I love visiting the shuk in Jerusalem. I breathe in the clear air and feel like I’m feeding my soul with all the goodness found in the holy city.
By PASCALE PEREZ-RUBINUpdated: AUGUST 16, 2020 10:20Jerusalem's Mahaneh Yehuda shuk(photo credit: NETA LIVNEH)
In the days just before the COVID-19 lockdown, I was lucky enough to take a tour of Mahaneh Yehuda with two talented women: Chen Koren and Neta Livneh. Chen likes to lead “meals that are also tours,” and Neta, a dietitian and photographer, kept me in line regarding calories.Learn more about Pascale's Kitchen here>>I love visiting the shuk in Jerusalem. I breathe in the clear air and feel like I’m feeding my soul with all the goodness found in the holy city.Mahaneh Yehuda is made up of four sections, Koren explains. The first is the open-air section that starts on Agrippas Street and reaches all the way down to Jaffa Street at the other end. Parallel to this is the covered section, which includes fruit and vegetable stands, restaurants, coffee shops and pubs. At night, you’ll find this area full to capacity with people young and old. The third section is the Iraqi shuk, and the fourth the Gruzini, or Georgian, shuk.The Gruzini shuk is pretty small, and most of the stalls are closed. There’s one pub and a couple of vegetable stalls.The Iraqi shuk includes a large courtyard where you’ll find lots of fruit and vegetable stands that offer high-quality, seasonal produce, as well as the restaurant Azura. You’ll never find any fruits that are not in season, as you can in the covered part of the shuk.Our first stop that day was Hava Brothers Bakery, which has been operating for over 50 years. It makes pita bread without yeast that is baked by sticking the dough on the sides of the oven. It also makes special dried pita bread that traditionally was eaten on long journeys, since it lasts for a long time.Next was Marzipan Bakery, a popular stop on every tour, which has been making its syrupy rogelach for over 30 years. These rogelach are famous the world over, although if you walk through Mea She’arim, you’ll see that traditional rogelach are crescent-shaped (the word “rogelach” in Yiddish means “horn-shaped”) and are dry and not sticky at all. The modern Jerusalem-style rogelach that you find at Marzipan is a blend of Eastern and Western Jewish culinary cultures.Our third stop was Malawach, which serves a fusion of traditional and modern Yemenite tastes, while fun, rhythmic music plays in the background. You can top your malawach with spicy grated tomatoes, dried fried onion, slices of hard-boiled eggs, fried eggplant, tehina, freshly chopped parsley and a whole host of other surprises.Next, we made a quick stop at the Basher family’s fromagerie, a cheese shop where you can taste unusual offerings, such as pesto gouda. One interesting fact I learned here is that most cheese makers in France are women. The shop offers over 600 types of cheese that hail from all over the world – and all of them are kosher.
By this time, it was midday, and we were all getting a little tired. So Koren steered us toward Azura, which she said is a must for anyone who truly wants to experience the flavors of Mahaneh Yehuda. The restaurant has been in operation for close to 70 years, and for most of these years it has served lunch to people working in the shuk. At Azura, the Syrian-Iraqi-Turkish dishes are prepared in huge pots that are cooked over kerosene burners.After lunch, we stopped by Kahn Hamutzim, which was founded in 1948. Here we tasted herring, olives and all sorts of pickled items, in addition to a piece of Yerushalmi kugel that was cut off of a huge block. Next, we got to smell a variety of spices that are sold at an Ethiopian spice shop.The makeup of Mahaneh Yehuda is constantly changing, as stalls are sold and reinvented as pubs. One creative entrepreneur named Keren started a business venture in which people all around the country can order an assortment of products from the shuk. These are great presents for friends who have just given birth or are stuck at home in quarantine. These wooden boxes contain fresh fruits and vegetables, cheese, roasted sunflower seeds, baked items – in other words, all the good stuff you can find at the shuk.You can probably imagine that it’s difficult to convince shop and restaurant