Salt of the Earth

I love salt. If you ask me what item I would totally be lost without in the kitchen, those little white granules are my number one power player.

Salt has an amazing history, as it often was used as a preservative and as a vital component to trading. There are a variety of salts around the world, ranging from Pink Himalayan to basic Kosher salt, which can be found at almost any market.

I found from an early age that it is salt that defines the flavors in a dish. Pepper can spice it up, but salt seems to blend in, find the good things in any dish and bring them forth on your palette. Sure, I may oversalt from time to time, but better to overdo it and get all the flavors than to have a bland plate of food (a salute to Tre from Top Chef Masters, one of my fave shows – Tom Colicchio may not have your back, but I do).

Sure, it’s gotten a bad reputation in the health world. But I don’t really care. I don’t mind hanging out with bad reputation people (or spices), when the truth is that it’s the heart of everything that matters.

There was another person in my life who liked salt just as much as I do. Regina Amira, my Nony, would make sure that everything was carefully salted. It seemed like everything she did tasted just right. And she loved salt with her foods.

There was a joke that her doctors were trying to get Nony away from salt due to her heart problems. They tried for years. Then, once she reached a certain age, my mother said, “Let her have what she wants. She wants salt? She can have it.” Nony probably would never have imagined the different types of salt that I use, but would have been extremely fascinated.

Nony was a “salt of the earth” person. Although I know that there is a reference to Christianity, from the “Salt and Light” sermon from the book of Matthew, there is debate about the original source of this phrase, including from the books of Prophets and even Exodus. But what I know about it is that the phrase means someone who is wise, humble, decent and not pretentious. It is the root of all that is good on this planet.

I thought of her as I was driving home the other day. I had heard people talking about how they are throwing their money around – on parties, trips across the world and whatnot – and thought about my life. I wondered if these people knew about suffering. Had they ever not had money, or someone to take care of them? As I recounted my younger years in Northern California, where my parents almost lost their home and were struggling to feed us, could they grasp what this meant?

Up until the age of 13, my parents fought to make ends meet. And there were Joe and Regina Amira, Papu and Nony, standing right behind them and helping in any way that they could. Kind, decent people who may not have had a lot of money in the lives, but knew in the end what counted. They fed us and nurtured us, doing their best to make sure that we would be like them – the salt of the earth, making the world better by being a source of goodness.

Salt means so much more than just for cooking. I know this because I have watched how, when we eat our bread on Friday nights, except for during the High Holy Days, we dip it in salt. It represents the tears we have shed, the humility to go with the pride of our puffed-up loaves. It’s something we seem not to remember as Jews, when we want to discuss our fancy new things, our richer-than-chocolate cake trips and ask people for money for “charitable causes.” We seem to pretend it doesn’t exist, or perhaps we forget.

Please do not forget where we came from. We should all aspire to be salt of the earth; do good and and be humble, quietly accenting the things around us.

So in honor of that sentiment, I am going to post a recipe that uses salt to bring out the sweet elements. In a way, this is a salt-of-the-earth recipe -- although I am now thinking about perfecting a salt-crusted fish.

ONION TART

3-4 yellow onions

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 garlic clove

2 tablespoons salt

1 pie crust

1 container semi-soft herbed cheese, like Alouette

1 small mozzarella cheese

Slice the onions into rings and mince the garlic clove. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Once heated, add the onions and garlic. Add the salt over, and mix slightly. Keep mixing as the onions begin to reduce. Just in case you don’t know, this is carmelizing your onions.

Once the onions are slightly reduced, cook the pie crust according to package directions. Once cooked, spread alouette on the bottom, allowing to melt slightly. Add the onions on top.

Slice the mozzarella cheese and place on top of the onion. Put the oven to broil and place the tart into the oven. Check to make sure the crust doesn’t burn and the cheese is melted after one minute. If not, check once a minute to make sure it doesn’t burn. Serve hot.

Islamophobia and the Jews

I have a friend Sunny, an Iranian Jew who could probably compete with me in the “most energy” department. She hosts a conversation café in Long Beach, where all faiths can represent and converse about important topics.

