by Gil Marks
1 cup warm milk (105°F to 115°F for dry yeast; 80°F to 85°F for fresh yeast)
½ to ¾ cup sugar
4 cups (20 ounces) bread or unbleached all-purpose flour
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon table salt or 2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons grated orange zest or 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (optional)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened and cut into 1-tablespoon pieces
Confectioners' sugar for dusting
1. Soak the raisins in the kirsch until softened, at least 30 minutes.
2. In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in 1/3 cup milk. Add 1 teaspoon sugar and let stand until foamy, 5 to 10 minutes. Place the flour in the bowl of an electric mixer and make a crater in the center. (Do not use a food processor.) Add the yeast mixture, remaining milk, remaining sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt, if using, zest, and any excess kirsch from the raisins (but not the raisins) and beat until the dough clears the sides of the bowl, about 5 minutes.
3. Lift the dough out of the bowl, then return. With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in the butter, about 2 minutes. Stir in the raisins. Cover loosely with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until nearly doubled in bulk, about 1½ hours.
4. Grease a 12-cup kugelhopf pan or 10-inch Bundt pan. Stir down the dough and pour into the prepared pan—the dough should reach halfway up the sides. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
6. Bake until the kugelhopf is golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. If the kugelhopf browns too quickly, cover loosely with aluminum foil. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then unmold while still warm and transfer to a wire rack. Just before serving, sprinkle with the confectioners' sugar.
Kuku
Kuku is a vegetable-packed omelet.
Origin: Persia
Other names: kookoo.
Persian cuisine is marked by a subtle blend of vegetables and herbs that enhances but does not overwhelm the primary ingredient of a dish. Exemplifying this is kuku, a popular Persian egg "pie" that is usually packed with vegetables, cut into wedges, and served warm or at room temperature, accompanied with flatbread. The term kuku resembles a Farsi word for fowl, perhaps derived from the sound of its call and also connecting it to the fundamental part of the dish, eggs. In addition to using the original method of cooking the omelet in a skillet, today's cooks also bake kuku in the oven as a casserole.
The most popular variation is the bright green kuku-e sabzi or kukuye sabzi (sabz means "green" in Farsi; sabzi denotes mixed fresh herbs), a genuine Persian comfort food reflecting the complex seasonings of Persian cuisine; the miscellaneous ingredients mellow when combined and mixed with the eggs. Since kuku-e sabzi can be served warm or at room temperature, it often graces the Persian Sabbath table as a side dish or as part of a mezze (appetizer assortment), not as a main course. Kuku-e sabzi is found at diverse occasions such as a Purim feast or a meal at a house of mourning, because the eggs and greens represent the life cycle and renewal. As a fried food, it is also a traditional Hanukkah dish, typically served with rice and stews or yogurt.
Persian Omelet (Kuku)
4 to 6 servings
[PAREVE]
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 large yellow onion or 2 medium leeks, chopped
1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric
6 large eggs, lightly beaten
About ¾ teaspoon table salt or 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
Ground black pepper to taste
1. In a 9- to 10-inch skillet, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until soft and translucent, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in the turmeric. Remove the onions from the skillet and let cool slightly. In a medium bowl, combine the onions, eggs, salt, and pepper.
2. In the same skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat. Pour in the egg mixture, cover, and simmer over low heat until the bottom is set, about 10 minutes. Loosen the edges and slide the omelet onto a large plate.
3. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the skillet and invert the omelet, uncooked side down, into the skillet. Cover and continue cooking until set and golden brown, about 5 minutes. To serve, cut into wedges. Serve warm or at room temperature, with yogurt and flatbread, if desired.
Variations
Persian Spinach Omelet (Kuku-e Esfinadge):
After adding the turmeric to the sautéed onion, stir in 1 cup cooked, chopped, and squeezed spinach.
Persian Vegetable Omelet (Kuku-e Sabzi):
After adding the turmeric to the sautéed onion, add 1 bunch minced celery, 2 cups minced spinach or chard, 1 cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley, ½ to 1 cup minced scallions, and, if desired, ½ cup chopped fresh dill or ¼ cup ground walnuts. Sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in 4 teaspoons all-purpose flour.
