Stirring the political pot

We sample family recipes from five political figures to bring this year’s election battle to the kitchen.

By AMY SPIRO, LAHAV HARKOV
Updated: FEBRUARY 8, 2019 10:08
A mix of dishes represents the tapestry of cultures of our politicians. (photo credit: AMY SPIRO)
A mix of dishes represents the tapestry of cultures of our politicians.
(photo credit: AMY SPIRO)
What kind of dinner party features Ahmed Tibi, Moshe Kahlon and Ilan Gilon? While we couldn’t actually get all those personalities to the table, we recently hosted a meal with representatives of a wide range of political figures: their recipes.
If you are what you eat, what better way to get to know the candidates than their favorite dishes? Our political culinary explorations took us from Buenos Aires to Tripoli, Moldova and Taiba – such are the flavors of Israel.
We sat down to our political themed dinner on the perfect evening – the night of the television debate on Channel 2 between eight party leaders. At our meal, just like at the debate, neither of the two major parties, Labor and Likud, were represented. Neither faction replied in time to participate in this article. Instead we collated recipes from Yesh Atid, Meretz, Kulanu, Yisrael Beytenu and the Joint (Arab) List.
Orly Levy-Abecassis, No. 2 on the Yisrael Beytenu list after Avigdor Liberman, is known for her work on social issues, particularly children’s rights.
And her own kids have their rights heard at the dinner table too. Levy-Abecassis sent us a recipe for a zucchini sweet potato casserole.
“I make this for my children,” said the mother of four. “One of my daughters is a vegetarian and she likes this casserole.
It’s delicious and healthy, and I’m glad that the whole family fell in love with it.
It’s also easy to make.”
The recipe is a simple and tasty side dish – or alternative main for a vegetarian – perfect for a busy mom on the go.
We found that the high water content of the zucchini made the dish a bit watery, and would recommend salting the zucchini and squeezing out the water before mixing with the other ingredients.
From Meretz, veteran MK Ilan Gilon submitted a recipe for traditional Romanian goulash, a dish familiar to the Moldavian native. Gilon is no stranger to the kitchen, and between his two stints in the Knesset he even opened a restaurant in Ashdod called Beit Ha’am. His secret weapon? Schmaltz.
“I almost always have schmaltz in the house,” he said, “which really improves the flavor.”
Schmaltz, the Yiddish word for poultry fat, is a common ingredient in Eastern European Jewish cooking, before margarine and oil were widely available.
“It really highlights the taste,” he said, “but you can do without if necessary.”
The meat-and-potatoes dish is a hearty and tasty meal, and could make up a complete dinner – with something to soak up all the liquid like bread or couscous.
Unfortunately we made it with oil – not schmaltz – but imagine the taste would only improve if you can follow the Meretz MK’s recommendations.
Moshe Kahlon, a former Likudnik who has just launched his own Kulanu party, is proud of his Libyan heritage, a culture rich in culinary traditions. One of the most famous is mafroum, a meat-stuffed potato dish that Kahlon’s mother, Misa, makes regularly for her seven children.
The recipe is a daunting one to tackle, with many steps and techniques, from the peeling to salting, stuffing, coating, frying and cooking. But hey, if Kahlon can promise to tackle the housing crisis, lowering the cost of living and reducing economic inequality, we figured we’d give the recipe a shot.
The unique mix of spices – baharat, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger – gives the dish lots of flavor, and it’s a rich, hearty meal. Give yourself plenty of time if you want to make it yourself at home, and find a pot wide enough to fit all your mafroum in a single layer.
Kahlon said he and his siblings return to his mother’s house in Givat Olga practically every Friday night for mafroum, which he calls his favorite recipe.
It’s clear Kahlon’s mother plays an important role in his life; when he appeared on satirical TV show Gav Hauma last week, he called on all the citizens of Israel to vote, “and if you’re not sure who to vote for, feel free to discuss it with my mother.”
