What’s Cooking at Beit Chai

Introduction

01Jan

Posted by Jacques & Chanelle Beit Chai No Comments

This is not your normal recipe blog. Many of the guests at Beit Chai have asked us to release a recipe book, but I do not like recipe books nor do I follow a recipe to the letter (this of course often gets me in hot water with Jacques) especially when it comes to baking as he always says that baking is a science.

Well I was never big on science so I like to play around. This is why this is not the average baking and cooking site because we very seldom give exact measurements so you will have to shake off the expectations of preciseness and just enjoy exploring and discovering what you can create in the kitchen.

For us the kitchen is our ministry and also our playground. We love creating dishes that serve our guests and leaves them feeling like royalty, like they have had a few hours at the Father’s table and shared a meal with Him and fellow believers.

This is our hearts while cooking and baking and serving our meals. We pray that you will be able to take one of our suggested dishes and playfully make it your own as you cook and bake with us.

Then of course we want to acknowledge that nothing that we are able to carry through the doors of the kitchen of Beit Chai is because of our own skill, we are very much aware that the Father gives us grace to do what we do and for this we always honour Him.

Our Challah Recipe

01Jan

Posted by Jacques & Chanelle What’s cooking at Beit Chai No Comments Bread - Challah - Kitka

So this is one of the few recipes that we do follow exact directions

The reason is because we started with a totally different recipe and adjusted it about a million times and also gave up a few times before eventually getting the exact texture and taste that worked for us.

This being said sometimes my hand does slip a bit and more flour or oil makes its way into the mixer but thankfully the Challah is very forgiving and ends up being a beautiful creation that leaves our guests satisfied.

Of course the best way to serve this Challah is nice and hot from the oven.

Sometimes we decide to make an extra few batches of dough while the machine is already ‘in use’. We let it rise as normal but once we have braided the Challah we pop it into the freezer before the second rise. Fast forward to next week or the week after and we want a lazy meal for Shabbat, we take the frozen dough out of the freezer 3 to 4 hours before we want to bake it.

What you need

10-13g yeast
1 Tbsp Sugar
A little bit of water
800g Flour
80g Sugar
60g Oil
1 Egg
300g Milk
1 Tsp Salt

Instructional Video

Dissolve the yeast, 1 tablespoon of sugar and a little bit of water together into a measuring jug and let it stand for 5 minutes

While the yeast is activating measure out your flour, sugar and salt into your mixing bowl

Add your egg to the flour mixture

Measure the milk and oil into the yeast and mix it well

Pour the mixture into the mixing bowl with the flour and mix it all together.

We use an electronic mixer with a dough hook but you can also knead this by hand.

For a good dough consistency you need to knead the dough for about 10 minutes.

Put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a towel or plastic bag.

Let it rise until doubled in size (usually about 2 hours)

Knead it down and braid

Let it rise again for one hour and bake at 180 degrees for about 20 to 25 minutes (if you have a meat thermometer poke the Challah – the inside temperature should be 90 degrees Celsius)

For braiding instructions you can watch Jacques in action by clicking on the video instructions button.

Butternut Soup

01Jan

Posted by Jacques & Chanelle What’s cooking at Beit Chai No Comments Butternut - Soup

The first time in my life that I ate butternut soup was on my 21st birthday. I never had an end of school education celebration due to the fact that I didn’t finish school – this in itself is a story for another time. My mother decided to celebrate my 21ste birthday as a celebration of my life, which the enemy tried to rob many times. She decorated the house and bought me a beautiful dress and then she hired caterers for the evening. On the menu was butternut soup. It was absolutely delicious! So this soup is more a fond memory then just a recipe.

Ok I will come right out and say this, there are very few times that we follow the recipe exactly. Many times we just guess the amounts without weighing it out exactly.

What you need

5 kg butternut
4 x 200g Granny Smith apples
2 x 100g chopped onions
1 Cup of orange juice
2 packs of cream of chicken soup
2 l of milk
Salt and pepper
3 teaspoons of Curry powder
A half a teaspoon of chicken spice
250ml mayonnaise
250ml cream

We have found that butternut is a hard vegetable to peel and cut, so we prefer to wrap up the whole butternut in foil and roast it in the oven until it is soft. Once it has cooled down enough that we can handle it, we remove it from the foil and remove the skin and seeds and then mash it. We also feel this enhances the flavour instead of boiling cut pieces of butternut in water. You can do it either way you want.

Peel the apples and cut and core them. Peel and cut the onions into pieces and boil it together with the apples until it is very soft. Then drain off the water.

