DELICIOUS PASSOVER HAROSET RECIPES FROM AROUND THE WORLD: IRAN, INDIA, AND CURA?AO

    Today’s article focuses on one of the core aspects of Jewish holidays – food! Specifically, the origin of haroset, one of the symbolic foods eaten at the Passover Seder (and the Seder’s most scrumptious item!), and three easy-to-prepare traditional haroset recipes from Iran, India, and Cura?ao.

     Links to these recipes and dozens of other international haroset recipes will be available through “The Global Haggadah” (to be published in 2022), to help link your own Seder to the ones Jews are celebrating on the same night all around the world.

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     One of the most memorable parts of any Passover Seder is the haroset – a paste, usually sweet-tasting and red or brown in color. The traditional Ashkenazic recipe, known to most American Jews and to the many Ashkenazim throughout the world, contains apples, walnuts, cinnamon, and sweet red wine. But the other Jewish communities across the globe – Sephardic, Mizrachi, and Romaniote - have their own gastronomic traditions, with wonderful haroset recipes that include mangos, pistachios, dates, bananas, coconut, and cherry jam. Nowadays, many people concoct their own inventive haroset variations, making a paste or chutney with all sorts of ingredients: macadamia nuts, pears, cranberries, Port, candied ginger, orange marmalade, crushed pineapple, and plum preserves. (Not all together, of course.) So if you’re feeling creative, you can try creating your own recipe.

     There is much symbolism surrounding haroset and its ingredients. Haroset is universally thought to be a reminder of the mortar out of which the Hebrew slaves in Egypt were forced to make bricks for Pharaoh. But we find in the Gemara (Pesachim, 116a) a disagreement among the rabbis as to what haroset symbolizes, with Rabbi Levi asserting that it was in memory of the apple tree (which figures in two colorful midrashim about the slavery in Egypt found in the Talmud), while Rabbi Yochanan said it was in memory of the mortar. So, in customary Talmudic fashion, a compromise was reached to accommodate differing views: Abaye said that haroset should therefore be made sharp-tasting (in memory of the apple tree) and thick (in memory of the mortar).

     The original recipe for haroset found in the Mishnah (Pesachim, 10:3) is a combination of nuts and fruits, pounded together and mixed with vinegar, while the recipe of the 16th century mystic Rabbi Isaac Luria called for three spices (sweet spikenard, ginger and cinnamon sticks) mixed with seven kinds of mashed fruit (grapes, figs, pomegranate kernels, dates, walnuts, apples and pears). But from those times, haroset recipes have evolved and proliferated. I’ve compiled a treasury of over 90 haroset recipes from 30 different countries, from Afghanistan, Algeria and Azerbaijan to Tunisia, Uganda and Yemen. Here are just three easy-to-make ones. Enjoy!

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NOTE: Ashkenazim observing the prohibition against eating kitniyot during Passover should omit sesame seeds and substitute non-kitniyot nuts (such as walnuts, almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, etc.) for peanuts.

HALEK (PERSIAN-STYLE HAROSET) (Pareve – yields approx. 2 cups)

From The Jerusalem Post (at https://www.jpost.com/printarticle.aspx?id=307101)

Ingredients

? cup slivered almonds

? cup shelled and skinned pistachios

? cup walnuts, shelled

2 tablespoons chopped hazelnuts

? cup pitted dates

? cup dried apricots

? cup pitted prunes

? cup dried cherries

1 cup dry red wine

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 teaspoons rosewater*

Directions

1. Process all of the ingredients in a food processor until the mixture resembles a paste. Any remaining liquid will be absorbed by the dried fruit.

2. Cover the haroset and let stand at room temperature for 4 hours before serving or refrigerator overnight. The haroset can be made up to 3 days before serving and can be stored, covered, in the refrigerator.

*Rosewater can usually be found in Persian or Indian markets, and sometimes in some supermarkets (in the ethnic food section), health food stores, natural grocers (such as Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods), cosmetics stores, and the cosmetics sections of pharmacies.

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INDIAN STYLE HAROSET (Pareve – yields approx. 2 cups)

From The Jerusalem Post (at https://www.jpost.com/printarticle.aspx?id=307101)

Ingredients

2 ripe mangos, cut into medium dice (can substitute 1 medium papaya, peeled, seeded, and finely chopped plus 2/3 cup dried mango, diced)

? cup dark raisins

? cup pitted dates

? cup slivered almonds (can substitute ?-? cup whole raw cashews)

? cup sesame seeds

? cup sugar

2 tbs. red wine vinegar

Pinch of salt

Optional:

juice of 1 lemon

1/3 tsp. ginger, peeled and freshly grated

1 pinch each of ground cinnamon, ground cloves and/or cardamom

Directions

Pulse all of the ingredients in a food processor until they are a paste. The haroset can be made 3 days before serving and can be stored, covered, in the refrigerator.

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GAROZA (HAROSET BALLS FROM CURACAO) (yields approx. 65 balls)

From “Recipes from the Jewish Kitchens of Curacao,” by the Sisterhood of Curacao’s Mikvé Israel-Emanuel Synagogue (at https://kosher4passover.com/passover-recipes/garoza.htm)

(I wanted to include this recipe from Cura?ao because Hazzan Avery Tracht, the spiritual leader at Mikvé Israel-Emanuel Synagogue, which is the source of this recipe, ordered five copies of “The Global Haggadah” for his congregation – and the recipe is fantastic. It also makes a wonderful, egg-free candy.)

Ingredients

2 lbs. peanuts (unsalted)

1/2 lb. cashews

1 lb. dark brown sugar

1/2 lb. pitted prunes

1/2 lb. figs

1/4 cup candied fruit (optional)

2 jiggers sweet Passover wine

3 tbs. orange juice

3 tbs. lime or lemon juice

1/2 cup honey

2 to 3 tbs. cinnamon, plus extra for coating

Directions

1. Grind fruits and nuts. Add the sugar, honey, cinnamon, wine and juices to form a moist but firm mixture. With wet hands, roll the mixture into balls, 1" in diameter. Drop into a bowl with cinnamon and roll the ball to coat thoroughly.

2. Wrap in plastic film and store air-tight. These candies can be frozen.