggplants are added, it becomes pindzur. Another variation, especially popular in Bulgaria, is lyutenitsa, containing a large proportion of tomatoes. Many people use the term ajvar for the variations too.
The principle feature of ajvar is the red bell pepper, called paprika. As peppers mature on the vine they turn from an intense green to an array of colors, including red, yellow, orange, brown, and black. The ingredients and amounts vary from country to country and town to town. When red peppers were unobtainable, tomatoes were used along with green peppers to produce a reddish hue and fruity flavor. Some versions are mild and sweet, especially those in Croatia and Slovenia. Adding various amounts of chilies can make the relish quite fiery, and this type is more common to the south in Kosovo. Adding eggplant makes a less creamy and less red relish. The vegetables are roasted to impart a smoky undertone and create a silky texture in the peppers.
For generations, ajvar was traditionally made once a year in large batches in the early autumn from a plentiful harvest of red peppers. Making ajvar is a social event, binding family and friends. Today, the autumn air in the Balkans is still filled with the aroma of roasting peppers. After roasting, the relish is cooked outdoors in a large cauldron to remove excess liquid and increase the shelf life. Many locales banned ajvar making in public green spaces, due to the damage from the fires, and it must be done on private property. For long-term storage, ajvar is poured into jars and topped with a layer of oil or melted fat to last at least through the winter until fresh vegetables return in the spring. The fat is removed before eating. Gifts of homemade ajvar are only given to treasured friends and family.
In the Balkans, ajvar is daily winter fare served with black bread, pita bread, and crackers, as well as slices of feta cheese, or as a condiment for grilled meat. Today commercial ajvar is readily available in Israeli markets. Nevertheless, some families still insist on making their own and cook up a fresh supply whenever the mood or necessity strikes. There is even a quicker version, requiring only roasting and grinding the vegetables and omitting the reduction stage.
Ajwain
Ajwain or ajowain, a member of the Apiaceae family, a native to the eastern Mediterranean. This spice is a tiny, greenish brown seed with a flavor and aroma similar to thyme and caraway, but a bit more pun
gent. Ajwain's assets are enhanced by frying or roasting. It is popular in Persian cuisine, most notably with fish and potatoes. In India around Mumbai, the Bene Israel use the seeds to flavor samosas and for bean and lentil dishes, because it purportedly counters the gaseous effects. Ethiopians include it as part of the spice mixture berbere.
Albondiga
Albondiga is a meatball.
Origin: Spain
Other names: Maghreb: boulette; Portugal: almondega.
Meatballs were a staple of the medieval Persian and Arab world. In most areas, they were referred to by a variation of the Persian term kufteh (pounded) or kubbeh (dome). The Spanish and Ladino name derived from the Arabic al-bunduqa, meaning "hazelnut," denoting the small size and shape of the original meatballs as well as their Moorish heritage.
The word albondiga was first recorded in an anonymous thirteenth-century Moorish cookbook from Andalusia, which contained numerous recipes for meatballs. By that point, the characteristic Iberian method of preparing meatballs—pounding the meat into a smooth paste, binding the mixture with eggs, and frying the balls in oil before simmering—had already developed. In the recipe for meatballs, the author directs:
"Take red, tender meat, free of tendons, and pound it as in what preceded about meatballs. Put the pounded meat on a platter and add a bit of the juice of a pounded onion, some oil, murri naqî, pepper, coriander, cumin, and saffron. Add enough egg to envelope the mixture, and knead until it is mixed, and make large meatballs like pieces of meat, then set it aside. Take a clean pot and put in it some oil, vinegar, a little bit of murri, garlic, and whatever quantity of spices is necessary, and put it on the fire. When it boils and you have cooked the meatballs in it, let it stand for a while."