Like many of our adventures in the kitchen, Jacques does certain things while I do others. This way we work together seamlessly. Jacques blends together the butternut and some of the milk until it is nice and smooth. He then continues to blend the soft boiled apples, onions with the orange juice until it is a nice fine pulp texture. We often use a bit more orange juice than what the recipe calls for.

I heat the the rest of the milk, curry powder, chicken soup powder, salt and pepper together until everything is combined. As I said, we don’t really follow the precise recipe and most time we have more butternut than we should so we then add a liter or two of chicken stock as well. Then we add the butternut, apple, onion, orange juice pulp with the milk and spices.

Heat up everything together making sure that it is a nice smooth texture. We sometimes blend everything a bit more in the pot with a stick blender. Then we add the mayonnaise and cream into the soup, making sure everything is combined well.

Again presentation is key so we like to serve the soup with some dried pumpkin seeds on top of each bowl.

This recipe goes very well with some of our homemade breads.

Lentil Soup

01Jan

Posted by Jacques & Chanelle What’s cooking at Beit Chai No Comments Soup

Winter in Israel is very cold and wet. On such days a nice hearty soup is always a good idea. There used to be a lot of nice 5 shekel coffee shops who would also sell a very nice cup of lentil soup. Today very few of these places are still operational and their soup is no longer only 5 shekel.

We recently started making our own lentil soup and the advantage of this is that we can add anything that we want. We discovered that lentil soup with the addition of meat is really yummy. Now we always add meat to our lentil soup and although it takes extra time and effort it is definitely worth it.

What you need

Slow Roasted Meat
Lentils (we used brown and red)
Onions
Celery
Carrots
Olive Oil
Beef stock
Salt
Hawaij Soup Spice – A mix of Cumin, Turmeric, Blackpepper, Cardamom and Clove
Extra Cumin
Chutney optional
Fresh Coriander

First you need to slow roast a cut of meat. We like brisket but any boneless cut of beef that you prefer should work. Add your preferred spices but smoky flavoured spices enhance the taste of the soup. One of our favourites is Sweet Mesquite Seasoning. Add some water to your roasting pan and roast at 125-150 degrees Celsius for a few hours. When the meat is cooked you can either shred it with an electric beater or let it cool and cut it into small 1cm cubes.

We cook our lentils in a pressure cooker with the spices and salt. You could also cook it in a pot but then you need to let the lentils soak for a few hours before hand.

While the lentils are cooking, chop up some onions into small squares. Cut the celery lengthwise once or twice and then chop it into cubes. In a saucepan start frying the onions and celery in olive oil. You can also alternatively fry it in the beef fat that rendered out while roasting.

Peel and cube the carrots and add it to the saucepan. Add some beef stock, or even better, the juices from the bottom of the roasting pan. Cook until the carrots are ready.

When the lentils are done cooking in the pressure cooker some of them get puréed but when cooking on a stovetop this might take a while. You might want to take a stick blender and blend it a bit. Add the meat, onions, celery and carrots. Add chutney to taste.

In Israel we are not fortunate enough to be able to buy chutney from the shops, thus we have started making our own. We have found that adding a bit of our own homemade chutney adds just enough sweetness and acidity for a wholesome taste to the soup.

If the soup is too thick, add some water. Taste it, add more salt or spices if needed.

Serve with some fresh coriander.

Chickpea Salad

01Jan

Posted by Jacques & Chanelle What’s cooking at Beit Chai No Comments Chickpeas - Mayonnaise - Salad

This is a recipe we found on the internet many years ago.

It is one of the absolute favourite salads that we serve.

Most of the guests love this salad and more often than not ask us for the recipe.

Of course we have made our own adjustments to the recipe and sometimes we even adjust our adjustments depending on what we forgot to buy or our own mood while making the salad.

What you need for the salad

Chickpeas (we use frozen chickpeas)
Celery
Red onion
Dried apricots
Peanuts
Cilantro
Diced Red Pepper for colour (Optional add on)

What you need for the dressing

I will not give any exact amounts because I cannot – I never use any measuring system when making a dressing.

Mayonnaise
Curry Powder
Salt
Sugar
Vinegar (only enough to make the dressing a little bit runny)

Put the frozen chickpeas in a pot with water. Bring it to boil. Only once it has boiled for a. while add your salt into the water. If you add salt from the start it does not allow the chickpea to soften. I like to already add some curry powder to the water at this stage. It feels to me that the curry flavour then penetrates the chickpea (or maybe it is just my imagination).

Once the chickpeas are soft remove from the heat and drain the water and allow them to cool down. If you are using dried chickpeas remember to soak it in water for at least 8 hours before cooking it. You can always cheat and use canned chickpeas but I would not do it as I do not like the taste of canned chickpeas.