Plenty of people have their favorite recipes, but only Ahmed Tibi loves his salad so much he taught the chefs at the Knesset cafeteria to make it so he could enjoy it at work. The Ta’al MK and chairman, who’s running with the Joint List for the 20th Knesset, has strong memories from childhood relating to food, including of his mother baking fresh pita to mark the annual oil harvest. The taste of his mother’s pita, dipped in fresh olive oil, is the best thing in the world according to Tibi.
“If you ask me what my favorite dish is, I’d say it’s this,” he told the Walla news website. “I prefer it over any steak. If I could rank it with Michelin stars, then I would give it all three.”
Though his mother was the baker, Tibi created the salad he serves alongside it – a mix of tomatoes, onion and hot pepper, topped, of course, with olive oil, which he says is his “specialty to make at home.”
Making fresh pita is a fun experience, and they puffed up beautifully in the oven. Though Tibi recommended baking them until browned, we found them a bit overdone then, and after consulting other sources recommended cooking them just a few minutes on each side, until totally puffed up. The salad was a favorite among some of the guests, and brought a nice, fresh flavor to an otherwise meat-heavy meal.
Haim Jelin, chairman of the Eshkol Regional Council and No. 7 on the Yesh Atid list, is a native of Buenos Aires, a region known for its beef-oriented diet.
Jelin does not disappoint, offering us a recipe for a spiced meat-filled pastry roll.
While he calls for store-bought puff pastry, we found it was just as delicious with a pastry crust.
The father of four says the dish, upgraded by the additions of raisins and pine nuts in the filling, is a quick, easy family favorite, which is swiftly “devoured by the kids.”
“What’s great about it is that it can be stored in the fridge, and when the kids come home from school the next day it will magically disappear,” he said.
“Don’t look for leftovers, because you won’t find any.”
While none of our guests were able to make a final voting decision based on either the debate, or the dishes, we all left with plenty of food for thought.
Mafroum from Misa Kahlon, mother of Moshe Kahlon of Kulanu
❖ 6-7 medium potatoes
❖ salt
Filling:
❖ 500 gr. ground beef
❖ 2 onions, finely chopped
❖ 1 bundle fresh parsley, chopped
❖ 3 Tbsp. bread crumbs
❖ 2 eggs
❖ 1 tsp. salt
❖ 1½ tsp. black pepper
❖ ½ tsp. baharat
❖ ½ tsp. cinnamon
❖ ½ tsp. nutmeg
❖ ¼ tsp. ground ginger
For frying:
❖ flour
❖ canola oil
❖ 4 Tbsp. water
❖ 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
❖ 2 eggs
Sauce:
❖ 1 onion, finely chopped
❖ 4 minced garlic cloves
❖ ½ tsp. cinnamon
❖ 1 tsp. sweet paprika
❖ 3 Tbsp. tomato paste
❖ salt
❖ water
❖ Optional: couscous
Peel and slice the potatoes to slices about 2 to 3 cm.
thick. In each slice, make a cut almost all of the way through, creating a pocket. Generously salt the potatoes, and let them sit for half an hour, then rinse the salt off.
Mix together the ground beef, onion, parsley, breadcrumbs, eggs, salt, pepper, baharat, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger until everything is evenly distributed.
Form the mixture into patties with your hands and use it to fill the potato slices.
Once you’ve filled all the potato pockets, lightly coat the assembled pockets with flour.
Heat a pot with canola oil for deep frying.
Mix together the water, tomato paste and eggs in a shallow bowl. Coat the potatoes in the egg mixture and add them to the hot oil and cook until they’re golden brown, flipping if necessary. Remove and set aside.
Take a couple of tablespoons of the oil and transfer it to a wide pot (alternatively you can drain off most the oil, leaving just a couple of tablespoons behind).
Add the onion and cook, stirring regularly, until browned. Add the garlic, cinnamon, paprika and tomato paste and stir to combine, cooking another 2 to 3 minutes. Add salt to taste. Arrange the mafroum in the pot and add water until halfway up the mafroum.
Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer, and continue cooking for about two hours, until the potatoes are cooked through (recommended to cook on a Shabbat plata). Serve with couscous.