When I attended recently, I was sitting and talking to someone when a young man came up to me. He touched me slightly on the shoulder.

“Do you remember me?” he asked.

I paused. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him.

“From Cal State Fullerton…” he continued.

And then I remembered him. His name was Rashad, and he was a friend of my friend, Rudy. It was a flashback to the courtyard outside of the Humanities Building, sipping Italian sodas and talking about our lives.

“It’s so good to see you, Rashad!” I hugged him close. Sunny had no idea until afterwards that we had known each other, but I was so happy to be reunited from someone in my past who I shared wonderful conversations with – about our families, the foods that we ate and the life experiences we shared.

There was joy, but then I remembered the pain around the time that we met. A lot of the Jewish students that I was friends with couldn’t understand why I would be friends with the Muslims. I personally didn’t care. A friend was a friend, and I didn’t care who they were. After all, I came from Turkish descent – a place where, for centuries up until current times, Jews and Muslims lived side by side and worked together. In the end, it got me into a lot of trouble, to the point where certain people wouldn’t be friends with me.

It’s an unfortunate reality that we have to bring up in the Jewish community. I see it with my friends, and although I love them to pieces, I see that there is intolerance. I can’t mix my Muslim friends with my Jewish friends unless it’s people like Sunny – open, sincere and loving. It’s unfortunate that a people who faced so much discrimination over the centuries are more than willing to do it now in terms of Islamophobia.

I blame a lot of what’s going on in Israel for the fear. The situation is so sticky, and the Jews have so much pride in building a country from the bottom up which produces so much of the world’s technology, aids in the medical field and helps the desert bloom with agriculture. There are lots of people who feel that it has no right to exist, and should be blown to smithereens. It’s one of the many reasons why people there are so willing to discriminate, right down to the Rabbis who say that people shouldn’t rent apartments to Arabs. I guess the concept they have in mind is one of, “We should get them before they get us.”

But fortunately, we live in America. We are on the opposite hemisphere of these problems. We live in a country with the ability to discourse fully and practice our religions in peace. Although there are anti-Semetic bigots living in this country and people who aren’t willing to listen, there are more people who would love to get to know us, want to share a meal or a cup of coffee with us, want to know what Israel is like and what are the issues behind it. They also are respectful and allow us to agree to disagree.

This was why, when Cal State Fullerton became a war zone in my senior year, while other people were getting scared and trying to fight too much, I was drinking Italian sodas with Rashad and other Muslim kids, wanting to figure out a solution. We can waste all our time on hate, but it takes more effort to show love and embrace those around us.

I think that’s why I have been so drawn to food and cooking over the years. It’s something that we share, something that unites us. When I was in Washington, DC, the Muslims knew that I was kosher, so they would come to me and ask me where I was getting my food (as many Muslims will actually eat kosher meat, as it’s more stringent than Halal). The truth of the matter is that we may have our differences, but we all need to eat. I understand this, and I am willing to keep my kitchen table open for anyone who wants to share a meal with me.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Israel. I am not a self-hating Jew, and in fact am pretty proud of my identity. But being Jewish comes with a responsibility to those who came before me: to love and embrace those who are different than me, to be respectful and open, and of course to try to feed everyone. I do not believe in isolating myself. After all, I am a part of this world.

I applaud the efforts of anyone who is willing to make a difference – people like Sunny and my friend Lee Weissman, a wonderful man who started the blog Jihadi Jew (here’s the link: http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.com). The Olive Tree Initiative at UCI, although controversial, has those same intentions.

I know I’m going to get comments such as how naïve I am and how I am grossly overestimating the good in people. However, I’m not willing to allow myself to fall into bigotry. It’s against everything that I believe in. After all, it was Abraham that fathered both Islam and Judaism. We are one people.

The Meat of the Issue: Kosher Meat Shopping

It’ll be time soon. I’ll be looking in my freezer, and my meat supply will be running low. Sooner or later, it’ll be time to head back up to Los Angeles with my cooler and stock up on kosher meat.