owners in the shuk to share their trade secrets, so below you will find three of my own recipes that come as close as possible to food I tasted while visiting the shuk.LAFFA BREADBake in a large pan.Makes 11 pieces.1 kg. flour2 tsp. sugar1 Tbsp. (10 gr.) dry yeast650 ml. water1 Tbsp. (20 gr.) salt4 Tbsp. olive oil4-5 Tbsp. olive to cover ballsTo prepare the dough, add the water, yeast and sugar to the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix well by hand with a whisk and then let it sit for a minute or two.Mix with the electric mixer that’s been fitted with a dough hook. Slowly add the flour while mixing for 2 minutes. Add the oil and salt and mix for another 8 minutes. Dough should be a little sticky. Make 11 balls and place them gently in an oiled bowl. Each ball should be 150 gr. or less. Cover bowl with a towel and let rise another 20 minutes. Pour the rest of the oil on a tray and roll each ball in the oil and then place on the oiled tray. Let the balls rise another 20-30 minutes.Take each ball and flatten into a circle. Let them rest another 10 minutes.Heat a large nonstick frying pan (no need to add oil). Stretch each circle out a little more and then lay them on the pan for 2-3 minutes. Flip them over to the other side and cook until second side is golden brown.Level of difficulty: Medium.Time: 1.5 hours.Status: Parve.Laffa bread (Photo Credit: Neta Livneh)CHICKPEA SAMBUSAKMakes 22-24 pieces. 20 gr. fresh yeast4 cups flour, sifted1 Tbsp. sugar50 gr. margarine, melted1-2 cups water1 egg yolkOil for deep fryingFilling:1½ cups chickpeas, soaked overnight in water2 Tbsp. oil2 onions, chopped finely½ tsp. salt½ tsp. pepper1 tsp. cumin½ tsp. baharat½ tsp. spicy paprikaDrain the chickpeas that were soaked overnight and cook in fresh water for 45 minutes until they’ve softened. Blend them with a meat grinder or with a handheld immersion blender. Transfer to a bowl.Add the flour to a large bowl and hollow out a well in the middle. Add the melted margarine to the well and then sprinkle the yeast on top of the flour.Sprinkle the sugar on top and then knead dough while adding just enough water. Knead well. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes.To prepare the filling, fry the onion in the oil. Add the ground chickpeas and stir well. Season with salt, pepper, cumin, baharat and spicy paprika.Roll out the dough on a floured work surface until it’s 1 cm. thick. Use a glass or small bowl to cut out circles. Place a heaping teaspoon of filling in the center of each circle. Spread egg yolk on the edge of the circle and then fold over and press closed. Let rise another 20 minutes.Heat 4-5 cm. of oil in a large, deep pan. Fry the sambusak until they turn golden brown. Serve hot.Level of difficulty: Medium.Time: 2 hours.Status: Parve.Chicken sambusak (Photo Credit: Neta Livneh)ROGELACHMakes 25-30 pieces.Dough:500 gr. (3½ cups) flour, sifted110 ml. (1/2 cup) milk, room temperature, or water20 gr. dry yeast80 g (1/2 cup) sugar5 gr. (1 tsp.) salt2 eggs100 gr. butter, softened, or margarineFilling:80 gr. (1/2 cup) cocoa powder150 gr. (1½ cups) brown sugar150 gr. butter, softened, or margarine¼ tsp. cinnamon1 egg, beatenSyrup:300 gr. (1½ cups) sugar150 ml (2/3 cup) water2 drops vanilla extractTo prepare the dough, mix all the ingredients – except for the butter – with an electric mixer for 5 minutes. Melt the butter, add it to the mixture and mix for another 3 minutes. Transfer the dough to a bowl and cover. Let it sit in a warm place until it doubles in volume.To prepare the filling, mix all the ingredients together – except for the egg – and then let it cool.Roll out ¼ of the dough into a wide rectangle. Spread the filling on top and then cut it into short, wide triangles.Roll the triangles up into a rogelach shape and then place them on a tray that is lined with baking paper. Cover and let sit in a warm place until they double in volume.Brush with the beaten egg and bake in an oven that has been preheated to 180° for 20 minutes.To prepare the syrup, boil the sugar and water together for 2-3 minutes. Add the vanilla. Take the rogelach out of the oven and, while they’re still hot, brush syrup on top. Let cool.Level of difficulty: Medium.Time: 2 hours.Status: Dairy or parve.Rogelach (Photo Credit: Neta Livneh)Translated by Hannah Hochner.
