Stuffed Cabbage
1. The day before you plan to cook, put cabbage in the freezer. Take it out when ready
to start making the recipe, put it in the sink, and peel off leaves. 2. Heat oil in pot and add chopped onion. Saute until browned. 3. Add tomatoes and sauce or paste, 1 tbsp lemon juice, sugar, and 8 oz (1 can) of water. Bring to a boil. 4. Taste and balance. If too much taste, add a bit of water. If too little, add more lemon juice and/or sugar. 5. In a bowl: combine 2 - 3 spoonfuls of sauce into your protein of choice. Add rice, garlic (can choose to saute before or not), and salt and pepper.
In the kitchen, Judaism can be served up with every meal, where our sacred texts are the stories of our people, the tales of our past, and a commitment to continuity. of women extends far beyond the kitchen. Unlike previous generations, most women have little time to spend in the kitchen. We have to reclaim “Kitchen Judaism.” We may have to work harder now to make time for the kitchen, but there is just as much potential for learning in this traditional space as in generations past. We must be willing to take risks to reinvent the synagogue. Can students talk about the meaning of Shabbat while braiding challah in the temple kitchen? Could we remodel our social hall to feel more like a coffee shop? Could this be a place where people might spend hours, either in personal reflection or in hevruta (group study), debating and considering ancient texts, and the newfound meanings relevant to life today? Future Jewish leadership must also find a way to make Judaism relevant outside the walls of the synagogue. Dwindling numbers in synagogue membership do not have to mean that we are losing Jews. Rather, it means that we have been charged in the
6. Form small balls of protein mixture (slightly bigger than a ping pong ball). Take a piece of cabbage and wrap it around the mixture. Place mixture in the middle of a cabbage leaf. Best technique I’ve found is to fold two sides in and then roll from top to bottom. It keeps the protein inside as it cooks and makes for easier service later. 7. Place in pot, add any extra cabbage on top. Make sure everything is covered by the sauce. 8. Cover and cook on medium – low heat for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Recipe courtesy of Jessy Gross’s Grandma Florry
rec ipe
1 28 oz can of crushed pureed tomatoes 1 8 oz can tomato sauce or paste 2 tsp olive oil 1 tbsp lemon juice 1 tbsp sugar 1 large medium onion, chopped 1 lb ground beef OR soy protein crumbles (I like Morningstar best) 2 handfuls of raw rice 1 clove of garlic salt and pepper
Photo by Christian Guthier
coming generation to be more creative to cook up some new recipes for Jewish identity. Let us bring together parent-child chaverot (study partners) to cook one another’s famous family recipes for the holidays, sharing stories of where they came from and why a recipe is special. We can gather young people together to cook their favorite foods and then help serve them at a local food shelter on a wintry day. On Hanukkah, let us host a party and ask every person to bring something to fry. The scholars who emerge from Jewish academies, yeshivot, and modern seminaries have been great contributors to Jewish tradition and practice. In overlooking the kitchen, however, we have overlooked the place where cultural Judaism has been kneaded and formed. In this space, generations have learned what being Jewish is. They have come to understand the commitment to teaching love and responsibility from one to the other. They have transmitted recipes of heritage and tradition. As part of my rabbinic studies, I spend significantly more time in the Beit Midrash than I do my kitchen. But when I come home, I prepare my grandma’s famous stuffed cabbage recipe—except that I replace the ground beef with soy crumbles, so that I can make it in my milchig (dairy) kitchen. This family recipe has travelled from Europe to Brooklyn. Now, with my changes, I can serve it at dairy potlucks throughout West L.A. As I grow into the rabbinate, I am committed to adding some new ingredients to Jewish continuity. I envision a new kind of Jewish gathering place—one that I hope will continue the tradition as hands-on and thought-provoking. Jessy Gross is 28 and lives in Los Angeles, by way of Washington, DC, San Francisco, and Jerusalem. She is a third-year rabbinic student at HUC – JIR.
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issue seven 2009
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