It’s a huge production number – wake up early on a Sunday morning and head either up to Fairfax to Western Kosher or go to mid-city to Kosher Club. Load up the cooler with meat and some ice and get it back down as quickly as possible to Long Beach, where I put each piece in freezer bags as to prevent freezer burn so I don’t waste money on meat. The result tends to be $200-$300 worth of meat that needs to last for the next three months.

Living in Long Beach, our only source for kosher meat is Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods (which costs an arm, leg and kidney for a chicken). The Albertson’s near me has phased out a lot of its kosher meat, and none of the other major markets stock it. And although we have a kosher market in Orange County, I find that it’s trickier to shop there. Not everything is available when you want it or even how you want it. I love them, but going up to LA is easier in many respects.

I’m not the only one who does this. My mother-in-law in San Diego does a meat shop a couple times a year. Her community gets together and creates a big order for someone to go get meat up in the San Fernando Valley at a place called Ventura Kosher, and they bring it down. It’s not as necessary anymore, as they have more kosher meat selection now thanks to new-and-improved La Jolla Ralphs (which has its own kosher butcher and everything). But the struggle for people to get kosher meat outside of a major city center is tricky.

With the Internet, there are some people who can order their meat online and have it delivered, although it’s almost exclusively for the New York area. A friend of mine, when she started keeping kosher, said that she discussed with her then-roommate about having meat delivered from the Big Apple. I scratched my head a little with that one – after all, we have kosher meat in the greater Los Angeles area. We don’t need to be dependent on New York for that one (although my cousin Jacob said that it has kosher kobe beef – and I want that).

It leads to the usual story of supply and demand in the kosher community, mainly in the fact that it doesn’t exist in a lot of places. Many companies and shops know of the demand, so they can get away with price gouging and lower quality meats as long as people can get it local. The demand won’t go away because of the religious obligation, and it makes me sad that just because there is a built-in contingency that it allows the supply to not be as good.

In Los Angeles and New York, people are fortunate enough that they have their choice of kosher markets (not to mention several mainstream markets that provide for the community), so the ones that do the best job are the ones that get to stay open. It’s the same with the restaurants that are in the area: Since there is competition, the best (or the one that the public deems the best) are the ones that survive. However, in other parts of the country, there are places that only seem to be open because they are the only kosher options in the area.

It’s a request I made last Passover, and I’m going to make it again for the days outside those eight: Kosher shops, restaurants, etc., please put some effort in providing us good quality meats. In the non-kosher world, if you don’t put out good quality meat, you get busted or you don’t succeed over the other people who are delivering it. I think the same should apply for the kosher world. Let laissez-faire rule the kosher world!

And as a side note, please don’t be afraid to bust out some gourmet items. I know that dry aged beef is starting to come out, and there are kosher turduckens available online. Give us the good stuff; we’ll come out for it.

So here is a long promised recipe for one of my most diligent fans, Lisa Plante. I said that I made the perfect burger, and this is it. I love lamb, but you can’t make a burger out of lamb alone, as the flavor can get super-gamey and too much for the taste buds. But this is the perfect balance, complete with Mediterranean flavors.

THE PERFECT BURGER

1 pound ground beef

1 pound ground lamb

2 tablespoons ground garlic

1 tablespoon dried chopped rosemary (see Quick Tip)

Salt & Pepper to taste

Mix beef, lamb, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper to taste using your hands. Shape into burgers.

If pan-frying, heat a pan or griddle to medium-high. Cook the burgers for 4-5 minutes on each side. If using a George Forman grill, grill for 6-8 minutes at 350 degrees.

QUICK TIP: If you want your burgers to have more of an Indian feel instead of a Mediterranean one, substitute the rosemary for curry powder.

The War of Gefilte

People often ask me what I don’t like to eat, as I like almost everything. Typically, I only say bananas, as my sensitive palette doesn’t like the aftertaste of them and how they can overwhelm everything. I also dislike tomatoes, but it’s only a texture issue – I can eat ketchup and tomato sauce with no problems.

