An #Iranian Rosh Hashanah Seder Menu: While Seders are more often associated with Passover, in the Persian-Jewish community, its customary to celebrate Rosh Hashanah with a similar ritual feast, complete with blessings, symbolic food, and an elaborate meal. While Jews from around the world practice many of the same traditions, Persians are known for their more formal Seder, and in fact, some in the community host a full Seder on both nights of Rosh Hashanah. Its one of my favorite things, says Simnegar, because you would never expect to come to Rosh Hashanah dinner and have a Seder. And what does a Persian Rosh Hashanah Seder entail? According to Simnegar, who was born in Venezuela but married into a Persian family and mastered the cuisine with help from her mother- in-law, Persians are a fun-loving people and their Seders are more like parties than solemn services. You joke around, you pass all the food, and people take turns saying the blessings. You can have a good time. The Seder begins with kiddush, or blessing the wine, followed by more blessings said over symbolic foods. Most of the blessings, explains Simnegar, are plays on words, in which the Hebrew sounds like or relates to a particular food being eaten. There are nine symbolic foods: apples with honey, leeks, zucchini, black-eyed peas, lambs head, beets, dates, a cows lung, and pomegranate. Although most of these foods are widely available in the United States, the lambs head and cows lungs can be hard to find. Tongue, a Persian favorite, is a common substitute for the lambs head here in the States; lungs are often replaced with fish (because lung and fish flesh are both flaky and light) or popcorn (again, because of its lightness). Simnegar usually makes both; her children love the popcorn and she makes a spicy version with cumin and chopped green onion.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 18:10:07 +0000
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