Jews all over the world celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, during September or October each year. A typical Rosh Hashanah festival meal might include apples and cholla (egg bread) dipped in honey, honey-baked carrots, called Tzimmes, with chicken, lamb or beef. This might be followed by Honey Cake and Taiglach - pastries made with honey.
Tzimmes is a dish that originates in Eastern Europe. The word tzimmes means to make fuss over something. In this case it's the detailed preparation and mixing together of lots of different ingredients. The recipe varies around the world but it is always a sweet dish and the main ingredients are always carrots.
The Yiddish word for carrots is "meren". The word has another meaning - to increase. The carrots take on an important role in the meal symbolising our intention to do more good deeds in the coming year. As the carrots resemble gold coins perhaps there will be an increase in income!
This recipe for a sweet carrot Tzimmes with beef serves six.
Sweet Carrot Tzimmes Recipe
Ingredients:
- One large onion
- 1.5 kilo boneless silverside of beef
- Two tablespoons vegetable oil
- 6 large carrots
- 1 lemon
- 5 medium sweet potatoes
- 16 dried prunes
- Boiling water
- Zest and juice of one orange
- 3 tablespoons runny honey
- 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1½ tablespoons brown sugar
- 1½ tablespoons plain flour
- 2 cm fresh ginger
- Himalayan salt and freshly ground pepper
How to Make Sweet Carrot Tzimmes:
Preheat oven to 180°/350°/gas 4
Stage One
- Slice the onion finely.
- Brown the onion gently and seal the meat on all sides in a heavy frying pan on top of the stove.
- Transfer the onions and meat into an oven dish with lid.
Stage Two
- Wash the carrots. Either scrape off any blemishes or peel if preferred and slice into thick coins.
- The lemon must be thinly sliced.
- Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into chunks.
- The prunes must be quartered.
- Peel the ginger and chop into very small pieces.
- Place the sliced carrots, lemon, sweet potatoes, ginger and prunes around the beef in the oven dish.
- Add salt and pepper if required.
Stage Three
- Mix 475 ml of boiling water with the orange juice and honey.
- Add the brown sugar to the flour.
- Add the sugar/flour mixture to the orange juice and honey.
- Add enough plain boiling water to this mixture. Stir well to make a syrupy mixture.
- Pour over the carrots and add sufficient boiling water to cover all ingredients.
- Cover and cook for four hours, then remove the lid and cook for a further 30 minutes. The meat should be well browned and the carrots cooked thoroughly.
Variations:
Substitute either chicken pieces or a whole chicken instead of the beef. Lamb is another favourite. In some homes the Tzimmes is cooked without any meat or fried onions and served as an accompaniment to fish. Try mopping up the gravy with home baked bagels.
Frances Spiegel - Frances Spiegel, B.A. Hons. (Open)., Dip.Eur.Hum., read Art History/European Modern History at the Open University.
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