Jacques is an expert cutter so he is in charge of chopping the red onions for the salad. He chops the onions nice and fine. We have used white onions also but the red onion brings a nice colour to the salad.

The apricots we dice into small pieces about the size of the chickpeas (if I am lazy and Jacques is not watching then I use a scissor to cut them. The apricots can also be substituted with other dried fruit. We have used cranberries or finely chopped dates (I do not prefer this as I really have very strong negative feelings about dates – I will not elaborate – come to Israel and ask me in person about this). We definitely do not use raisins as Jacques does not eat raisins that are mixed with other food but if you do not mind then this is an option for you.

The celery we use only the stem and also chop it very finely so that the taste does not overpower the salad.

For the dressing mix the curry powder, salt, sugar and mayonnaise together in a bowl, jug or container of your choice. Add the vinegar little by little until you get a nice (not to runny) consistency. Remember to let “your Jacques” taste the dressing before adding it into the salad.

Mix all of the above ingredients together once the chickpeas are cooled down and then add the dressing. This salad is perfect to make a day before you use it. We have found that the flavours enhance as it rests together.

Cilantro is definitely Jacques’ baby because he says I kill the herbs if I chop it, this together with the peanuts we only add just before we serve the salad.

We have also on occasion substituted the peanuts with cashews or almonds. It is nice to add some kind of nut for the crunch in the salad.

Chopped Salad

01Jan

Posted by Jacques & Chanelle What’s cooking at Beit Chai No Comments Fresh - Herbs - Onion - Peppers - Salad

While preparing for a shopping trip to purchase ingredients to create a Shabbat meal, I was searching online for a few new salad recipes.

My eye caught a picture of an Israeli chopped salad recipe that I thought looked appetising. Although we have made this kind of salad more times than we can count, we decided that it would be a good fit to the rest of our menu. I made my shopping list and off we went to the shops.

We purchased everything we needed and when Thursday arrived (which is normally our preparation day for larger Shabbat meals) we started our preparation.

As we started preparing the salad we decided that we didn’t want to follow the recipe anymore and made our own version of the chopped salad.

So this is what we ended up with and believe me it was very tasty and so beautiful that it is definitely going to be a new favourite.

What you need

An assortment of different colour bell peppers (We don’t use green pepper as much as they have a more bitter taste.)
Red onions
Fresh coriander
Fresh parsley

What you need for the dressing

Olive oil
Lemon juice
Salt and pepper
Za’atar

Za’atar is a spice that we buy in Israel, which I am not sure if you are able to buy it in your home country. If not come and visit us and we will show you where to purchase it at the Jewish market.

Cut the bell peppers in nice big pieces – we wanted a chunky salad so our pieces were about 1.5-2cm by 1.5-2cm.

Cut the red onions in thin slices.

Roughly chop the coriander and parsley – we used a whole lot of fresh herbs to advance the taste of the salad.

Mix the olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and za’atar together until they are well combined. Za’atar is spice blend popular in Israel made of hyssop, sumac, sesame and salt.

Once all the ingredients of the salad is nicely mixed add the dressing – we added our dressing just before we served the salad.

Tomato and Cucumber Salad

01Jan

Posted by Jacques & Chanelle What’s cooking at Beit Chai No Comments Fresh - Salad

Since my very first Shabbat Meal with Family Nel in Beit Chai so many years ago this particular salad was always on the table.

This was my father-in-law’s favourite salad. Once the meal was finished he would always take what was left over and finish it.

What you need for the salad

Cucumbers
Tomatoes (I prefer to use cherry tomatoes as it is less soggy and you only need to cut it in half)
Onions

What you need for the dressing

Vinegar
Sugar
Salt and Pepper

Cut the tomatoes in half (if using cherry tomatoes, otherwise cut it in small cubes)

Cut the cucumbers in small pieces

Cut the onions in small pieces or slices

The shape of your vegetables are absolutely your own choice.

Mix the vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper together and let it stand for a while to allow the sugar to dissolve.

For Gerrit the more sugar we used, the better. This again is obviously according to your own taste and preference.

We mix the vinigar, sugar, salt and pepper together a few hours before we need to serve the salad to allow the sugar to disolve into the vinegar.

Make sure you have enough salt and pepper over the salad.

We add the dressing over the salad just before we have to serve it to prevent it from becoming soggy and “pickled”.

Cumin Carrot Salad

01Jan

Posted by Jacques & Chanelle What’s cooking at Beit Chai No Comments Carrots - Salad

This is a very common Moroccan style salad found in Israel. Different restaurants and hotels have their own way of preparing it. We started making it purely according to taste and what we thought the ingredients should be. It’s one of Jacques’ favourites.