L
Labaneh
Labaneh is yogurt cheese.
Origin: Middle East
Other names: Arabic: labna, labane, labneh, labni; India: dahi, dehin.
Labaneh (from the Arabic laban "milk/white") is the common Israeli name for a soft, white semisolid dairy product made by draining the whey from goat's, sheep's, or cow's milk yogurt. Depending on the degree of draining, labaneh can have the texture of sour cream or be nearly as thick as cream cheese. Labaneh developed as a method of expanding yogurt's shelf life and utility. In the Levant, for even longer storage over the winter, labaneh was made in a mass quantity, rolled into balls, dried, and stored in olive oil.
Labaneh is used as a spread or dip or as a low-fat substitute for cream cheese and sour cream in many recipes. For extra flavor, it is blended with garlic and, sometimes, minced cucumbers (khyar labni), roasted red bell peppers (mahammara labni), or spinach (sabanigh labni), or sprinkled with chopped fresh dill, mint, or thyme. Labaneh is also spread over a serving platter or rolled into balls (zanakeel labni), drizzled with olive oil, and sprinkled with sumac, za'atar, or crushed spearmint (labni b'tum w'naanaa). In Israel, containers of labaneh, plain, as well as balls soaked in olive oil, are available in groceries.
(See also Cheese, Leben, and Yogurt)
Lablabi
Lablabi is a vegetarian soup originally made from dried hyacinth beans, but more recently from chickpeas or sometimes fava beans.
Origin: Tunisia
Other names: leblebi.
The hyacinth bean, also called Indian bean and Egyptian bean, is an Indian native and longtime resident of the Mediterranean. It has white, yellowish, or black pea-shaped seeds. Its Arabic name is lablab, connoting the rattling sound of its seeds in a dried pod. When young, the pods are harvested as vegetables. Hyacinth beans have a major drawback—the dried mature beans contain toxic levels of cyanogenic glucosides that require boiling several times in water to extract. In some places and times, cooks went through the trouble of repeatedly boiling the beans in order to use them as a basis for a soup named lablabi. However, the more popular, widespread, and safer chickpea, as well as occasionally the fava bean, is commonly substituted for hyacinth in this popular garlicky Maghrebi soup. Lablabi is the unofficial national dish of Tunisia.
Lablabi was regular fare among many in the Maghreb; the poor scrimped on or omitted the vegetables and relied only on chickpeas or fava beans for a filling dish. The soup gets a little kick from harissa (chili paste) and an earthiness from cumin. A creamier version is made by adding yogurt. Spooning the soup over bread cubes transforms it into a vegetarian meal. It is typically made in a large batch, especially in the wintertime, then heated up for breakfast or, just before siesta time, lunch. Tunisians like to garnish lablabi with various savories, including capers, a soft-cooked egg or chopped hard-boiled eggs, and flaked tuna fish. It is also sometimes enlivened with a drizzle of lemon juice and olive oil. Once in the soup bowl, Tunisians lightly or completely mash the ingredients together
using two spoons to produce a thick stew, but the soup can also be pureed in a blender or food processor for a smooth texture.
In Turkey, lablabi became a snack made from roasted chickpeas flavored with spices or sugar.
Laffa
Laffa is a flatbread—larger, fluffier, and chewier than pita, used to make rolled or wrapped sandwiches.
Origin: Iraq
Other names: aish tanur, khubz el-taboon, lafa, laffah, taboon bread.
In Iraq, the standard flatbread is known as aish tanur (clay-oven bread), but when used for a sandwich it becomes laffa from the Arabic meaning "wrap/roll." In Iraq, a common lunch or snack, typically purchased from small shops or pushcarts, is laffa amba, a piece of bread enwrapping curried mango condiment (amba) and, sometimes, hard-boiled egg and tomatoes. Iraqis brought the bread to Israel, where it became a staple and is called laffa whether part of a sandwich or not. Laffa is larger than a standard pita (it is about a foot in diameter), the texture is fluffier and chewier, and it does not have a pocket. Consequently, food is placed on top and then rolled up in it. One advantage of laffa is that it is less likely to crumble or sprout a leak than the flimsier pita. Very thin versions of laffa are known as sajj, named after the convex metal griddle on which it is cooked.