Goulash from Ilan Gilon of Meretz
❖ Oil (or ideally schmaltz)
❖ 2 large onions
❖ 2 large red peppers
❖ 3 ripe tomatoes
❖ ½ head garlic
❖ 250 gr. tomato paste
❖ 2 kg. beef on the bone, cut into cubes
❖ salt and pepper
❖ hot paprika
❖ spicy paprika
❖ 10 medium potatoes
Heat the oil (2 to 3 Tbsp.) in a large pot. Peel and dice the onions, and add to the hot oil. Cook the onions until browned, stirring regularly. Dice the peppers and add to the onions, then cut up the tomatoes and add them to the pot. Cover the pot and cook the mixture over low heat, stirring regularly, until it cooks down to a thick, liquidy mixture.
Turn the heat to high and add the meat, peeled and sliced garlic cloves, salt, pepper paprika and tomato paste. Add water just to cover the meat.
Bring the mixture to a boil and reduce to a low flame, and continue cooking about two hours, stirring occasionally.
Peel and slice the potatoes and add them to the pot. Add more water if necessary to cover. Return the mixture to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cook, covered, until the potatoes are done. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste.
Zucchini-sweet potato casserole from Orly Levy-Abecassis of Yisrael Beytenu
❖ 6 medium zucchini
❖ 1 medium sweet potato
❖ 1 large white onion
❖ 3 eggs
❖ 1/3 cup canola oil
❖ 1¼ cups self-rising flour
❖ 1 tsp. chicken-soup mix
❖ Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 180º.
Peel the zucchini and sweet potato and grate both by hand or in a food processor. Peel and chop the onion into a very fine dice.
Mix all the vegetables together and add the eggs, oil, flour, chicken-soup mix and salt and pepper, mixing well until everything is completely combined.
Pour the mixture in to three greased loaf pans or the equivalent.
Bake the casserole for 25 to 35 minutes, or until lightly browned on top. Can be served hot, warm or at room temperature.
Meat roulade from Haim Jelin of Yesh Atid
❖ 2 to 3 Tbsp. oil
❖ 2 large onions
❖ 1 kg. ground beef
❖200 gr. raisins
❖ 100 gr. pine nuts
❖ Salt and pepper
❖ Store-bought puff pastry, defrosted
❖ 1 egg
Heat the oil in a pot or large pan over medium heat.
Peel and chop the onions into a small dice. Add the onions to the oil and cook, stirring every few minutes, until golden brown. Add the beef, raisins and pine nuts and stir until the meat is browned. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Preheat oven to 180º.
Unroll the puff pastry dough and cut it into four equally-sized pieces. Roll each one out, spoon the beef mixture into a line down the center of the pastry and roll it to seal. Repeat with the remaining three pieces of dough and the remaining beef.
Place all the rolls on a baking sheet with the seam side down. Prick the tops of the rolls with a fork a few times.
Beat egg together with a tablespoon of water, and brush it over the rolls. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the dough is golden.
Pita and tomato salad from Ahmed Tibi of the Joint List
Pita
❖ 1 kg. flour plus a little extra for rolling
❖ 2 cups water
❖ 1 Tbsp. instant yeast
❖ 1 Tbsp. salt
Mix together the flour, yeast and salt. Add in the water and mix until the dough comes together. Turn the dough out on to a surface and knead with your hands until the dough is flexible but not sticky. (If you poke it with your finger, the indentation should quickly refill – then you’ve kneaded enough.) Place the dough in a bowl, cover loosely and let it rise for an hour, until it’s about doubled in size (this time when you poke, the indentation should hold).
Divide the dough into 10 equal-sized pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, working the dough to create a smooth surface. Cover the dough and let rise for another 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180º. Lightly coat each ball in extra flour, then roll each out to a circle about 12 to 15 cm. in diameter.
Place the balls in the oven in a single layer (you’ll probably have to do a few shifts) and bake 2-3 minutes on each side. Let cool before putting in a closed container.
Salad
❖ 5 tomatoes
❖ 1 medium onion
❖ 1 green hot pepper
❖ Olive oil
❖ Lemon juice
❖ Salt
Cut the tomatoes and onion into small pieces. Add green pepper cut into thin strips. Pour on olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Toss and serve.