Cholent....

In some places in the world, it is winter time, also here it should be, here I mean Israel were I live right now, but since the climate has been changing, we are getting less and less cold days and rain. Today it was 27c in Tel Aviv during the day and not a drop of rain in the horizon, something that some of my friends around the world would envy.

As for me, well I would love to have some winter, God knows we need the rain! The sea of Galilee is near the black line which is lower than the red line, and I don't think they have thought of any new color for after it passes the black line, how about fluorescent yellow ? I would love to have some real cold weather, so I can put to use my winter clothes that are collecting dust in the closet and have nice warm winter dishes with friends and family as the rain taps on my window, and it is cold and gray outside.

One of the most famous Jewish winter dishes is Cholent or Hamin, ( The Sephardi name), thanks to its slow and long cooking time Cholent makes the perfect dish for Saturday lunch when observant Jews can't light a fire and cook. There is nothing like the smell of Hamin that spreads through the house on a Saturday morning as I wake up and walk in to the kitchen to take a peak at the wonder that was cooking all night, most of the time, I can't resist, and I take a spoon just for a taste well.... Maybe two.

Cholent is also a good dish for these times of economical crisis since the products are easy to get and relatively cheep of course you can use high quality and expansive Products if you can afford it but it is definitely not a must. The pot takes every thing you put in it, and the magic happens over night.

There are many ways to make a Cholent and each house hold has its own family traditional way of making, so if you do not have a tradition yet , and never tried this dish before the coming weekend is the best time to experiment and explore, just remember one rule the Cholent comes out as good as the people who made it and the guests that are coming to eat it for some reason the Cholent i had during my military crevice was one of the worst and i do not blame the chefs but the army.

A week ago on Saturday I was invited by friend Liora Tzor for Cholent I knew she was an amassing photographer, one of the most talented I ever met. However, to be honest I never thought she could cook so I thought about it, calculated the risk and said to myself, "well it is very hard to make a bad Hamin I do know the chef is a good person and me, well I guess I am a good guest, so it seems safe". I asked "what should I bring?" and the answer was, "Coca Cola the best drink with Cholent".

On Saturday I woke up with this horrifying hang over from partying the night before, all I could think of was the Cholent as it is one of the better ways to kill the after effects of last night. I bought the drink and arrived at lunch time, the smell of the hot dish grabbed me as I was walking up the stairs it was perfect. the hang over began to disappear; I said a quick hello and ran to the kitchen to have a look announcing that I was starving.

Liora served the dish a brown unidentified mash in glass bowls, I tasted it was fantastic the hangover was gone and the only thing I could do was to eat and ask for more, I must say that I was missing one thing with Liora's Cholent and that was more. so I imidiatly asked for the recipe and it was gladly given with a note don't forget the Hamin comes out as well as the guests are and I added and the cook.

Liora Tzor Cholent recipe
As for this kind of recipes there isent one just basic guide lines that can be followed.
Beans all sort of beans in diffrent colors and shapes Wilde colored rice wheat eggs garlic meat for rost. All the legume on Thursday night goes into water to soak until Friday the water must be changed every several hours. (That is most important to prevent after effect.)
Then we fry every thing in a pot with some oil and add water and spices. Liora added some chili not to much just to get a lite spicy after taste, mixing every thing together adding the eggs and closing the lid and leaving the pot to cook on the smallest fire.

Happy Thursday every body.