In Israel, laffa follows only pita in popularity for fast-food fare. Israelis use laffa for the Iraqi sabich sandwich, as well as to enclose falafel, shawarma, kebabs, grilled chicken, and almost anything the imagination can pile in a sandwich. It is also served at home as the backbone of a light meal with various spreads and dips, such as baba ghanouj, hummus, labaneh (yogurt cheese), and muhammara (red pepper relish), or for mopping up a sauce.
Laffa has become engrained in the Israeli cuisine and culture. In 1995, the underground Israeli band Tipex released the album "Your Life in a Laffa," a witty and edgy look by Mizrachim at Israeli society. The album's title is from the Israeli slang expression, "v'kol zeh b'laffa" (and all of that in a laffa). This refers to a person who is overly precise and demanding in their instructions, such as someone who orders a falafel with very exacting directions as to which ingredients are wanted and how they are to be arranged, ending with the instruction "and all that in a laffa."
Lag B'Omer
Lag b'Omer (thirty-third in the Omer), or among Sephardim, Lag l'Omer (thirty-third to the Omer"), is a minor holiday marking the thirty-third day of the counting of the Omer.
The biblical word omer, from the root "to heap together," variously refers to a sheaf of grain, a specific measurement (the volume of 43.2 eggs—approximately 9 1/8 cups), and a communal flour offering from the newly harvested barley brought on the second day of Passover.
No grains from the current year could be consumed until after the Omer offering was brought. Upon offering the Omer, Jews would then verbally count for forty-nine days, corresponding to the amount of time from the Exodus until the revelation on Mount Sinai. On the evening following the forty-ninth day of counting, they celebrated the festival of Shavuot. Although grain offerings can no longer be brought, Jews continue the practice of "counting the Omer" each day from the second day of Passover.
The months following Passover were once a time of great happiness—the pantry was stocked with the abundance of the barley crop and expectations ran high for the upcoming wheat harvest. Then a series of national tragedies transformed this span into a very somber one. The Talmud relates that during one of the rebellions against Rome, twenty-four thousand students of Rabbi Akiva died from a plague—some scholars speculate that this plague was actually the Roman army—during the Omer period. (Rabbi Akiva rose from being an illiterate shepherd to become one of the most important Jewish scholars; due to his support of the Bar Kokhba Rebellion, he was killed by the Romans around 135 CE). The Bar Kokhba rebellion against Rome (132—135 CE), ended disastrously with much of the land of Israel decimated. Cassius recorded that 585 Jewish villages were leveled. This was when the real Diaspora began. Furthermore, most of the devastation on the Ashkenazic communities brought by the Crusades, beginning in 1096, occurred in the spring, after the European rivers melted from the winter ice. Subsequently, the Omer became a time of prolonged mourning.
There is an exception to the melancholy nature of the Omer period, a minor holiday of uncertain origin on the eighteenth day of the month of Iyar on the thirty-third (lag in Hebrew numerology) day after the Omer. The Talmud records that on this day the plague devastating Rabbi Akiva's students abated. In essence, Lag b'Omer recognizes and unofficially commemorated the Bar Kokhba rebellion.
Rabbi Moshe Schreiber (1762—1839) known as Chatam Sofer, indicated that this was the day on which the manna, which fed the Jews during their 40-year stay in the wilderness, first appeared, contributing to the celebratory nature of the day. Around the same time, the Chasidim also recognized Lag b'Omer as a festive holiday.
One Talmudic figure in particular became associated with Lag b'Omer—Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, an important student of Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Shimon and his son spent thirteen years in hiding from the Romans before the Bar Kokhba revolt. After the Zohar, the essential book of Kabbalah, appeared in the 1290s, Rabbi Shimon was considered by some to be its author. Rabbi Shimon's students disguised clandestine visits to their teacher as outings or hunting expeditions. Therefore, bows and arrows became the symbol of Lag b'Omer. Carob is a traditional food, as legend has it that Rabbi Shimon and his son were sustained by a carob tree during their years of hiding.