Albondigas were enthusiastically adopted by Sephardim, becoming a long-standing mainstay of their cuisine. Meatballs stood alone as an entrée, as well as being served in vegetable dishes and stews. Sizes ranged from that of a hazelnut to "nearly the size of oranges," but walnut-sized meatballs, quicker and easier to prepare than tiny ones, eventually emerged as the most common. Whereas Middle Eastern keftes (patties) are typically oblong in shape, albondigas are round. Some were filled with an almond or hard-boiled egg. Sephardim prefer meatballs made of lamb. To achieve the desired smooth texture, the meat was traditionally pounded in a mortar or wooden bowl. Today, many Sephardic cooks grind it in a meat grinder at least two times, then knead it by hand for several minutes, or process it in a food processor. Although meatballs cooked with vegetables date back to early in Persian and Arabic history, the addition of vegetables to the meat mixture, most notably leeks and spinach, seems to have originated among the Sephardim.
After the Christian conquest of Spain, albondigas along with adafina were considered to be characteristic Jewish foods. During the Inquisition, the authorities would occasionally force Conversos to eat meatballs made with pork or stews containing pork to test if they were still keeping kosher. Refusal to eat the pork led to arrest, and often death.
After the expulsion from Spain in 1492 and the later forced conversion of the Jews of Portugal, Sephardim and Conversos introduced these meatball dishes to all their new lands, including Mexico and New Am- sterdam. Gershom Mendes Seixas (1745—1816), the American-born hazzan (reader and spiritual leader) of Congregation Shearith Israel, the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in New York City, in describing his regular Sabbath dinner, wrote, "Nothing but Alibut [halibut] and Asparagus for Dinner and some Stew and Olmendigas [a misspelling of almondegas] for Shabbas-good appetite!" (Seixas was one of fourteen clergymen to officiate at George Washington's first presidential inauguration in 1789.) The first English language Jewish cookbook, The Jewish Manual by Judith Montefiore (London, 1846), a work reflecting a pronounced Sephardic influence, included recipes for meatballs made from meat, poultry, and fish and one for "Almondegos Soup" containing "balls of forced meat."
Albondigas were, throughout most of history, fare reserved for special occasions. They are typically served in a sauce or with just a squeeze of lemon juice, but are also added to soups, stews, and casseroles. Sephardim also cook meatballs with vegetables, such as cauliflower, celery, eggplant, and chard. During the nineteenth century, as tomato sauce grew popular, it commonly replaced the traditional souring agents of verjuice, lemon, pomegranate, and tamarind. Meatballs are often spooned over rice to catch the sauce. Fish albondigas are frequently served in a fish soup for Friday night dinner, while in the Maghreb they are ladled over couscous. In many Sephardic households, meatballs are ubiquitous on the Sabbath and festivals, particularly Passover, rather than the Ashkenazic matza ball.
(See also Keftaji, Kubbeh, Kufta, and Meatball)
Alboronia
Alboronia is a chicken and eggplant casserole.
Origin: Morocco
Other names: almoronia, barania.
After the Persians brought eggplant west from India, it quickly became the favorite vegetable in Persia as well as subsequently the Arab world. A popular usage was in stews, often paired with lamb, one of which was called buraniya, possibly from the Hindi name for eggplant, brinjal, or, some contend, named after Queen Buran (c. 800), wife of the caliph of Baghdad. The earliest record of a dish with this name was "Stuffed Buraniya," in a collection of recipes by Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi (779—839) of Baghdad, compiled in the cookbook Kitab al-Tabikh (Book of Dishes) by Muhammad ibn al-Hasan Al-Baghdadi, in Iraq in 1226.
In Andalusia, the dish was transformed into a Sephardic eggplant and lamb stew and sometimes a vegetarian eggplant stew, with the Arabic definite article al, becoming alboronia. In northern Morocco, alboronia eventually became a popular eggplant and chicken casserole. Alboronia is traditionally served by many Moroccans at the meal before Yom Kippur.
Alicha
Alicha is a mildly spiced, thick vegetable- or legume- based stew.