But there is another food that fills me with dread. It sends shivers up my spine just dwelling on the concept. I met it at a temple Passover seder at 11, when they put it on my plate. I asked what it was, and when I was told, I said, “I’m not touching that.”

It’s gefilte fish.

Mind you, I don’t get freaked out by all gefilte fish. My mother-in-law makes Susie Fishbein’s “Kosher By Design” three-layer gefilte fish pie for Shabbat sometimes, and that is delicious. Those are frozen loaves, and they aren’t too bad. The real fear comes in with the jar.

Ari’s cousin, Sabrina (who I adopted as my own because she’s so awesome) and I were going over it the other night. “I love that stuff!” she said. “I grew up on it. Your husband grew up on it. It’s good!”

But she could never convince me. As someone who knows and loves food, I know for certain that fish should a) never come in a jar, and b) never come with jelly. Doesn’t matter the flavor. Fish does not work with it, in my opinion.

Gefilte fish did not always inspire such “Psycho”-level shrieks of horror. There was a time where the Bubbes of Eastern Europe grinded their own whitefish, made it just so and without any icky stuff. There are still recipes of it, courtesy of that other Jewish-cooking wonder Joan Nathan. But it is gefilte that could possibly have been the downfall of the Jewish culinary tradition.

Think about what Jews have contributed to the world of food. In the Ashkenazi tradition, Jews gave the world the bagel and delicatessens filled with tasty meats like pastrami. In the Sephardic tradition, we taught the world that the Mediterranean diet was the healthiest way to live (one filled with fresh fish, fruits and vegetables and olive oil). And Israelis? Well, living in the Middle East allows them to perfect the art that is hummus. And not to mention that, for some odd reason, non-Jews seem drawn inexplicably to our creation known as matzah.

But just try showing someone gefilte fish without them freaking out, and wondering what the hell is up with the Jews that they would allow chewed-up-looking fish to be served out of a jar. It’s no wonder why people like Claudia Roden are shying away from it, favoring instead the Sephardic and Mizrahi communities for recipes, along with Indian and Chinese Jewish wonders.

I sometimes wonder if people relate kosher eating to the gefilte, as it’s probably the most traditional of Jewish dishes. It could be the reason why people are turned off by the concept of it. I mean, let’s face it – if faced with the chewed-up ickiness versus a piece of bacon, which one would you take? I’m kosher, but I know where I’d go first.

Which is why I am asking the nice Jewish people of the world to seek alternatives to the jar for your fish needs. I watched as my friend Merav stewed her fish on Friday nights in a spicy tomato mixture to serve as her fish course. It’s scrumptious, healthy and delightfully full of flavor. She stews it with beans along with delicious spices – what could be more delicious?

As for those who love gefilte, please introduce yourself to the loaf. It’s available in the frozen section of not only kosher markets, but also quite a few regular markets. It’s a lot nicer looking, and you can boil it and infuse it with flavor. And there isn’t a lick of jelly in sight.

So, in spite of the jar, I am going to give you a simple version of a fish that you can prepare at home. It’s pareve, so perfect for serving on Friday night, and it’s super-simple to bake up if you’re rushed for a meal. It’s also a special tribute to Merav and her courage to not grab the jar. P’tayavon!

CURRIED COCONUT FISH

1-2 lbs. mild white fish such as tilapia

1 can light coconut milk

3 tablespoons curry powder

Additional spices (see quick tip)

Salt and Pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a large baking dish. Place fish in an even layer in the dish and season with salt and pepper.

In another bowl, mix coconut milk, curry powder and additional spices. Pour over the fish. Place in the over and cook for 20 minutes. Serve hot. If main course, serve over vegetables or barley (I think spinach would go really well with the curry flavors). If serving on Friday night, feel free to take a page our of Merav’s book and mix in a can of rinsed garbanzo beans with the coconut to pour over the fish and serve alongside it.