What you need for the salad

Carrots
Cilantro leaves

What you need for the dressing

I will not give any exact amounts because I cannot – I never use any measuring system when making a dressing.

Cumin Spice
Salt
Olive Oil
Lemon Juice

Peel the carrots and cut them in circles.

The thickness of the circle is really up to your own preference.

Place them into a pot with water. We already add salt and cumin into the water that we boil the carrots in as we find that it enhances the taste of the carrots.

Boil the carrots until soft, but not too soft it. Is nice if they still have a slight crunch on them so that it is not a soft soggy salad.

Drain the water and allow the carrots to cool down.

Mix together the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and cumin until well combined – Jacques likes a very strong cumin taste on this salad so we are very generous when using the cumin, but it is really up to you how you spice this dressing.

Finely chop the cilantro and add it to the carrots.

Cover the salad with the dressing and make sure that everything is well covered.

We normally prepare this salad a day ahead of time to allow the flavours to mix and rest well.

We also take it out of the refrigerator about an hour or so before serving to allow the olive oil to liquify, olive oil solidifies when it is chilled.

Mix the salad through before serving to ensure that all the flavours are mixed well.

Sweet and Sour Eggplant Salad

01Jan

Posted by Jacques & Chanelle What’s cooking at Beit Chai No Comments Eggplant - Salad

When I started helping in the kitchen of Beit Chai, we had certain set salads every week for erev shabbat. As the responsibility of Jacques and myself grew, we started experimenting with new and different salads. One of the salads we had made weekly was a tomato based eggplant salad which we now only very seldomly make. Most of the time if we make it, we make it as for a filling for vegetarian lasagna. As a replacement, we started making this sweet and sour eggplant salad. It is an absolute favourite Shabbat salad among our guests.

What you need

Eggplant, aubergine, brinjal
Onions
Red peppers
Vinegar
Sugar
Salt and pepper
Sesame seed for garnish

We start by dicing the onions and peppers into small pieces and then fry them together in olive oil. I prefer to use our non-stick pot (yes frown if you must) as the eggplant needs a lot of time on the stove to become nice and soft. I have found with any other pot it tends to burn to the bottom of the pot. If there is anything besides a messy kitchen I really dislike, its a burnt pot. So if you do not mind scrubbing a pot please feel free to use a normal stainless steel pot.

While I am frying the onions and peppers, Jacques normally cuts the eggplant into small 1.5cm squares. Once the onions and peppers are lightly caramelized or sautéed, we add the eggplant. Usually at this point Jacques also dumps a half a bottle of olive oil on the eggplant. Okay I’m exaggerating a bit but some extra olive you is welcome. The pot might seem very full but bear in mind the eggplant loses a lot of volume while cooking. Stirring regularly we cook it together until the eggplant starts changing from its dry spongelike appearance to a moist appearance.

Then we add the vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper and allow the eggplant to cook for at least 30 minutes with the lid of the pot on. You will need to stir it occasionally to prevent it from burning. It a good idea to taste it and add more vinegar if you feel it’s not acidic enough or more sugar if you need to sweeten it a bit. You might need to add a bit of both if you see it drying out a bit as it cooks.

The salad is ready once the eggplant is completely soft and has totally lost its sponge-like texture. Allow it to cool and store in the fridge. We normally make if the day before. When serving it you can sprinkle some sesame seed on top.

Cucumber and Feta Salad

01Jan

Posted by Jacques & Chanelle What’s cooking at Beit Chai No Comments Salad

This salad was born out of Gerrit’s favourite salad, which was Tomato and cucumber salad.

We used to serve the tomato and cucumber salad every week with Shabbat and whatever was left over he would finish. The only thing is that Jacques does not eat tomatoes so I searched for a salad that I could make just for him.

Although it is a very fast and easy salad it is very flavourful.

What you need for the salad

Cucumber
Onions
Feta

Optional addition of Fresh parsley

What you need for the dressing

Olive oil
Lemon Juice
Salt and pepper

Cut the cucumbers according to your own desire. We sometimes chop them up into squares and sometimes just in round slices or half rounds.

We prefer to use red onions for the colour that it adds to the salad. It’s also a bit sweeter. These to you can cut in small squares or thin slices.

Cut the Feta in small cubes.

Mix all the ingredients of the dressing together and taste it before pouring it over your salad. Make sure you use enough salt and pepper otherwise the salad can be a bit bland.

For a special treat we have also recently added fresh cut parsley, just because we had it in the fridge. It was such a great addition that I think it will now be a permanent part of the salad, unless we don’t have it in the fridge.

We normally only add the dressing to the salad just before we serve it.