When I picture my childhood in Sydney, the first image that enters my mind is Nana Hannah’s Bondi apartment, crammed with my Jewish family, the sounds of laughter, and loud conversation interspersed with Arabic and Hindustani.
As a young kid, I refused to eat any of Nana’s Indian-Jewish specialties, except her scrumptious aloo makalas (fried potatoes). It was only later that I developed a taste for the spice-infused fare of my community and began to appreciate its spectacular cuisine.
My parents and grandparents were part of Bombay’s Baghdadi Jewish community, a group of Jews who, beginning in the 18th century, fled Iraq for the religious freedom and trading benefits of India.
By incorporating Indian spices into traditional Iraqi dishes and following the Jewish dietary laws – which prohibit the mixing of meat and dairy – India’s Baghdadi Jews created a delicious cuisine that is a synthesis of Iraqi and Indian cooking. They also adopted some typical Indian-vegetarian dishes.
India’s Baghdadi community began to disintegrate in the early 1950s. Those who moved to Sydney’s eastern suburbs used food as a means of retaining their cultural identity. In their humble Bondi kitchens, the women cooked the familiar Indian-Jewish food of home.
Many of the Indian Jews who immigrated to Australia are no longer alive. Much of their distinct cuisine is prepared only in the kitchens of Sydney’s and Melbourne’s Sephardi synagogues, and in the homes of members of Australia’s small Sephardi-Mizrahi Jewish community (Jews from south-east Asia, the Middle East and north Africa.)
I am part of that community. When my mother turned 75, I decided to start documenting my community’s traditional dishes. Not just for myself, but to share with others.
Egg mahmoosa (scrambled egg with vegetables)
According to food historian Gil Marks, mahmoosa – pronounced with a guttural “h” – is an Indian-Jewish adaptation of a Middle Eastern dish. Marks doesn’t specify the original dish on which mahmoosa is based, but I suspect it’s an adaptation of an Iraqi-Jewish scrambled egg and spinach dish called mufarka. (Baghdad-born cookbook author Linda Dangoor refers to this dish as m’farka and calls it a Babylonian specialty.)
In Arabic, “mahmoosa” means “something that has been sauteed”, and this tasty dish involves sauteing onion and vegetables in oil, then mixing eggs through them. Egg mahmoosa was a Thursday night dinner staple of my childhood; a light meal before the Friday night Shabbat feast. These days, I like to make it for a hearty Sunday morning breakfast and serve it with chapatis, although any kind of bread makes a good accompaniment.
You can add or substitute other vegetables such as mushroom and red capsicum. Another option is to replace the potato, carrot and peas with one and a half cups of frozen mixed vegetables.
Serves 4-6
6 eggs
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 small green chilli, thinly sliced (optional)
1 celery stick, finely diced
1 large potato (approximately 200g), peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
1 carrot, finely diced
1 ripe tomato, diced
½ cup frozen peas
¼ tsp salt
4 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander (optional)
Salt and pepper, to taste
Whisk the eggs in a bowl with a fork, add salt and pepper to taste, then set aside. Heat the oil in a large frying pan (you’ll need one which has a lid) over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook for five minutes, or until the onion has softened. Stir in the turmeric and chilli and cook for one minute, or until fragrant. Add the celery, potato, carrot, tomato, peas and salt, and mix thoroughly.
Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan and cook for 15 minutes, or until the potatoes and carrots are tender. Increase the heat to medium-high, add the eggs and keep stirring until they’re cooked. Stir in the coriander and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
Khichri (one-pot spiced lentils and rice)
While khichri is not the prettiest of dishes, this one-pot Indian comfort food is big on taste. It’s also quick and easy to make.
On a recent trip to India, I ordered “khichdi” at various restaurants. Reading the menus, khichdi sounded the same as the Indian-Jewish khichri I eat at home. It wasn’t. The khichdi was delicious, but it had a wet, soupy consistency. In contrast, Indian-Jewish khichri is much drier; some cooks even put their khichri in the oven to dry it out after cooking on the stove. (I trialled both ways and found the oven unnecessary.)
After experimenting with the lentil-to-rice ratio, my preference is for equal amounts of lentils and rice. Play around and make the dish your own.
Serves 4
1 cup red lentils
1 cup basmati rice
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground cumin
¾ tsp ground turmeric
1 clove garlic, minced
3 cups boiling water
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1¼ tsp salt
Put the lentils in a bowl, cover them with water and soak for at least 30 minutes. Using a sieve, rinse the softened lentils and the rice under cold water until the water runs clear.
Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the cumin seeds, ground cumin and turmeric and stir for one minute or until fragrant. Reduce the heat to medium-low, stir in the garlic and cook for another minute, taking care not to burn the garlic. Stir through the lentils and rice and pour in the boiling water. Add the bicarbonate of soda and salt and mix well.
Bring the mixture to the boil, then reduce the heat to low. Simmer, covered, for 20-25 minutes or until the rice and lentils are cooked. You will need to stir the khichri occasionally, and then more frequently as the water becomes absorbed, to ensure the mixture isn’t sticking to the base of the pot. At the end of cooking, the khichri’s consistency will be a bit less mushy than porridge. Remove the pot from the heat and add extra salt if needed.
Leave the khichri to rest, covered, for 10 minutes. If you prefer a drier khichri, leave it to rest for longer. Serve warm with yoghurt and zalata (a chopped salad of cucumber, tomato, red onion, coriander, lemon juice, salt and pepper).
Agar-agar (vegan jelly)
Agar-agar is a classic Indian-Jewish sweet. The jelly-like treat is made from agar-agar powder, which is a seaweed-derived substitute for gelatine that’s available on Amazon and at some Asian grocery stores. Agar-agar can be made with milk or water. This water-based, rose-flavoured version is my mother’s recipe and my absolute favourite. It’s also dairy-free and vegan, making it a handy addition to your kosher/vegan dessert arsenal.
Serves 10-12
3 tsp agar-agar powder
6½ tbsp white caster sugar
3 cups boiling water
⅛ tsp ground cardamom
½ tsp rose-flavoured essence
⅛ tsp pink food colouring
2 tbsp flaked almonds (optional)
Put the agar-agar powder and sugar in a small saucepan and stir to combine. Add the boiling water and mix thoroughly. Turn the stove to medium heat and gently bring the mixture to the boil. Turn off the heat and stir in the cardamom, rose essence and food colouring, mixing thoroughly. Pour the liquid into a tray to set. (I use a rectangular tray measuring 18 x 28 cm.)
When the agar has partially set (about 15 minutes) sprinkle with flaked almonds. Leave the agar to cool completely, then cover the tray with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm.
Cut the agar into rectangles, squares or diamonds and serve. Agar-agar will keep in the fridge for up to 10 days.