QUICK TIP: As each curry powder is unique and different, feel free to experiment with what spices you want to add to the curry. I recommend ground clove, cinnamon, nutmeg and my favorite, garlic.

A Salute to the Veggies

Being kosher can be a tremendous challenge. Since the majority of the world’s Jews no longer keep the practice, it’s not something that many people don’t understand. I have been questioned about it a thousand times, and I’m sure I will be questioned about it a thousand more.

At least I’m in good company. In the land of California, everyone is on a different diet that it is easy to camouflage yourself. There are the gluten-frees, the no-white-stuff peeps and the raw diet rabbits. Trust me, I tried a raw meal once, where I ate nut cheese. It’s not an experience I want to repeat.

But I am going to sing the praises of a certain group of specific diet people. Mainly, the vegetarians and vegans (sorry, my pescatarian friends, but you’re going to have to sit out this number. I still love you, though).

It’s a hard world out there for you guys. With very little protein available, you have to make things work in a very different way. I still hear people talk about “It’s not healthy” to be a vegetarian or vegan. I hear stories of former vegetarians and vegans talking about how unhealthy they were.

However, for those who keep up with the lifestyle, I give kudos. It’s a hard choice. As a kosher girl, I understand. I’m weaker, because I like chicken, beef and lamb, and refuse to give those up. There are very few options for kosher though, so I go into vegetarian and vegan restaurants with great joy in being able to order anything off the menu. Whether it’s for health, ethics or environmental reasons, I give kudos for not falling into the cheeseburger world and playing with your veggies (I find veggies often a lot more fun to work with than meat).

Vegetarians and vegans have been getting more cultural acceptance in the United States, although the majority of the acceptance is here in California. Five years ago, when I was in Washington D.C. and requested a vegetarian meal at a luncheon at the National Press Club, I got a plate of slop with microwavable peas and carrots in it. I watched as the other vegetarians in the room wrinkled their noses in contempt.

Five years later, I was a dinner here in California. As everyone else was served chicken, I requested a vegetarian meal. Out came a beautiful plate of pasta with bright vegetables, parmesan cheese and a balsamic reduction. The meat eaters at the table sat there with their chicken cordon bleu while I was happily eating up my pasta, leaving them all jealous.

What I learned from that experience is that when it comes to creating food for vegetarians and vegans, you have to be more creative. I watch as many vegetarian and vegan places come up with uses for seitan, tempeh and tofu, which are absolutely extraordinary and downright tasty. I have seen Café Jay Vegetarian in Mira Mesa serve soy shrimp (which is absolutely delish) and the perennial L.A. favorite Veggie Grill create a fried chick’n sandwich to delicious results. Yesterday, I ate delicious fakin’ bacon at Zephyr, a vegetarian restaurant right here in Long Beach. Yums.

I have also watched as restaurants have been more veggie and vegan friendly – like my friends at Open Sesame, who have taken the time to mark the vegetarian and vegan menu items, or at Burger Bar in Las Vegas, where their vegan “burger” is actually two of the most delicious portabella mushrooms as the buns, and delectable veggies in the middle. And since Burger Bar is owned by Hubert Keller, a top-notch chef (and is also home to the BEST MILKSHAKE EVER), it says something to the great chefs out there – vegetarians and vegans aren’t going anywhere, so either give them something good or they’ll go somewhere else to get it.

So here’s to you, my veggie and vegan friends. May we of the kosher world continue to grow with you and enjoy all your delicious offerings. In the meantime, we are going to replay a recipe, for tofu coconut curry. P’tayavon!

TOFU COCONUT CURRY

1 block extra-firm tofu

¼ cup hoisin sauce

8 shiitake mushrooms

3 small heads bok choy

2-3 large carrots

4 green onions

4 garlic cloves

2 tablespoons sesame oil

2 cans light coconut milk

2-3 tablespoons curry powder

Other curry spices (see QUICK TIP 2)

Drain the tofu and chop into cubes (see QUICK TIP 1). Marinate in hoisin sauce. Meanwhile, slice the shiitake mushrooms and chop the bok choy (discarding roots and ends) and carrots. Slice the green onions and mince the garlic.

