Spanish Purim

Purim came and passed so quickly… The children wish it would last at least a week! Purim is the Jewish carnival, but it’s more than dressing up and having fun… We celebrate the miraculous salvation of the Jews of Persia from the plot of the evil Haman, thanks to pretty Queen Esther and her righteous uncle Mordechai… so Purim is about celebrating our survival and unity: we send each other gifts of food, we give money to the poor, we listen to the Meguila and of course…. we eat a festive meal. This is after all the summary of pretty much every Jewish holiday: “They tried to kill us, we won! Let’s eat!!!!“

So Purim was a lot of fun: we held a big party on Monday evening with Sefardi style, ladino songs, sefardi traditional menu… Mendel and I dressed up as a Spanish couple… Rita Gabai Tazartes told us a little bit about the history of the Jews of Spain, and Alberto Gabai impressed us all with his musical talent playing the harmonica and the piano… Leon Gavrilidis sang a few songs, leaving us with a taste for more… Let’s not forget the quiz game animated by the wonderful M. Halegoua, which elicited a lot of laughter: “Who want to be a millionaire?” . My own question is: “Who doesn’t?!!!” J. I will put up pictures in our photo gallery this week, b”n. Then on Tuesday, we visited the old age home Resteion, where Mendel read the Meguila and then we sang and danced with the residents….

Here are 2 recipes of typical Sefardi delicacies:

Eggs Haminados:

10 eggs

Onion peels (a lot, you can get them from the market at the end of their day)

1 tbsp oil

1 tbsp coffee

1/2 tbsp salt

½ tbsp pepper

Bring eggs to a boil, in a deep pot. Add all other ingredients and lower the fire. Let it simmer for at least 6 hours. The eggs will take a brown color as well as a delicious taste.

Leek cutlets (prasokeftedes):

2 kg leek

1-2 eggs

50 gr of bread crumbs or Matzah meal

Salt, Pepper

Optional: baking powder

Clean and cut the leek, discarding the ends.

Boil the leek, drain and grind it in mixer (if you have a meat grinder to make it very small, it’s even better).

Mix in a bowl with the eggs, the bread crumbs, season to taste. The mixture should not be too dense.

Form round cutlets and fry in oil, from both sides. Dry on absorbing paper.

They can be served warm or cold.

Variation: You can bake the mixture as a pie in the oven.