Origin: Ethiopia
Other names: alcha, aleecha.
The two principal Ethiopian dishes, around which all meals revolve, are injera (pancake bread) and a vegetable- or legume-based stew. One version, called wot, is fiery hot, seasoned with berbere (chili-spice sauce) or awaze (chili sauce). The other stew, alicha, meaning "mild" in Amharic, is spicy but milder. In Ethiopia, the stews were generally cooked in earthenware pots over an open fire. The combination of spices in an alicha, influenced by centuries of trade with Arabia and India, has a flavor akin to an Indian curry. Except for the Sabbath and festivals, most Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews) could not afford meat and, therefore, vegetarian stews were the most common.
(See also Injera and Wot)
Allspice
When Christopher Columbus arrived in the West Indies looking for peppercorns (pimiento in Spanish), he found the natives using the dried brown berries of a local myrtle tree, which he misnamed pimento, a name it still has in the Caribbean. Actually, it was one of the few spices native to the Western Hemisphere—called allspice in America and England. Despite a confusing name, it is actually one spice, said to possess the flavor and scent of a combination of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Some also find a trace of pepper or ground ginger; others have trouble finding more than a note of cloves.
Allspice was among the New World produce, including cocoa and vanilla, for which Sephardim early on held a virtual monopoly on the production and trade. When the British finished their conquest of Jamaica, wresting it from the Spanish, in 1655—only a year after Jews were officially allowed to live in England—allspice was introduced into British and American cooking and quickly became popular. For the following century, Jews by and large maintained their role in the allspice trade. Today, most of the world's allspice is still grown in Jamaica, where it is used to season jerk and barbecue. Farmers collect the mature green berries and dry them in the sun. Oil from the leaves is used in processed foods and cosmetics. Jamaican allspice is noted for its high oil content.
Allspice (tavalim m'oravim or pilpelet angli in Hebrew) emerged as an important seasoning in certain Middle Eastern cuisines, most n
otably Syrian, becoming the country's favorite spice. Allspice is rather assertive, so use it sparingly. It has a special propensity for sweets and is used to flavor pickles, sauerkraut, chutneys, tomato sauces, and meat dishes.
Almodrote
Almodrote is a vegetable and cheese casserole, often featuring eggplant.
Origin: Spain, Turkey
Other names: almatroc, almodroc, almodroti, cuajada, quajado.
In Spain, vegetables, eggs, and cheese served as the basis of everyday Sephardic cookery. By the thirteenth century, Sephardim were preparing fried patties of eggplant, cheese, and eggs, the first known account of this combination, in which the eggplant and cheese complement and enhance each other. Shortly thereafter, as home ovens were disseminated amongst the generally well-to-do populace of Spain, baked vegetable, cheese, and, egg dishes appeared. This trio was so identified with the Sephardim that the Inquisition considered it as a sign of Jewish cooking. These casseroles were designated kon queso (with cheese) or al horno (literally "in the oven").
Almodrote (from the Arabic al-matruq "hammered"), originally the name of an early Sephardic olive oil, cheese, and garlic sauce commonly used with eggplant, became widespread in Turkey. The Iberian sauce traces back to the Roman moretum, a curd cheese, herb, and garlic paste (akin to pesto) crushed in a mortar. Almodrotes contain a smaller amount of eggs than fritadas, concentrating on the seasonal vegetables and including plenty of cheese, and have a more custard-like texture. Eggplant is the most common vegetable used in almodrote, but zucchini is also popular. The addition of bread crumbs or potatoes reflects a Turkish influence, resulting in a firmer texture that holds together better when the casserole is removed from the pan. In Spain, almodrote came to also mean "hodgepodge."
Almodrote is served at room temperature as part of a desayuno (brunch), as well as warm as an appetizer for dinner or a main course at various dairy meals. It is typically accompanied with a green salad and bread or, on Passover, matza.