In a soup pan, heat the oil and add the shiitakes and carrots. Season with salt and pepper. Add the garlic. Saute for three to four minutes, then add the tofu. Cook for another two minutes, constantly turning the pan.

Add the bok choy and green onions. Add the coconut milk, curry powder and other spices. Allow to simmer until the coconut milk begins to reduce and the mixture begins to thicken. Serve hot over rice.

QUICK TIP 1: Tofu, if not drained properly, will fall apart during cooking. If your tofu is packed in water, remove it from the package and wrap it in paper towels. Put it on a plate and place another one on top with a heavy object to weigh it down. You may have to replace the paper towels several times. However, if you can find your tofu vacuum-sealed instead of packed in water, it will take you a lot less time to drain it.

QUICK TIP 2: I personally like my curry powder and coconut milk for the mixture because it doesn’t overpower the subtle sweetness of the mixture. However, there are certain components of the curry powder spice mix you like best – like ginger, tumeric, coriander and cumin, or even cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and mustard powder – that you may want to accentuate. If so, feel free to add them to your curry.

All Apologies

It’s been a while since I have been back here. So it’s time to shake off some dust and stretch out my apologies to the people who love YBK.

The past few months have been the source of endless drama and difficulties. I traveled cross-country, something that I dreamed of doing almost my whole life. I was able to afford an anniversary trip with Ari. But even those great highs could not compete with the low of depression regarding the situation that my husband Ari and I faced.

No job and no prospects for months led to me to crying fits, random blow-ups at people and difficulties coming to terms when our financial situation went from bad to worse. Although things seem to be turning around now (with my husband finally getting a job after two stark years of unemployment), it’s hard to shake the fact that we are struggling and still have to face the affects that unemployment has had on our lives.

I felt the pressure to try to turn the blog into a money maker, to make it into something that it’s really not. I loved certain products and wanted to feature them. I thought that making it appeal to salespeople would make me more successful. But it made me more empty, and I began to drift again.

So why have I decided to come back? The answer really came from a woman named Sandra from Jacksonville, Florida. She left a comment on one of my earlier blogs, and this is what it said:

Dear Reina, I found your post after searching for information from others who are kosher & taking Coumadin. All I can say is Thank You for continuing this blog. You never know the impact you have on others unless they share. I recently had a DVT blast through my heart and the bi-lateral PE(s) looked more like a shotgun blast; too many to count on each side. I just wanted you to know that reading your post made me feel better; a little less alone. Tikkun Olam comes in many different and unexpected forms :)

I felt comforted by Sandra. And I realized something that was very important about YBK – it’s not about me. I thought no one was listening, and that there was no point to this blog. But when I founded this, I sought to make a community, one that was united by stories and food. I wanted to make it like a table of friends coming together from all different backgrounds to share and enjoy one another.

Now, things are taking an interesting turn, and YBK will be rising from the ashes spread across the Internet. Here are some of the more interesting developments that we will be doing:

· We have combined with our friends at PunkTorah.org to help launch their site, NewKosher.org. We will be posting there as well as here, although there we will be on a different schedule – stay tuned.

· After much procrastination, I will be launching video. So excited! It was one of the biggest projects that I wanted to take on for Young, Broke and Kosher, straight from the beginning. I hope to shoot this week in my own kitchen, and possibly work out a deal to make it more professional.

· I have every intention of also launching youngbrokeandkosher.com and keeping that as the home of the blog, as well as launching a forum and other various projects. However, we need some cheap hosting for it. If you know anywhere that YBK can find its hosting home, please let me know.

· Also, I want to encourage other people’s creativity in the kitchen by featuring YOUR recipes. If you want to have your tasty dishes featured on this site, please shoot me an e-mail at youngbrokekosher@gmail.com. If you have a photograph to go with your dish, it would be appreciated.

So, welcome home, loyal YBKers, and greetings to all the newer people. YBK is officially relauched!