Lag b'Omer is a public holiday in modern Israel. Thousands make an annual pilgrimage on the day to Rabbi Shimon's grave in Meron, (in the Upper Galilee near Safed), where they honor his memory with song and dance. Others visit the tomb of Simon ha'Tzadik in Jerusalem. The day is customarily celebrated with picnics and bonfires. Israelis typically enjoy various cookout foods, and wrap whole potatoes and onions in aluminum foil and roast them in bonfires. Hard-boiled eggs are another traditional item—they are associated with mourning and rebirth, but are also convenient to schlep on picnics. Moroccans typically serve pastilla/bisteeya ("pigeon" pie) and kaab el ghazal (almond-filled crescent cookies). Many American Jews eat Middle Eastern fare on this holiday.
Lagman
Lagman is a thick meat and vegetable soup, traditionally served with hand-pulled noodles.
Origin: Uzbekistan
Bukharans take advantage of seasonal fresh produce to make an array of soups, which are served in deep ceramic bowls. A mainstay during the fall and winter are stewlike soups called vadzha, which make a hearty main course for lunch or dinner. The favorite vadzha is a meat, vegetable, and noodle version known as shurpa lagman (noodle soup) or simply lagman.
Lagman, the Bukharan word for noodles, is derived from the Chinese liang mian (cold noodle). The term is related to the more well-known lo mein (pulled/separated noodles). Less than two millennia ago, the concept of noodles and some of the soups in which they were served traveled from China along the Silk Road to central Asia, perhaps brought westward by the nomadic Uyghur. In Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, the noodles tend to be thicker than those in China and the soups thicker and spicier.
There is no exact recipe for shurpa lagman. The amount and types of vegetables and seasonings differ depending on personal preference and availability. Most Bukharans use a tomato-based broth. Carrot is the most common vegetable used. Cooks from Tashkent typically add black radish. Generally, this chunky soup consists of small pieces of meat (usually mutton) and assorted vegetables served over long, thick homemade noodles (hand-pulled ones are preferred). Few Bukharans would use store-bought dry pasta. When served without the noodles and with a slightly more liquid broth, the soup is called shurpa.
A traditional Bukharan soup features handmade noodles similar to Chinese lo mein, from which they were inspired. The traditional way to make these noodles is to continuously stretch the dough into thinner threads, while occasionally slapping the long strands onto a surface to break down the gluten, resulting in pliant, chewy noodles.
Bukharan L
amb, Vegetable, and Noodle Soup (Lagman)
6 to 8 servings
[MEAT]
¼ cup vegetable oil
1½ pounds boneless lamb or beef shoulder, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced
3 to 5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon sweet paprika, ½ teaspoon red chili flakes, or 1 teaspoon paprika and ¼ teaspoon cayenne
1 to 1½ teaspoons ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground coriander
About 1 teaspoon table salt or 2 teaspoons kosher salt
Ground black pepper to taste
¼ cup tomato paste (optional)
2 cups (1 pound) peeled, seeded, and chopped tomatoes
2 large carrots, cut into ½-inch cubes
2 medium boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes
2 medium Italian frying peppers or red bell peppers, seeded and sliced
1 cup (7 ounces) ½-inch-diced black radish or daikon (Asian radish)
1 to 2 medium turnips, peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes
1 cup cooked chickpeas (optional)
2 quarts lamb broth, beef broth, or water
About 1 tablespoon cider, rice, or wine vinegar (optional)
1 recipe (1 pound) Egg Noodle Dough, cut into ¼-inch-thick strips, freshly boiled about 2 minutes, and drained
¼ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, cilantro, or mint (optional)
1. In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the meat and brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove the meat.
2. Add the onions and sauté until light gold, about 15 minutes. Stir in the garlic, paprika, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, and, if using, tomato paste. Add the tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, peppers, radishes, and turnips and cook, stirring frequently, until slightly softened, about 10 minutes. Return the meat and, if using, add the chickpeas.
3. Add the broth. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until the meat is tender, about 1½ hours. The soup may be cooled, stored for up to 3 days ahead, and reheated, adding a little more broth if necessary. If the flavors are flat, stir in the optional vinegar.
